
A Lengthy, Pedantic Review of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) - dEnigma
http://blog.bityard.net/articles/2018/April/in-beaver-we-trust-a-lengthy-pedantic-review-of-ubuntu-1804-lts.html
======
tedge
Ubuntu 18.04 is the first release to include my app, PikoPixel (pixel-art
editor), in its repository (universe):
[https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/gnustep/pikopixel.app](https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/gnustep/pikopixel.app)

I had to tweak PP's packaging to get it to appear in the Ubuntu Software app,
so I can provide a bit of info about this part of the article:

 _My assumption for now is that the Ubuntu Software application only shows
updates for packages that were installed through it. Further, the list of
installed applications that it shows is very clearly a subset of those that
are actually installed on the system. Color me befuddled._

The Ubuntu Software app (& similar software-center apps, such as GNOME
Software, KDE Discover, etc.) only shows distro packages which have valid
AppStream metadata:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppStream](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppStream)

The AppStream metadata is generated automatically by running appstream-
generator ([https://github.com/ximion/appstream-
generator](https://github.com/ximion/appstream-generator) ) on Ubuntu's
repositories. However, on some packages the metadata can't be generated, due
to an error - either the package has missing info, incorrect formatting, or
possibly it's an issue with appstream-generator.

Here's a list of packages in the Ubuntu Bionic universe repo that have issues
(packages with errors are unlikely to appear in Ubuntu Software):
[http://appstream.ubuntu.com/bionic/universe/issues/index.htm...](http://appstream.ubuntu.com/bionic/universe/issues/index.html)

List of packages with successfully generated metadata in Ubuntu Bionic
universe (should appear in Ubuntu Software):
[http://appstream.ubuntu.com/bionic/universe/metainfo/index.h...](http://appstream.ubuntu.com/bionic/universe/metainfo/index.html)
(Package names link to the generated metadata xml file).

~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
If only we lived in a world where developers could just distribute their
application binaries to the end user without having to rely on a storefront.

~~~
lobo_tuerto
SourceForge?

~~~
metalliqaz
Whenever I find an application hosted on SourceForge, I assume it is
abandoned.

------
panarky
_When the display goes to sleep due to lack of input or whatever, you have to
drag upwards with your mouse to unlock the screen. Like some common dirty
frickin ' smart phone._

Yes!

 _Dragging a window to the top of the screen maximizes the window. FOR GODS
SAKE WHY._

Double yes!

~~~
megaman22
I will never understand why Ubuntu took a very nice desktop Linux
distribution, and fucked it up with all these mobile and tablet centric UI
absurdities.

~~~
jackhack
It's the way of the world. Apple and Microsoft seem hell-bent on introducing
"phone/tablet" type gestures into their desktop UIs also. It seems only
natural that linux distros would follow.

Lesson for the kids making these decisions: "new and/or different" != better

~~~
tjoff
No, Unity came before Windows 8.

And with Windows 8 noone actually used Metro, the real desktop environment
wasn't really touched so you always had a polished desktop-oriented UI one key
stroke away. Not so with ubuntu that single-handedly obliterated the desktop
Linux market dominance it had.

------
Karunamon
It seems like none of the dumb GNOME warts were plastered over.

There's still the idiotic, screen-taking-over activities menu (because, yknow,
it should take 3840x2160 pixels to show a fucking app launcher. Did _nobody_
learn from Windows 8? The GNOME devs are officially more hard-headed than
Microsoft - an achievement of some note)

There's still the swipe-to-unlock _desktop_

There's the default Apple scrolling behavior

The author said it best:

 _I spend every day in a state of permanent quixotic hope that eventually
humanity will comes to its senses and realize that computers and mobile
devices are different kinds of technology with different purposes and
different usage patterns._

Seriously, GNOME is a touch UI. The large buttons, the swipe mechanics,
everything. Except _nobody uses GNOME on the mobile devices it appears to be
made for_!

~~~
yAnonymous
GNOME is what you get when you build a team for political reasons instead of
hiring good developers and designers.

To make it good you'd have to exchange the whole team first. It's LXDE for me
from here on out.

~~~
my123
KDE is sane these days, and separates mobile and desktop UIs too!

~~~
Karunamon
They took a few too many gulps of the flat design kool-aid for my taste, but
at least KDE hasn't forgotten who its users are or what kind of devices those
users are installing it on.

------
jacknews
What a good review, focusing on all the so-called little things, that are
actually the big things, ie does it actually work smoothly.

The same with laptop reviews which quite often just compare features and
speeds, but not the feel, keyboard, trackpad, weight, noise and heat, port
placement, carry-ability, one-hand-holdability, etc, etc.

~~~
wowtip
Yes, one of the best Linux distro reviews I have read!

Actually gives a feel for how it would be using it rather than descriptions of
cosmetics. Also it gives constructive and relevant criticism which can be of
help for future development.

This is a common problem with reviews, rushed out to be first, but not sure
what is the optimal time spent for reviewing the product. Also, many times I
get a feeling people reviewing distros are not really qualified, as in
contrast to this guy who seems to know both what is important and also have
technical knowledge, when needed.

------
sz4kerto
LTS. Meanwhile Gnome Shell is leaking memory like hell and it has bugs that've
been open for 5 years and are marked as 'critical'.
([https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-
shell/+bug/1...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-
shell/+bug/1181666) and the rest)

~~~
gnufied
I am running gnome-shell on 3 desktops and my current session is running for
days and memory usage is stable around 230MB.

The leak as discussed in the bug comes from certain extensions. I do not think
it qualifies as leaks as "hell".

~~~
k_bx
If you just press "Super" multiple times does RAM usage go up? Was quite
reproducible for me last time I've checked.

~~~
vetinari
And later goes down, as it gets GC-ed.

~~~
cweagans
Did you read the bug report? The entire problem is that GC isn't working
right. See [https://feaneron.com/2018/04/20/the-infamous-gnome-shell-
mem...](https://feaneron.com/2018/04/20/the-infamous-gnome-shell-memory-leak/)
for more info.

------
tjpnz
Ubuntu lost me years back when they introduced Unity. The single biggest issue
I had with it was the positioning of the dock and how there was no officially
supported means of changing it. I didn't like it from a design perspective but
far worse was my RSI which was particularly bad at the time, even subtle
things like button placement would just set everything right off.

I wasn't the only one who wanted the option to customize this but such
requests fell on deaf ears, I was told by one of the Unity devs that the dock
placement was a "design decision" and that they had no intention of changing
it. Until they did but that was many years later and long after I had moved on
to Linux Mint and Cinnamon.

I think adopting Gnome is a positive step in the right direction for Ubuntu,
it sounds like they may actually be listening to their users now.

~~~
dingo_bat
The linked article mentions that there are zero UI customization options. You
can't even change the font or colors. They are certainly not listening to
their users.

~~~
spacenick88
Switch to Kubuntu then, all the ease of Ubuntu with the customizability of
Plasma/KDE

~~~
geezerjay
This. KDE is one of the best desktop environments around, if not the very
best. Their "activities" concept does wonders to my workflow.

------
DCKing
Man, the Linux crowd really sucks. Why am I even reading these comments?

I'm of the opinion that the Linux desktop has never been better, and I really
enjoy using modern Linux desktops a lot more than I used to. To all those
developers that made it possible for us to use this stuff on our computers
with no strings attached: thank you. Ubuntu 18.04 is a great collection of
these achievements (like many other current Linux distros).

Reading these comments you'd miss that this review has a (mostly) positive
conclusion and a recommendation for people to use it.

~~~
danShumway
I tend to be pretty critical of Linux because I do genuinely believe there's a
lot of stuff in Linux that's really bad.

Would I ever give it up and switch to Windows/Mac? No, never in a million
years. Compared to modern Windows 10, Gnome's UX is masterful.

Linux has actually come pretty far - set up is still annoying, and some
problems are still unnecessarily difficult to solve, but for the most part
once you get everything up and running you have a system that just works, and
that will keep on working without you having to do much.

I've used Linux for a long time, but it's only recently that I've felt
confident enough that I've started seriously recommending it to non-technical
people. I've got my Mom running Ubuntu as her main computer, and over the past
year it cut down on my technical support by about 2/3rds of what I was doing
before.

I think it's easy to take the good things for granted. Yeah, to a certain
degree Linux is crap, but pretty much all software I or anyone else ever makes
is going to be crap - that's the hard lesson you have to learn when you start
developing software.

It's still hands-down the best OS out there if you just want a stable, usable
computer that respects you, and I still feel really grateful for it every time
I boot up my computer to get actual work done.

~~~
wilsonnb
I was using Gnome on Fedora for a while but I switched to Windows 10 a few
months ago and can't say I've had any problems with the UX.

Window snapping works. Minimizing windows works. You can do that thing where
it shows a small version of everything you have open on both (win+tab on
Win10, don't remember the Gnome shortcut).

Recommending Linux to someone over Windows seems insane to me unless that
person is literally just using a web browser for everything or they are a
developer. An operating system is useless unless it runs the programs you want
to run and Linux is still missing so much. Microsoft Office would be a good
start.

~~~
danShumway
I run Windows 10 on a Surface Pro 3 because Linux touch support is just too
bad right now and because I have maybe two essential applications that don't
run on Linux. I would switch it over in a heartbeat if I could, I think the UX
is _really_ bad, it's a nightmare for me to maintain.

I hate that the updates are so pushy; I boot into the computer maybe two or
three times a month and pretty much every time it wants me to restart and
update something. I hate that it installs new updates on startup, I don't know
who decided that when I turned on a computer I'd want to wait 3-4 extra
minutes for stuff to install. I've been bitten by that multiple times during
work presentations and calls.

I hate how glitchy the core OS touch support is; the touch keyboard only pops
up about half the time, and manually getting it to show up is a pain.
Unbelievably, Gnome is more consistent - which is saying something because
Linux touch support is so bad. Periodically, the dock will just decide it
doesn't want to hide anymore. There's about a 50% chance if I switch it into
tablet mode that screen rotation will work. The default permission prompts
don't always tell me which application is requesting authentication. I have
#?x! _ads_ in my start menu.

The whole UX is just really... buggy and nonsensical and it feels like none of
the designers ever tried to use it outside of demo conditions. Maybe that's my
device or whatever, but I'm on a Surface Pro. Microsoft should be able to get
that right.

I could go on, but there's not much point. In comparison, my Linux desktop
basically never breaks. I set it up once, and it just works. Same for my
parents. Especially with the rise of the web, app support is good enough for
them and, again, they want their apps to be usable, not flashy, and Open
Source usually fits that criteria just fine. The type of person who can get by
with an Android tablet instead of a desktop, could also probably get by with a
small Linux laptop and might even prefer it now.

There are obviously exceptions, but I don't have a lot of problem recommending
Linux to people anymore, because I've found most people want a computer that
is set up specifically for them, and then they just want it to work
consistently. (Opinion me) most people do not want their computers to evolve,
or delight them or something.

I think the demographic that Windows and Apple court is real, but narrower
than you might suspect.

~~~
e12e
> ... I have maybe two essential applications that don't run on Linux. I would
> switch it over in a heartbeat if I could,

They don't run under wine? (or in a Reactos vm? I assume they don't make sense
to run in a vm, as if they did, you'd already run Windows in a vm?)

~~~
danShumway
Unfortunately no, but I retry them every three or four months to see if they
will.

Clip Studio is _close_ \- really close, but color selection doesn't work and
touch controls are messed up (especially with the stylus eraser). Touch
support in Linux in general is awful, even with apps that I expect better of
like Firefox or MyPaint, but it's _almost_ good enough that I could tolerate
it and switch anyway.

I'm semi-hopeful that it'll cross that line in a year or two, and especially
hopeful that the work Purism is doing on the Librem Phone might speed that
process up.

I honestly haven't tried to run a VM, I just assumed it would eat up battery
too much to be useful - and since I use the tablet specifically for these
apps, I'd have to spend all of my time in the VM anyway, which doesn't seem
like much of an improvement :)

------
crypt1d
I appreciate his no-bs approach to the review - he sticks to what matters to
him, not all the new shiny bells and whistles. That said, I would have loved
some more input on audio management in the new Ubuntu. pulseaudio is giving me
such a headache in 17.10 - random static noise, not remembering the right
output or the volume, etc etc..

------
FrozenVoid
What i find annoying is that no Linux distro comes with sane settings by
default, you always have to tweak it until it works properly. It took me a few
months to get Xubuntu figured out(and few years to properly customize): it
involved lots of google searching and that is most pleasant expirience of them
all(other distros can't hold a candle to Ubuntu quality). Its as if distro
developers never used their own product(i suspect they run it through some VM
on a Mac). Here are major things I had to do: 1.Make /tmp load in ram via
tmpfs (much faster) 2.Disable swap entirely, convert it to a file
partition.(swap is slow ugly cludge that is useless with 8GB ram). 3.Disable
hibernate and suspend. (i don't want it to write to SSD). 4.Remove several CPU
hungry services that serve zero purpose such as tumbler,
whoopsie,browsed,update-notifier. 5.Fix the window manager to disable several
annoying quirks: such as entering zoom mode ocassionally. The overall feeling
is that Linux distros are packed with rarely used features turned on, and
needed things requiring installing (like e.g. paprefs(pulseaudio)). The
difference between what i have now and default setup is growing more distant
every day as i fix and customize more stuff. This also ensures I will stay on
Ubuntu 16.04 for the foreseeable future as i don't want to repeat similar
"customization/usability" work i've done on one machine again.

------
gpdpocketer
I've been a Linux user since the very beginning, and have settled on Ubuntu as
my daily driver for .. now .. decades (or is it, I dunno, feels like it..) ..
anyway, I am a systems-level developer, lots of experience, and I enjoy myself
a well-put together system.

So, since I tend towards the multimedia experiences, I use the -Studio variant
of Ubuntu, which is preconfigured and biased, default installations-wise,
towards the cool music and video and creative tools, and so on. Its really a
treat.

Anyway, I have a few systems. A DAW, Digital Audio Workstation, my studio,
which handles multiple channels of audio on a regular basis, often 32
independent streaming inputs per REC session .. and a fair swath of plugins
nobody has ever heard of before, which is often a positive...

On my personal laptop, I run the same thing. A GPD Pocket, with a small
satchel of cables, and I can pretty much set up anywhere and review sessions.

Through all of this, I have updated my Ubuntu systems - but the only way I've
been able to survive, personally, is to avoid Gnome Shell, and select FVWM or
LWM at login.

That said, the only place Gnome Shell really feels nice .. is on the GPD
Pocket. Does this say something about where things are at?

I tell you one thing: the GPD Pocket has replaced a Macbook Air ...

~~~
buildbuildbuild
A bit off topic but curious: which pro audio interfaces have you had the best
success with on Linux? Especially at 32 channels. I doubt I can ever break my
Logic+Waves addiction but your report has me intrigued, might give Ubuntu
Studio a shot for some experimental tracks. A GPD could be handy for live
tracking MADI at shows if the CPU can handle it.

------
billfruit
Why doesn't Ubuntu (and many other distributions) change to a rolling release
model. Having switched to Arch, though admittedly the installation process is
much more elaborate than of Ubuntu, once you customise it to one's preference,
it is much more convenient to keep upgrading individual packages as they are
evolving.

~~~
scj
Last time I tried Arch (about a decade ago), I gave a command to update
packages. In the update, my NVIDIA card was moved to be supported by "nvidia-
legacy" rather than "nvidia"... Of course, I didn't have legacy drivers
installed, so the driver failed pretty badly (it was assigned to NVIDIA in my
xorg conf). X wouldn't load, and because several aspects of X changed in the
update, I had to spend a few hours figuring out what when wrong.

The point of the above (possibly out of date) story is that when I say
"update", I want a minimal chance that something serious changed. I don't mind
fiddling around with Linux, but I want it to be on my terms (like a lazy
Sunday). Giving the user a choice between "update" and "upgrade" allows me to
specify when I want to apply major changes.

~~~
cat199
nvidia's binary blobs cause headaches on all distros -

this isn't really a distro/linux issue.

~~~
scj
The point is that this should be an "upgrade" change vs. an "update" change.

Rolling releases only have the later concept, meaning that instead of the user
acknowledging and preparing for a change, users need to respond to it.

------
tambre
Still no option to disable mouse acceleration? Come on! Default Gnome has had
an option for it for multiple years already.

~~~
gregknicholson
Ubuntu uses Gnome now. This option exists in the Tweaks app.

~~~
tambre
I'm aware that Ubuntu uses Gnome now. But it's especially annoying now, that I
know Gnome has got functionality for it, but they didn't bother to add an
option for it in the settings for normal users.

~~~
gregknicholson
That's Gnome's design decision.

I don't understand the comparison between Ubuntu and Gnome when Ubuntu is
simply inheriting Gnome's design decision.

------
enzolovesbacon
This is how a review is done. Thorough and covers the details that matters for
a distro review.

Although I could experience the advantages it's offering over 16.04, I tried
it yesterday and it's incredibly slow. Like 5-seconds-to-activate-focus-on-
any-window slow.

Has anyone had similar issue? The last time I experienced something laggy like
this was with crappy hardware.

It doesn't happen on RHEL 7.5 (with GNOME Classic), Fedora (with GNOME),
Ubuntu 16.04 (with Unity). I have a beefy computer (HP Z600, 2x Xeon, 48GB RAM
ECC), so I'm pretty sure it's not a hardware issue. Windows 10 also runs fine.

------
xur17
Has anyone found a good solution for non-integer screen scaling? I use Ubuntu
on all of my computers, but they have modern, hi-res screens, and the default
scaling is too small. The only options are integer multiples (which is too
big), or scaling the font size (which leaves window navigation, icons, etc too
small).

~~~
om42
I had switched to Wayland and it (sort of) supports fractional scaling system
wide. It did work, its just some things end up being blurry (fonts are blurry)
and that was too much for me. My temp workaround is using font scale at 1.4.
Its good enough but I miss not having to worry about it with Wayland,
especially with multiple monitors that have different resolutions. Some day
Wayland support will be better, but I don't see it anytime soon.

~~~
vetinari
The blurriness seems to be a bug with Xwayland: it runs the apps at @1 scale
and scales them UP to the required fractional size. It should run them at the
@2 scale and scale them DOWN, to preserve the sharpness.

Meanwhile, the best way to achieve fractional scale is to run X11, use the
nearest highest integer scale and scale it down using "xrandr --scale
1.somethingx1.something". Not very user friendly, though.

~~~
pritambaral
> Meanwhile, the best way to achieve fractional scale is to run X11, use the
> nearest highest integer scale and scale it down using "xrandr --scale
> 1.somethingx1.something". Not very user friendly, though.

KDE's Kwin on X11 supports fractionally scaling displays, and is user
friendly. Go to Displays -> Scale Display

~~~
vetinari
Not correctly, though.

When talking about fractional scaling in Gnome, it is meant for all apps, not
just GTK apps. Most apps do respect Xft.dpi, so they will scale their fonts,
as the desktop environment sets it up, but not the other assets. Scaling all
the other assets is the issue, not just the font rendering.

So yes, Qt apps in KDE do work correctly, (KDE is seting their QT_*_SCALE env
variables). It does not work with GTK apps. Similarly, GTK apps do work
correctly with fractional scaling in Gnome, but Qt apps do not, because Gnome
doesn't set QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE=0 and QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS like KDE does.
Qt apps in Gnome look broken exactly like GTK apps look broken in KDE.

Proper fractional scaling means scaling all apps, not just apps made using
single framework.

------
sfifs
One thing I discovered about the lock screen that's mentioned as a problem
here is that you can just type your password and enter to login after a
suspend and it will work.... No need to swipe or whatever.

------
willvarfar
The technical audience who actually use Linux desktops want more customization
not less, and the crowd that Ubuntu seems to be chasing doesn't seem to
actually exist?

Hmm this doesn't make me want to leave xubuntu any time soon, although I too
have noticed the recent xfce issues mentioned in the article.

~~~
blfr
As a member of the technical audience who actually uses Linux (Ubuntu), I want
almost no customization. I want sane and tested defaults, not a bunch of knobs
to adjust things.

I mourn the loss of the Unity Desktop which was virtually perfect OOTB. It had
a great management of the screen space, especially on laptops, it was pretty,
and it worked. I wouldn't even change the desktop background.

~~~
b3orn
The problem with sane defaults is that everyone seems to have their own idea
what the default should be.

~~~
blfr
First, This is only a problem if you have very diverse needs and most users'
needs aren't.

We need to run a browser, a terminal, a file manager, maybe some media apps,
and a text editor if you don't do that in the terminal. This is not like a vim
config of an industry veteran, it shouldn't require tweaking from the OS. Just
get out of the way.

I can tweak the number of workspaces or the colours temperature for day and
night. These are matters of personal preferences. But the way to launch apps,
connect to wifi, or display a clock should just be ergonomic.

Second, tweaks don't solve this problem.

There's a handful of talented tweakers and power users. They will use Sway or
whatever anyway. Everyone else when confronted with lots of knobs ends up with
something worse than a competent designer could have provided by default.

------
kyledrake
I find XFCE/Xubuntu to be better too. Unfortunately, that project does not
release often and is having trouble keeping up with the new world. In
particular, it's not very good at high dpi monitors, and getting it configured
for that was such a problem that I ended up abandoning it.

~~~
youseecomrade
And it has to keep up with Gnome/GTK too. I heard it's not easy.

~~~
kyledrake
There's apparently been some improvements to HiDPI in this release for
Xubuntu, which is giving me hope it works better now.

[https://xubuntu.org/release/18-04/](https://xubuntu.org/release/18-04/)

~~~
kyledrake
For future travelers, this is how you fix Xubuntu for HiDPI:
[https://askubuntu.com/questions/652021/adapt-font-and-
icon-s...](https://askubuntu.com/questions/652021/adapt-font-and-icon-sizes-
to-high-definition-screen-resolutions-in-ubuntu-studio/690420)

------
reacweb
I have a desktop. The first thing I test after installation of Ubuntu is the
remote access using ssh, then the wakeonlan, then the remote access using vnc
(already painful with 16.04), then the sharing of hard disk directories.
Finally, I test the playback of BD and CD.

I do not need much customization: ensure that the alt key is not blocked and
works fine with photoshop. On the desktop, I will probably only remove the
dock on the left.

~~~
pnutjam
Switch your remote access to x2go, you'll thank me.

~~~
kingosticks
What's the benefit? The best I previously found was nomachine since it has
clients for everything. But it's still so laggy over a remote connection,
maybe I'm doing something wrong.

~~~
pnutjam
I was using freeNX, x2go is better. Nomachine is a paid product, it's head and
shoulders better then VNC. You didn't experience that? The newer (non OSS)
version supports UDP streams for media. It's free to use, but I've not tested
it since it limits the number of users and I can stream ok with X2go.

~~~
kingosticks
I use the single-user free version of NoMachine (which I thought was also
closed source). I agree it's better than VNC but that's not hard. I'm not
trying to play media, just type etc. What I want is something as good as
Windows Remote Desktop where you almost can't tell you are remote - I would
happily pay for that.

------
petecooper
Two pages to monitor if you want to jump on 18.04 as soon as possible:

[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-
announce/2018-April...](https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-
announce/2018-April/date.html)

[http://torrent.ubuntu.com:6969](http://torrent.ubuntu.com:6969)

(No affiliation beyond being a user for about 4 years.)

~~~
pas
If you want to jump/upgrade, simply add

deb [arch=amd64,i386]
[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/](http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/) bionic
main restricted universe multiverse

deb [arch=amd64,i386]
[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/](http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/) bionic-
updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb [arch=amd64,i386]
[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/](http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/) bionic-
security main restricted universe multiverse

deb [arch=amd64,i386]
[http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu](http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu) bionic-
security main restricted universe multiverse

to /etc/apt/sources.list

hit apt update && apt full-upgrade

If things look okay (it should upgrade a bunch of packages, add quite a lot
new, and remove only a handful), hit enter.

------
rhinoceraptor
There's a setting in gnome tweak tool to have workspaces affect both monitors
instead of the default, which is just the primary monitor.

~~~
gregknicholson
I think this setting should be flipped by default, so that workspaces affect
all monitors, at least in the mode where the 2nd (3rd, etc.) monitor extends
your main desktop.

In 2-screen presentation mode, it makes sense that the 2nd screen doesn't
change when you change workspace, because you're presenting something there.

------
SubiculumCode
As long as I have the old-school styled MATE Desktop I'll be fine (XFCE is ok
too once configured, just not my preferred enviro). Honestly, the UI should be
err on keeping it simple and fast, animate IFF it is minimal and gives user
useful feedback, always include 'open terminal here' contextmenu (be proud
Linux), file browser should have up, back, forward buttons and a way to copy
the path, and a bar to place oft use applications, and multiple desktops. That
is all I want. Simple,no?

------
TekMol
Ubuntu is dead for me since the release where they were sending the data you
typed in the internal search across the internet. And Shuttleworth claimed
it's not a big deal.

Since then, I'm a happy Linux Mint user.

And since we are talking about Linux distros: I tried a bunch of times to live
with a distro that has no start bar at the bottom. Even after a few weeks my
productivity does not recover. It's a mistery to me how you can live without
it. I happily stick with the Mate desktop which has it.

~~~
Thaxll
Mint the distro with shity security model right? You better stay with Ubuntu /
Debian they know what they're doing on that side.

~~~
DataWorker
What was wrong with mint exactly?

~~~
Thaxll
See this:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/60ddd4/comments_on_l...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/60ddd4/comments_on_linux_mints_security_record/df5mwbb/)

------
setquk
I'm not mincing my words here but Gnome 3 is just an unpolishable turd and
needs to go away. It's just trying to be original and clever but has missed
the mark so incredibly far that makes it the most frustrating thing possible
to use on a daily basis. I have tried on and off for 2 years and it is just
eye gouging pain to use. I crawl back to xubuntu and XFCE in the end every
time as it does the service of getting out of my way.

Honestly they need to actually provide a desktop that isn't a piece of crap,
isn't some new paradigm and one where every UI element isn't an inch across
(munged up shitty titlebar/toolbar hybrid) or virtually invisible (scrollbars)
or has pointless transparency somewhere, isn't built on a stack of processes
and packages deeper than a Java enterprise stack trace and actually has some
quality control.

What we have at the moment, including the terrible QC of systemd, is a
travesty which simply discredits the excellent kernel and userland underneath.

~~~
IAmEveryone
UI is simply terribly hard. And the open source “bazaar” model also happens to
be at its worst in UI work. You kinda need a dictator with taste to get UIs
right, and the Linux community has neither dictators nor taste.

~~~
andrepd
A counterexample to that is the many other DEs done right: Xfce, Cinnamon,
etc.

~~~
yellowapple
Maybe this is different nowadays, but my initial experiences with Cinnamon a
few years back (right when I first switched to Mint in light of Ubuntu's
Amazon Lens debacle) were very strongly negative. It was ugly, unstable, slow,
difficult to customize, and in general just as shitty as GNOME 3 was at the
time.

 _MATE_ , on the other hand, was/is fantastic. GNOME 2 already was just about
perfect for me, and though I was willing to give Unity a try, I was
disappointed that it was so different from GNOME. MATE filled that void in my
heart like no other DE could.

Xfce is also excellent, and is what I'm using at work right now (though I'm
looking into switching back to a tiling WM, since I feel like I'm more
productive with it).

~~~
deathanatos
> _MATE, on the other hand, was /is fantastic. GNOME 2 already was just about
> perfect for me, and though I was willing to give Unity a try, I was
> disappointed that it was so different from GNOME. MATE filled that void in
> my heart like no other DE could._

I'm a MATE user presently, and I have to agree with this. It does what I need
with minimal BS. Unity, in particular, felt to me like a Linux DE trying to be
OS X, but not really succeeding at it. (I'm not particular fond of OS X,
either; I don't really don't care for the single-menu-at-the-top paradigm and
the icon dock on the side never seemed to really work right.)

But hey, it's Linux. IDK about Ubuntu these days, but in Gentoo (what I use
presently), you can pretty much run whatever DE you want. If people want OS
X-ish, that's their choice.

------
kpcyrd
It mentions the keyring is able to handle ed25519. Was this fixed in gnome-
keyring recently? Do they use something different?

Edit: it seems fixed:
[https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=723274](https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=723274)

------
RRRA
Upgrading from 16.04, the experience is quite awkward. CLI wise, I love Ubuntu
and 18.04 is just a refined version of a very functional desktop/server
distribution.

GUI wise though, it seems to have changed many defaults, a lot of which will
require extensions or obscure gsettings/dconf commands. But mulitple monitor
really felt like a mess compared to unity. Workspace switches only the laptop
screen, no grid layout, etc. And though I got used to putting a window on a
side for it to maximise or take half the screen, with Gnome3 it takes the
other window into account, so good luck trying to overlap use a side to see a
chat with moving that window by hand.

I kinda feel cinnamon gets a lot of thing more right, but Mint is a bit of a
mess to maintain and trust...

~~~
dhd415
For those reasons, I like Xfce and LXDE on Xubuntu and Lubuntu, respectively.
I use those for workstations, they've got the same CLI features as Ubuntu, and
I don't need or want a bunch of GUI chrome in my dev environments.

------
sandGorgon
Hmm..A lot of this review is about Gnome. Which is new and shiny for Ubuntu
users, but has been around forever in Fedora.

Fedora 27 is a beautiful, integrated OS that is probably better designed, pays
more core Linux devs and has fewer existential crises than Ubuntu.

------
Animats
This was a useful review. He installed it into a virtual machine, though, so
he didn't have to struggle with Linux driver issues. That's usually the
biggest headache with a Linux install.

He's right to view this from a naive user standpoint.

Ubuntu put an ad on the desktop? What do they think they're doing? Push back
hard against that. Windows 10's ads have produced much hatred, and soon you
won't be able to turn them off unless you buy the Enterprise version.

~~~
adrianratnapala
No he first tried it out on a VM, but then seems to have put it on a laptop.
There is quite a lot of discussion about what happens when you close the lid,
plug and unplug monitors etc.

------
mankash666
" I'm an open source advocate who is incredibly set in my ways and I want the
tools that I use to just work. I detest paying for software except when it
occupies certain specialized cases or represents something more akin to work
of art, such as the video game Portal. But only when it's on sale"

So he's someone who doesn't believe or support the traditional software
industry (everyone from Apple to MSFT makes money off the traditional model of
paying for value ).

Stopped reading the review there.

------
adrianratnapala
> The bar on the left is obviously a vertical imitation of the Mac OS X dock.

Which is a horizontal "imitation" of the NeXTStep doc, which I learned about
from WindowMaker. And which is the obvious extension of a plain-old button-bar
for the use case of a Window manager. So Kudos to old Stevie J, but still ...

------
5580
No mention of Ubuntu Budgie? I have found that it behaves perfectly and just
"gets out of the way." I have never liked the Unity interface and having plank
integrated is fantastic. I also like the menu (w/ search) vs. use search for
everything UX of GNOME vanilla.

~~~
crtasm
I tried out gnome/mate/x/kubuntu recently to see how they compared to my daily
driver lubuntu. Budgie is new to me, thanks for mentioning it.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Budgie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Budgie)

------
singhrac
Is there a blog post detailing the state of Ubuntu desktop apps (i.e. a list
of apps that _don 't_ have a port)? And does hi-resolution display support
work properly? I'm thinking about switching but there are certain nice things
about OSX that I can't live without.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Try a live CD/image?

------
zby
What I really want in Linux is some way to kill apps when it gets low on
memory and everything gets stuck. I know there is Magic SysRq Key - but I
always forget about the keys and also it requires recompiling the kernel.

~~~
pritambaral
Using Magic SysRq keys shouldn't require recompiling the kernel. Magic SysRq
is toggle-able and configurable via sysctl. If you're on Ubuntu, see
/etc/sysctl.d/10-magic-sysrq.conf

------
desk_rabbit
> I am going to be judging Ubuntu 18.04 like an elderly lady judges canteloupe
> at the produce market.

I was convinced when he said he chose xfce4/xubuntu, but now I'm _sure._

------
dekhn
For those complaining about the unlock screen: Not sure if I'm missing
something fundamental, but you can just type your password and hit enter.

------
themtutty
Most of the reviewer's comments aren't about anything new in 18.04. It's like
he didn't see any of the 17.* releases?

~~~
severine
A lot of people are on previous LTS versions. Both 14.04 and 16.04 still have
support: [https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-
life](https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life)

edit: grammar

------
severine
Any Xubuntu review out there? Fingers crossed...

------
philliphaydon
What is preventing linux from having the visual polish that windows and OS X
has???

~~~
quantum_magpie
As someone who uses LXDE daily for the past 9 years, and who has a gaming
Windows setup, I can tell wholeheartedly that the only thing worse than visual
polish of Windows is the GNOME3 and Unity DE's. I also had on couple occasions
the misfortune of using OSX, and god it was absolutely _horrid_. As in,
Windows level of bad.

------
unixhero
Any news on Powermac build?

~~~
yellowapple
I thought Ubuntu dropped support for PowerPC Macs quite awhile back? I know
last time I ended up running Linux on one (my eMac) it was with Debian.

I've since found that OpenBSD runs a lot better on PowerPC Macs anyway.

~~~
unixhero
I cannot fathom why they would drop support for the widely used powermac
platform.

Ubuntu mate 1604 has a fully working powermac big median ppc build. I am using
it now and it really rocks my g5 machines. Will install openbsd next!

------
NedIsakoff
Any idea when it is released? I know its today, but when today?

------
severine
Known issues (from
[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/ReleaseNotes](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/ReleaseNotes))

As is to be expected, with any release, there are some significant known bugs
that users may run into with this release of Ubuntu 18.04. The ones we know
about at this point (and some of the workarounds), are documented here so you
don't need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

Desktop

\- The computer suspends after 20 minutes of inactivity on battery power even
if a user is logged in remotely. (GNOME:gnome-control-center#22) \- Bluetooth
audio devices cannot be used in the Greeter. This will cause issues for people
using the accessibility features such as screenreaders at the login screen.
Once logged in everything should work as expected.

\- Some admin utilities will not work with GNOME on Wayland since the apps
have not been adapted to use PolicyKit to only use admin privileges for the
specific functions needed. Also, some screenshot and screencast apps and all
remote desktop server apps do not currently work on GNOME on Wayland. As a
workaround, you can use the default Ubuntu session.

\- Exiting the live session may get stuck with a "A start job is running for "
error. You may need to forcefully power off the computer if you see this.
(1706939)

\- The Dock and Appindicator system extensions appear to be Off in tools like
GNOME Tweaks. (They are on but cannot be disabled because they are system
extensions for the Ubuntu session.) (1718850)

\- Tracker is not installed by default. When installed, you must log out and
log back in for the tracker service to start (1697769)

\- Systems may fail to boot when connected over DisplayPort to an external
screen, on NVidia graphics hardware such as the GTX970 chipset. (1723619)

\- When an external monitor is connected to a laptop, the login screen is only
displayed on the internal one and in some case is not visible (1723025)

\- The warning dialog when a user force a UEFI installation does not respond
to input event and the installation is then blocked at this stage (1724482)
Avoid yourself some troubles and do not force a UEFI installation without a
UEFI partition, grub-installer will fail anyway.

\- Doing an "Entire disk" installation over an existing LVM installation will
fail because the installer selects the wrong boot device (1724417) Use custom
partitioning instead and manually select the right boot device in the combo
box.

\- The Files app remains at 3.26.

\- Upgrading via the installer (Ubiquity) is deemed not safe due to bugs in
apt-clone and so is no longer supported. (1756862) UIFE - remove ubiquity
upgrade option.

\- Setting a ulimit may cause segfaults in certain applications, especially
those using webkit2gtk. Disabling the ulimit should restore normal
functionality. More information in this Debian news entry:
[https://salsa.debian.org/webkit-
team/webkit/blob/wk2/unstabl...](https://salsa.debian.org/webkit-
team/webkit/blob/wk2/unstable/debian/NEWS)

\- Occasionally login may hang after an incorrect password (1766137). A
workaround is to click cancel, click on your user and try again.

Server

\- Partitioning step allows to configure LVM across multiple devices without
requiring to setup a separate /boot partition. This may lead to failure to
install the bootloader at the end of the installation, and failures to boot
the resultant installations. (1680101)

\- LVM configuration cannot be removed when volume groups with the same name
are found during installation. Partitioner does not support installation when
multiple conflicting/identical volume groups have been detected. For example
reinstalling Ubuntu with LVM across multiple disk drives that had individual
LVM installations of Ubuntu. As a workaround, please format disk drives prior
to installation, or from the built in shell provided in the installer.
(1679184)

\- cio_ignore blacklist is no longer active after installation, because not
all install-time parameters, like cio_ignore (s390x), are propagated to the
installed system. Workaround is to edit /etc/zipl.conf to apply these and re-
run sudo zipl to update the IPL. (1571561)

------
dingo_bat
Has Ubuntu fixed Alt+Tab yet? It drive me mad the last time I tried to use it.
Why can't it just cycle through windows like a normal window manager?

~~~
kumaranvpl
It is not fixed yet. That is the intended behaviour I guess. Anyway I am using
[https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/15/alternatetab/](https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/15/alternatetab/)
this extension to cycle through all the open windows.

~~~
theyinwhy
That's a gnome option you can change by e.g. using the dconf editor. See
[https://askubuntu.com/questions/464946/ubuntu-gnome-force-
al...](https://askubuntu.com/questions/464946/ubuntu-gnome-force-alt-tab-to-
switch-only-on-current-workspace)

------
jk2323
Never liked GNome, unity, settled for Kubuntu. After KDE started annoying me,
I use Bodhi Linux [https://www.bodhilinux.com](https://www.bodhilinux.com)

------
tinus_hn
That was a reasonable review until it devolved into the typical Apple whinery
of self-professed UI ‘experts’.

~~~
yAnonymous
From a usability standpoint, Apple's UX is genuinely bad.

~~~
Rjevski
Disagreed. There are quirks, but it’s otherwise good and light years ahead
from Linux or even Windows 8+.

------
trisimix
For a limix admin your review was suprising. If you hadnt prefaced Id had
guessed this to be your first review outside of windows no offense. You didn't
mention anything non user-interface, or the files that run it.

------
nullsteph
You didn't mind the app launcher being full screen on all monitors? I run 3
monitors and its a jarring experience to open the gnome launcher. The deal
killer for me though was the lack of a shortcut to maximize window top/bottom
half of the display. I've been test driving KDE Neon and am pretty happy with
it so far.

------
madeel
A review of common sense. Stop using things built on top of junk. 30 years and
still working on building an OS, great we'll be doing this for the next 100
years as well.

~~~
bovermyer
If I understand correctly, you just said that any operating system that's
still under development thirty years after its inception is garbage.

Please clarify, because I can't believe that that's what you actually mean.

~~~
madeel
How long can you hammer on the nail and expect that it's going somewhere.
There needs to be wholesome approach to software development.

Kernel is the not the only cure to OS problems. We need to take into
consideration the stability of what we build on top of the kernel not just the
kernel itself.

API stability across kernel + drivers + user land must not show signs of UFO.

