What Do You Dislike or Hate About Ubuntu?

[deanjo]

You claim windows has applications that access hardware directly via own drivers, bypassing the ring0, kernel, drivers(bringing their own) and nt6.1 actually uses windows 16 bit core? Great! Tell that wine developers!

lol You think that every application out there needs hardware specific functions? w32 has been around for a few decades my friend.

[deanjo]

According to deanjo, you are lying :P

No I am not. It all depends on the application as I said before.

[locovaca]

I "gotta" call pure bullsh!t on that. Pulseaudio doesn't add a layer to ALSA. Rather, it replaces ALSA's software mixer ("dmix"), and it does a much better job than dmix if you RTFM and configure pulse for the best sound quality mixing.

I'm calling bullshit on this. Know what I had to do EVERY TIME I boot up one of my machines? I had to go unmute the card with alsamixer because the friggin' gnome volume control was set up to control the pulse master volume. Even though the pulse volume was set to 100%, no sound. Two volume controls operating at two different levels for the same output? Layers.

(That was courtesy of a lovely 9.04 -> 9.10 upgrade)

[deanjo]

I "gotta" call pure bullsh!t on that. Pulseaudio doesn't add a layer to ALSA. Rather, it replaces ALSA's software mixer ("dmix"), and it does a much better job than dmix if you RTFM and configure pulse for the best sound quality mixing.

Umm hello alsa-plugins. If you can hear differences with signal-to-noise ratio of 145dB you have better hearing then Superman. Next thing you are going to tell me that Monster cables make for a better audio experience.

[tball]

Pulseaudio is one of the best things happened to desktop linux, as is randr.

[roentgen]

I was hoping that this thread would bring some ideas why or why not one dislikes Ubuntu which in turn would help Linux in general.

Instead it became mostly a Pulse audio thread.

[roentgen]

Pulseaudio is one of the best things happened to desktop linux, as is randr.

Pulse uses ALSA. You might consider the fact that alsa got better over time. Maybe at one time pulse solved some alsa issues but now alsa guys solved them themselves which kind of makes pulse obsolete.

[tball]

Pulse uses ALSA. You might consider the fact that alsa got better over time. Maybe at one time pulse solved some alsa issues but now alsa guys solved them themselves which kind of makes pulse obsolete.

Oh I didn't know that. Does ALSA come with its own mixer, which can set the volume application-wise? Does ALSA support hotswapping of the sound-output? I use both daily, so I am interested to hear if ALSA support those.

[Wyatt]

Pulse can solve problems with alsa similarly to how C++ can solve problems with C or assembly...

That is an ironically apt comparison. I had to read a little to realise you weren't joking... Still, got a good laugh out of me. :P

I can't stand those types of mics/headsets. TBH I have seen many people, including myself having issues with them even in windows. Ever since I moved to USB mics its been smooth sailing.

That is incredibly bizarre. The amount of complexity involved in even "simple" USB devices far outstrips the base use case of a 3.5mm jack. I can't even imagine what distros are doing wrong here.

If your sound card happens to have a hardware mixer that is supported by the ALSA driver, then I agree. Unfortunately, there are many(*10) people using onboard HDA audio and other devices where software mixing is required....much better job than dmix if you RTFM and configure pulse for the best sound quality mixing.

What are you talking about? I have one of those "onboard HDA audio" devices. I'm using it right now. And you know what? My sound mixing works fine. Pure ALSA, no Pulse, zero mucking with ALSA configuration. It works for me and it works "out-of-the-box". Same as it did in 2007 when I built this system.

Why should you have to "RTFM and configure" your audio if you're not doing anything special? Just say no.

Anyway, @topic:
I think the major thing I dislike about Ubuntu is how they control so many other projects' release cycles. I don't use it personally, but they now have KDE releases and driver releases in their thrall, and now other distros are following the same pattern.

Otherwise, I dislike how Ubuntu goes to great lengths to hide any degree of complexity from all users (at least, that's how it feels from my standpoint). It makes support of new users by advanced users damn near impossible at times. The "advanced" answer should never be "try reinstalling the app" or "use a PPA". That is broken and wrong.

Oh, and Kubuntu is a disgrace. I'm very glad Mint seems to package it better, and I sincerely hope they make good on their threat to work from Debian as a base for Mint KDE.

[yogi_berra]

Focus on one or few distributions and problems are gone.

Screw people that don't fit into your support case, right?

Btw. could someone explain why I can't run some games on windows after upgrade to sp3? It's a pain.

It's a vast global conspiracy to disrupt your life.