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    Lucid? So far...not that great.

    Well, it's been a week.

    Lucid problems so far;
    1. Can't update kernel because I'm using the nvidia driver in the repos.
    2. Graphical speed 20% slower than with Karmic - same driver, same xorg.conf
    3. Random daily lockups - no log file trace. Requires reset or SysRq Reboot.
    4. Memory use seems to be higher than Karmic, about 10-15%.
    5. Kfind seems broken.

    Comments;
    1. This worked fine in Jaunty,Karmic, nvidia users are everywhere. Why allow this regression?
    2. Probably xorg's fault - new server version?
    3. Super annoying. Not destructive yet. I don't even know how to begin trouble shooting this one. New kernel might help but see #1.
    4. Could be some process I haven't found and shut down yet.
    5. Locate at the cli works fine, kfind can't find a file by a partial name.

    Lucid benefits so far;
    1. grub-pc 1.98 somewhat better than 1.97 after some tweaking. This version seems slower booting than 1.97 but at least graphical mode is working along with TTY's. I even got plymouth to display at 1280x1024 (eventually).
    2. KDE (4.4.3) seems a bit quicker (opening windows and such).

    That''s about all I can think of for now.

    Reading through the forum there are others with worse issues than me. Some of them seem totally random like NFS no longer working or random things missing from the install like icon files.

    Based on my limited (K)Ubuntu (Jaunty was my first) experience I'd say the Karmic release was way less buggy than this one. I'd say where Karmic on the ease of getting up to speed was a way-better-than-average install and initial setup experience, Lucid was a somewhat-worse-than-average one.

    I have faith that "this too shall pass" but it's worth talking about.

    Have a nice day - thanks for reading.

    Please Read Me

    #2
    Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

    I'd wage that #2, 3 and 4 are all related to your video driver problems. Don't know about kfind. I always use locate. It is faster and more flexible than anything else, and easier to use.
    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
    – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

      Yeah, me too on locate. I keep trying the GUI things so I can relate to others but the darn cli "keeps pullin' me back in" lol.

      You could be right about the video related thing too. I'll start digging.

      Please Read Me

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

        I love the locate command! Very powerful.
        Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007
        "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

          " It is Long Term Support not Long Term Stable"


          2. Graphical speed 20% slower than with Karmic - same driver, same xorg.conf
          It could be this:

          > [SOLVED] High CPU usage during IDLE 10.04
          >> Powertop Shows Excessive Wakeups from <kernel scheduler> and <kernel IPI>
          >>> Bug #524281: Tens of wakes per second in "[kernel scheduler] Load balancing tick"

          At here the workaround was to use the Karmic Kernel > Topic: Install older kernel?


          3. Random daily lockups - no log file trace. Requires reset or SysRq Reboot.
          Could be linked with the Kernel problems or with the memory problems (4).


          4. Memory use seems to be higher than Karmic, about 10-15%.
          "Kubicle told" > Topic: Ureadahead memory issue >> Bug #501715: Kernel trace buffer should be cleared and size restored after profiling

          More of the "über" > All about ureadahead
          Before you edit, BACKUP !

          Why there are dead links ?
          1. Thread: Please explain how to access old kubuntu forum posts
          2. Thread: Lost Information

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

            Thanks Rog, for the detailed reply.

            I'm not going to go through regressing the kernel because I still have a usable Karmic install. Mostly, I'm testing and discovering the changes that have occurred in Lucid.

            The ureadahead articles were very interesting and are now bookmarked for reference down-the-line. I'm not really too concerned about reboot times because - except when I'm having lockup issues like now, or I'm installing a new distro - I rarely shut down. I typically go (with Karmic) several weeks to a couple of months between shutdowns. My server hasn't been rebooted since September!

            I'm going to do some more data gathering on where the mem goes and wait for a fix to the kernel vs. nvidia driver thing - which I suspect will be repaired soon enough.

            The most bothersome thing is the lockups so I'm now sifting through logs to see if I can pinpoint a cause.

            Please Read Me

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

              I'm seeing complaints about LL not being as stable as Karmic. (I also saw complaints about Karmic not being as stable as Jaunty! ).

              My notebook is a Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E, which cost about twice that of the normal laptops and notebooks being sold today. Jaunty, Karmic, Lucid Lynx (and Mandriva PWP 2009 installed, and PCLinuxOS 2010 as a LiveCD) have ALL been rock solid for me, ignoring the occasional self-healing plasmoid crashes in Jaunty).

              I wonder how many of the Karmic and Lucid crash reports we are seeing is due to low-end hardware built using 2nds and/or somewhat defective or marginal components? Linux is, after all, the Canary in the mine. It will flag bad hardware very quickly.
              "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
              – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                As a fresh (not an upgrade) installation, Lucid Lynx has been the most enjoyable Kubuntu I've used yet. On my Toshiba Satellite P105-S6147, everything that I use works.
                Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007
                "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                  Totally valid comment - the first thing I consider is hardware when things lock up - especially if there's no logged activity. The last time I had this many lockups was when a hard drive was going. Right now, hard drives are new and all my other hardware - although not new, is tried and tested. The first thing I do is turn off my overclocking to determine of there's a stability issue there.

                  The current locking I'm getting I don't get when I boot to Karmic so I'm pretty sure it's software related.




                  Please Read Me

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                    ....
                    The current locking I'm getting I don't get when I boot to Karmic so I'm pretty sure it's software related.
                    ....
                    [/quote]

                    Except that IF it were a software bug(s) one would expect it(them) to be hardware independent and be affecting everyone. Obviously it(they) are not affecting everyone. Besides the obvious Foxconn BIOS which actually tested for Linux and sent it, randomly, into non-existent vectors, there can be BIOS, firmware and hardware implementations which affect different distros, and versions of the same distro differently. This is true for applications as well. (And for Windows, too!).

                    While testing the gold iso for Kubuntu Lucid Lynx I downloaded the 32 and 64 bit CD versions. I also downloaded the 32 and 64 bit versions in the DVD format. Try as I may, I could never get the 64b DVD version to boot to the LiveCD, even though the iso and burned dvd tested out as OK. Others reported no problem with the 64b DVD version. My hardware with that particular compile of the 64b DVD iso was a defective combination.



                    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                    – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                      Except that IF it were a software bug(s) one would expect it(them) to be hardware independent and be affecting everyone
                      . I think I get your point but I don't totally agree. The fact that hardware varies greatly could mean a bug that effects one system may not effect another. That doesn't make it a hardware problem.

                      I build my own desktop computers so it's fair to say no one else has my exact combination of hardware and therefore software related bugs may or may not appear. Because they don't appear on a particular system doesn't mean they don't exist - they just don't effect that particular system. An obvious example is video hardware. Two of my systems are Intel video (but not exactly the same) and the other has an nvidia card. There is definitely a problem with xorg, ubuntu and the Intel gma500 video chip. The same video hardware using Fedora works much better.

                      Instead, I would say the degree of a software bug varies from one that effects all users hardware, like the ureadahead issues Rog pointed out, to more specific or less obvious ones that only crop up under certain conditions or certain combinations of hardware or situations.

                      I guess it boils down to a difference in how we're defining it. Your DVD example - in my definition - is not a hardware problem, it's a software incompatibility and therefore by definition a software glitch or bug. The solution isn't to replace a working piece of hardware just because kubuntu can't use it.

                      Now that I've flogged that horse for all it's worth - I do get your point.

                      You do state
                      I'm seeing complaints about LL not being as stable as Karmic
                      so there must be some fire there somewhere along with all that smoke and some of my complaints are affecting others.

                      The lockup issue has already lessened somewhat over the last couple of days updates and I've removed some problematic software (like network manager) today to see how that effects anything, memory or lockups.

                      I need more time and to pay attention as to what/when is going on when lockups happen.

                      The last lockup was last night. I had firefox running on a yahoo game page that uses java windows, I had dvd::rip transcoding a movie, and I had hulu playing a tv show. I paused hulu but left it open, quit my game but left the java screen open and left the computer for about 30-40 minutes. When I returned, it was locked. I'm going to test that same combination today.

                      These lockups are semi-solid. I can reboot using SysReg RSEIUB, but no TTY access.

                      Please Read Me

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                        Ok, so this time hulu running, dvd::rip transcoding, firefox open but not on yahoo/java page. Left for about 30 minutes. When I returned, screens were black but not in dpms mode, could still hear hulu running, no obvious hard drive activity. Keyboard locked like before. The only log entires I have discovered thus far:

                        Code:
                        May 10 15:26:40 office kernel: [ 8602.272556] NVRM: Xid (0001:00): 13, 0003 00000000 00008297 00001458 000c5c01 00000003
                        May 10 15:26:40 office kernel: [ 8602.294495] NVRM: Xid (0001:00): 13, 0001 00000000 0000502d 00000860 ff000000 00000100
                        May 10 15:26:53 office kernel: [ 8615.582590] NVRM: Xid (0001:00): 8, Channel 00000001
                        So it seems to be a video driver/xorg/kernel and/or maybe dpms issue.

                        Next test I will turn dpms off.

                        EDIT: No lockup after 40 minutes without dpms. Oddly, if I force dpms rather than waiting for automatic enabling it doesn't lock up.

                        Please Read Me

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                          I noticed your PC specs. How many bongomips bogomips does your box give you?


                          (Thanks for the edit, Snowhog! My fingers have a mind of their own. They have to, my real mind has wandered off )
                          "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                          – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                            Some deeper web searching reveals an nvidia issue that is fixable with a pci=nommconf added to boot parameters. So far, that has increased video speed via gtkperf about 20%.

                            Please Read Me

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Lucid? So far...not that great.

                              currently: 4777.88 bogomips

                              But I've turned the overclocking down until I get this figured out.

                              I think I'm going to re-post the nvidia issue in the proper sub-forum in case my info helps anyone else.

                              Please Read Me

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