[clue-tech] Ubuntu experiences good and bad

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

Collins Richey wrote:
> CLUE has been handing out a lot of Ubuntu CD's lately. I'm just
> wondering if any of you have taken the plunge ?!

I've been using it for more than a year now. It's good stuff.

> 4. The fact that Ubuntu is hell-bent on a 6 month replacement cycle is
> a little worrisome in the light of my 5.04 to 5.10 woes.

Ubuntu does have a 6-month release cycle, but you're not forced to
upgrade -- each release is supported for 18 months in terms of security
fixes and bugfixes, so you're not out in the cold if you don't upgrade
when a new release comes out.

The next release, Dapper Drake, is supposed to be supported for five
years on the server, three years on the desktop -- it's their first
"enterprise" release, so if you upgrade when Dapper is available, you'll
be able to stick with that until 2009! (The desktop software will be
unbelievably old by then, but you'll still get security fixes...)

I haven't tried upgrading from 5.04 to 5.10 just yet, and probably will
go the fresh install route. I am running Breezy on my secondary
workstation, and like it quite a bit, but need to find the time to
upgrade my main workstation...

 I've had very good luck over the years with Debian, doing a
dist-upgrade from Potato to Woody and then from Woody to Sarge, but
that's always been a server upgrade rather than desktop upgrade.

Since things change so much more drastically with regards to the desktop
packages, I've opted to be a bit more cautious for those. I've always
opted for the "fresh install" route for workstations.

No matter what the release cycle, I doubt any distro will come up with a
release cycle that works for everybody. :) Debian's release cycle,
"whenever we bloody well please," has been OK for servers, but there's
no way I could have been happy with Debian Woody as a desktop distro
throughout its entire lifecycle.

Best,

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier <xonker at gmail.com>
Editorial Director - Linux.com

"Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books... Men
should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives
and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I
can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that."
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" -- James Stewart
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