Fedora 16 instabilities
Jesse Palser
SLNTHERO at AOL.com
Wed Jan 11 20:26:40 UTC 2012
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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