

Goodbye Ubuntu - breck
http://netsplit.com/2012/10/30/goodbye-ubuntu/

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andrewcooke
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WsfS5kr...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WsfS5kraVqQJ:netsplit.com/2012/10/30/goodbye-
ubuntu/&hl=en&tbo=d&gl=cl&strip=1)

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gtaylor
When the author was asked why his changes weren't merged upstream (which would
have prevented his issues):

> "A lot of this kind of stuff differs wildly between the distributions,
> especially since no two distros share the same boot code. The simple fact
> was that the changes were sent upstream and rejected because they didn’t
> apply to Red Hat, and the RH way of doing things. Likewise they don’t apply
> to Debian since that uses sysvinit and (I believe) udev is still optional,
> etc"

For a project as large and as complicated as Ubuntu, I imagine custom patches
like the author's get lost periodically between release cycles, especially if
they no longer apply cleanly to the latest upstream version.

I guess I also find it hard to believe that the upstream maintainers (RH?)
could not be worked with to get this eventually merged in. Difficult
developers/teams do exist, but the difficulties in getting the patches
accepted weren't really outlined in the post (so it's hard to know what
happened).

I also wonder how many alternative distros are using the unmodified upstream
version of the package in question, meaning that the author may run into the
same issue on other Linux distros as well.

~~~
donniezazen
Author should have coordinated with upstream maintainer to begin with.

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kbuck
I recently bought a NAS after a string of DIY fileservers, and I'm glad I did.
It does a better job of taking care of the disks than I could, and has a nice
web interface for managing volumes. The biggest thing it has going for it is
hardware designed specifically for being a NAS; disks are easier to swap and
ventilation is much better.

~~~
wglb
Does the NAS support the possibility of whole disk encryption? (A little OT
here.)

~~~
snarfy
This are the best I've found: <http://www.synology.com/us/index.php>

Here is a basic unit, with a hardware encryption co-processor:
[http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS...](http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS112%2B)

~~~
galaktor
I own a DS 212j with 2 x 2TB in RAID 1. One of my best home-tech purchases
ever.

------
jcurbo
Rather interesting because Scott James Remnant was a longtime Debian and
Ubuntu developer. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_James_Remnant>

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Misiek
I'am also disappointed with Ubuntu (version 10.10 was the best but 12.04 the
worst). I wanted to try Fedora but I was reading interesting Fedora 18
Spherical Cow review on HN yesterday:
<http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/fedora-18-kde.html> What is the best Linux
distribution (with Gnome 2) for Web Developers?

------
neeraj_r
Good Bye to netsplit.com :) It is not loading.. I think traffic from hacker
news killed their server now. :)

~~~
keybuk
It's hosted on Linode, looking at it sternly kills it ;-)

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kamme
I said goodbye too recently. After dealing with slow performance, a lot of
crashes and high memory usage on my machines I started looking around for
other options. That also took care of the worries I had about the very
questionable choices Ubuntu/Canonical made the last few years, but it's still
quite sad to see it driving towards a cliff.

I have arch linux running now and while arch is not known for it's stability,
I have far fewer applications crashing nowadays.

------
jeffk1337
I set up FreeNAS on a Proliant Mini and am very happy with it. ZFS takes a
little while to grok but it is pretty sweet once you understand it.

------
aroberge
Sad to see that rather than making the decision: won't upgrade server
distribution, leaving users with an older but still working version, the
decision that was made is to "upgrade" while knowingly reintroducing old
issues.

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lorenzfx
I'm using a AMD E450 based machine running FreeBSD and 5x2TB disks in a zfs
zraid for network storage. While SSH access could be faster, it's certainly
enough for streaming 1080p video.

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chakalakasp
The thing is, there actually are cloud services that let you cheaply back up
and restore terabytes. Crashplan is one of them, and they have a Linux client.

~~~
galaktor
Going a wee bit off-topic here; but since Synology NAS got mentioned here...

[http://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToSetUpCrashPlanCloudBackup...](http://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToSetUpCrashPlanCloudBackupHeadlessOnASynologyNASBackupStrategies.aspx)

------
cmccabe
This is why you use OpenSUSE or CentOS for servers, not Ubuntu.

Also, if for some reason, you have a desire to contribute to Ubuntu,
contribute to Debian instead. Your changes will probably end up in Ubuntu, and
the Debian folks care about stuff like user privacy and free software.

~~~
moe
SuSE?! That is just cruel.

The realistic choice for servers today is either Debian or CentOS. This is
what you'll find in pretty much any large deployment and for good reasons.

Ubuntu may be a distant third candidate due to its recent popularity, however
it was never really meant for servers. Many of their policies are problematic
in a server-env and most of the perceived popularity stems from inexperienced
people who, by default, use on their server what they know from their desktop.

And please don't recommend SuSE. That is really just cruel.

~~~
cmccabe
SuSE has made a few questionable decisions, like being the first major
distribution to call btrfs stable, and playing games with libc symbols in
10.x.

I was on board the Fedora train until recently, but I had to get off because
it was changing from RHEL beta edition to... RHEL pre-alpha edition. I have a
soft spot for SuSE, but I've never been a full-time sysadmin, so you have to
take my recommendations with a grain of salt.

