Re: Fedora 16 instabilities

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There is always Microsoft(R) Windows(R)

I ran Linux for about two years natively on my main desktop.
(first was Linux Mint, then Ubuntu, then Xubuntu after the switch to Unity Desktop)

Been running Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64Bit for almost a year with zero problems.
Its really not that bad anymore...

Jesse



On 1/11/2012 3:00 PM, David A. De Graaf wrote:
Here's why Fedora 16 isn't ready for prime time.
Many of these have been BZ'd, without effect.

- I won't even discuss the gnome3 controversy.  I've used xfce for
   many years and am very happy with it.

- The worst aspect of Fedora 16 is it has made computing a stochastic
   process.  Instead of the rock-solid behaviour of previous releases,
   Fedora 16 behaves randomly.

- On two laptops with encrypted disks, when booting, one asks for the
   passphrase once; the other twice.  The second request can only be
   seen if rhgb is removed from the kernel boot line, and you watch the
   systemd spewage carefully.

- The command 'reboot' typed in an X terminal emulator, sometimes
   works; but often hangs the machine, requiring pressing reset.

- Shutdown takes much too long, and often fails completely, like
   reboot.  This is quite annoying, especially with laptops.

- The 'df' command has been rendered nearly useless due to the
   voluminous extraneous output.

- The mount command, which was once useful, isn't any more.  It's
   simply unreadable.

- The systemd system has replaced the simple and easily understood
   sysv init system with a jumbled mess.  The output during boot is
   scrambled and the terminology is grossly verbose and confusing.
   It may be a tiny bit quicker to boot on a multicore machine, but the
   loss of comprehensibility and reliability is much too high a price.

- The systemd alternative to editing /etc/inittab with runlevel = 3
   is grotesque.

- /var/log/boot.log is empty, sometimes.  When it is written, it
   contains no dates.

- If 'startxfce4' is used at a console prompt to start an xfce session,
   root windows have $DISPLAY undefined, and cannot run privileged
   programs.  Critical tabs in various windows (shutdown, nm-applet
   editing, etc.) are greyed out.  A workaround is to create $HOME/.xinitrc
   with this cryptic line:
     ck-launch-session dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session startxfce4
   and then use 'startx', as if starting gnome.   :-(

- grub2 fails to correctly initialize /boot/grub2/grub.cnf when older
   kernel objects are present in /boot, and alternate root partitions
   exist.

- grub2 sometimes sets the default kernel to an older one; sometimes
   to the newest one.

- Changing UID's to start at 1000 instead of 500 is just annoying.

- The latest kernel, 3.1.7-1.fc16.x86_64, causes skype to crash
   unless it is run with strace, in which case it fails to fail.
   Go figure!

- With earlier kernels, skype was merely unreliable, sometimes with no
   microphone, sometimes no sound, sometimes no video.  The popup that
   announces an incoming call fails to appear - sometimes.  Despite its
   non-open status, skype is a critical utility.  Some way must be found
   to support it so it is reliable.  Making changes to the kernel that
   destroy it is not acceptable.

- Some programs fail at random, unpredictible and unrepeatable times.
   Qtstalker occasionally simply stops working.  It's window can be
   deleted, but a zombie remains.

- Systemd doesn't know how to tell time.  During boot, time is off by
   4 hours, then is fixed when ntp gets going.  Perhaps as a result,
   sometimes, not always, X starts with a screensaver.  It's random!

- The cups print system can no longer print full Legal size pages.
   The print space is shifted upward and truncated.

- The /etc/rc.d/rc.local file has been deleted.  It can be recreated,
   but you must know to start it with   #!/bin/sh   and make it
   executable.  Why not simply retain a properly constructed dummy?

- gkrellm -s remotesys   often quits without reason.  Then, sometimes,
   it cannot be restarted without rebooting  remotesys.
   More randomness.

- When xfce is restarted, the session manager restarts gkrellm windows
   with the bottom section truncated - sometimes.  Another randomness.
   The full length can be restored by manually running the
   Configuration popup and changing some item, then changing it back.

- The session manager for xfce seems unable to restart roxterm
   windows, but can handle xterm's fine.  Why?

- On one laptop the NumLock will sometimes turn itself on.  This can
   be annoying if a password must be typed.

- On one machine, the password had be typed quickly in a console.  The
   root password was too hard to type to meet that requirement.
   However, if it was entered by cut-and-paste, it was OK.
   In X, there was no problem.

- On one machine (of seven) the CD drawer pops open at random times.

- An older nvidia NV18 GeForce4 MX 440 card requires the earlier
   version of the nvidia driver - which is no longer supported.  The
   nouveau driver doesn't work nearly as well.  A perfectly functional
   video card is rendered disfunctional.

- Libreoffice insists on making files inaccessible via nfs.
   A workaround is to edit /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/soffice to
   comment out these two lines:
     ## SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING=1 ## export SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING
   but this must be redone whenever a new update comes along.

- The rt2500usb driver for my DLink USB wireless transceiver won't
   work reliably unless I disable power management with:
     iwconfig wlan0 power off
   However, trying to do this automatically in a control file,
     /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/16-power
   only works sometimes.  Another puzzling and annoying randomness.

- A directory, ~/.gvfs, cannot be read even by root.  This should be
   impossible in a sane Linux system.  This unacceptable behaviour can
   be expunged by removing the gvfs-fuse package, which takes with it
   the shotwell, totem, and totem-nautilus packages.  So far, I haven't
   noticed any loss of functionality.

- The microphone on one machine (but not others) wouldn't work until I
   added a cryptic line to the beginning of
   /etc/modprobe.d/dist-alsa.conf:
     options snd-hda-intel model=auto

- Fedora 16 simply cannot be used with mythtv.  It refuses to detect
   any of my three TV receiver cards.

- The mythfrontend program wouldn't start on a remote machine until I,
   cryptically, removed ~/.ICEAuthority.  I have no idea what this is
   all about.

- Firefox can be configured to print a header and footer to record
   the URL, etc.  However, the cups printers refuse to print it,
   truncating this useful info.

- My son, after reviewing this list, adds some more:
   Pnmixer fails to start roughly 1/3 of the time - meaning no sound -
   in XFCE4.  (I don't have pnmixer installed, so cannot confirm.)

- Login and logout can take a variable length of time - from roughly
   one second to roughly one minute - for no apparent reason. So far
   this happens only on a newly built machine.

- The problem of gkrellm not properly redrawing on restart may have
   been fixed.  We'll see...      IT'S RANDOM!!!



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