Even in relation to 9.04, in 9.10 there are important fixes (e.g. some problems with some Intel graphic cards) and expected application updates.

However, there were some new problems introduced. While my sound experience was better in 9.10 out of the box (I had problems in 9.04 with Skype – that anyway were fixable), a lot of others had problems. I would not in general blame PulseAudio. I would rather think, that by the attempt to remove other sound stuff (that often caused conflicts – since I am on Linux – even Fedora – I always had troubles with sound to get them to work), the transition to PulseAudio was not an easy one and hence some bugs occurring.

There also have been issues introduced in 9.10 with mobile internet sticks not working any more (I also was affected myself by this) – but most of these issues could be fixed by firmware updates and fixes in the Linux kernel (which BTW is not Ubuntu-specific and hence not necessarily related to their release schedules).

In general regarding the release schedules, the hurry is not necessary because Canonical/Community can choose what to include/bring further for the next release. They could easily be in schedule by not changing too much.

From history I would say Linux evolved that fast in the last years that – I guess – most were already waiting for a lot of new cool stuff and within 6 months there were huge changes. From current point of view as I have quite everything I need I would also have no problems if a new release would appear only once in a year.

One important thing: If you use Skype just upgrade to the newest Linux version and don’t allow Skype to manipulate your mixer levels (there is an appropriate option in the Skype settings).

Karmic is a turd dipped in diarrhea pudding.

As a new-ish Ubuntu user, I started using Ubuntu in the last days of Intrepid, and then upgraded to Karmic with no problems. When I cautiously upgraded to Karmic six weeks after release (to give Canonical time to shake out all the bugs), I was sorely disappointed. Among the problems I’ve experienced:

Proprietary NVIDIA driver crashes on a daily basis
(and system stalls on resume from suspend when using default NVIDIA free driver),
Video hue off by default (aka the Smurf Effect) on all non-Flash video,
Periodic audio problems — audio becomes scratchy and static-y.

What’s good about Karmic? Well, things seem to launch a bit faster, and the packages in the Upgrade Manager are sorted by their PPA.

I’ve traded a stable, problem-free Jaunty install for THIS. If I had an external HD I’d have backed up my data, reinstalled Jaunty, downloaded/burned a Karmic disc and ceremoniously destroyed it.

Basically, I’m getting Xid errors from the NVIDIA driver about every other day, and the system usually crashes after giving me a corrupted, garbled desktop. Jaunty was FLAWLESS, and the issues started immediately after upgrading.

Does anyone know if EnvyNG is still being maintained? It doesn’t work in Karmic.

Also I never do an update but do a simple clean install on another partition on my quad boot machine (2 Ubuntu, 2 very old Windoze). I learned that lesson two years ago while updating from Gutsy to Hardy ;-)

I answered the famous pll within 24 hours of fresh installing Karmic over Intrepid.I gave it a generally thumbs-up.
But 2 weeks later I’ve completely revised my opinion to worst version I’ve used. You completely neglected to mention the huge number of people having connection issues after both Install & Upgrade. Broadcom which used to work in Intrepid, stopped working. Same for Huawei 3G modem which also worked flawlessly a year ago.
So at a drop, thousands of people lost their ability to connect, the single most vital aspect of the OS. And…these problems were know prior to release, but the date was more important than the experience.
More people found their laptop external display setup no longer working as previously (I had to run a script at every startup, startups which also are far more frequent than previously). Nautilus also has a serious bug (folders hanging after transferring large files into them) .

That’s the Vista problem in a nutshell. Schedule over users.

I plugged in three monitors until I found one that works – sort-of. The “correct” driver would not allow an increased resolution to anything reasonable. The second monitor went blank on this PC too (and stays blank after logging in even when returned to the original PC which has not been upgraded yet). No idea why.

The blank monitor reset the driver and this monitor worked but the edges of the text were all missing. A new borrowed monitor reset it again and now the text is tiny but at least it is all there. Moral: only go to Koala if you have a late model monitor.

Reading that Pidgin and GIMP are being removed is a major setback for me as I use them both daily. WHY would they want to remove these two major programs? What can we do about it? Can they still be manually installed (at great difficulty for even users like me who use PCs all day every day and have for decades) or are they going to be gone forever?

Has Ubuntu ever considered doing LESS updates? Most of us USE PCs to accomplish tasks and would rather not deal with all these time-consuming challenges so often. Do we really need updates every six months? Couldn’t we make them annual or even once every couple of years and focus on stability and less bugs?

You are right the Happy ones don’t vote. Where is a good one of those poles I’ll go add my 2 cents to it.

Lori (one happy nubee)

The other three were: some obscure Japanese laptop brand called Hassee with Intel graphics, a 10 year old Dell Inspiron 4000 with ATI graphics card that is supported for 2D graphics only and a custom built desktop with an nVidia graphics card.

I’m stunned by how robustly these systems are preforming and their repsective users – parents, friends, colleagues – are contacting me far less often with questions than when they were running Windows. I’m considering taking it to my local school next.

I think looking at all the new features Koala brings along, it is quite no surprise some Systems may have a problem or 2. For me, 9.10 is the best Ubuntu ever and is working here now for 3 weeks without any problems!

Ubuntu Karmic = Windows Vista?

That is a really offense to me; I am not a Linux lover, but I use it; got Win 7 since 2 months ago, Ubuntu 9.10 and Sabayon 5. And always we are using Ubuntu, because faster, simple, nice, clean, internet works much better. The only thing I use in Windows is iTunes for my iPhone and that for the jailbrake… Even my daugther 2 years old know how to put games on Ubuntu…

Saying bad thing’s about Windows normally get’s ignored or shelved. Talking about Open Source is a different matter. Open Source need’s reviews like this one to allow all of us to look at what we think is wrong and work on getting it right. Canonical has so far done a great job in making Ubuntu known. The community is doing a great job of making Ubuntu improve. Without “Truthful” reviews though we will see no advances.

I’m happy with Karmic it was the final coffin nail in my Windows system’s. A few initial “quirks” but all easily fixed (guess I’m lucky)

Now I am pretty happy – At the moment I have nothing to complain. Everything works reliable and I have my doubts that Microsoft would ever be able to deliver their first service pack within two weeks after release…