Why do people have such an unreasonable bias against Ubuntu?

Ubuntu
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That may be because the problem is most often encountered with USB storage, simply because that’s usually when the amount of data being copied is enough to trigger it. I don’t know the smallest safe amount but it might be some tens of Gb.

In fact I encountered the same bug when setting up a big gamer machine, not for gaming but because it has plenty of SATA connectors for internal drives, which in my case are a mix of Ext4, exFAT and NTFS. The OS was Mint 22.1.

I guess whether you need to repair the file system would depend on the precise point of a transfer at which the system hangs. I didn’t try to find out - it’s hard in any case to find which of hundreds of thousands of files got copied correctly so I reformatted every time and re-did the copying, tediously in small batches.

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I’m not a developer, but a user who is fairly experienced with some aspects.

None of the posts I read reported that the system recovers if you wait or press a reboot button if there is one. You always have to hold down the on/off button on the computer. When you restart, some of the files you wanted to copy have been copied and some are missing. It can be difficult in practice to find what’s missing. As I said in a reply to pdecker I didn’t try to find whether any files at the destination were damaged and/or whether the destination filesystem was damaged - I just reformatted the disk.

I’d like to know whether, depending perhaps on the technology, the source disk can be damaged by the system freezing during a read.

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I do not think the source disk can be damaged…not even if you get a power outage during a copy.
What can be corrupted is the destinstion disk… but it is usually only filesystem damage… not the hardware. It can be corrected with an fsck.

Before journalled filesystems that sort of thing happened a lot.
Maybe it happens on USB drives because they have by default a FAT filesystem. I always reformat my usb drives to ext3. I think it helps.
Some people would ask why you would want a journalled filesystem on a usb drive? I think your experience answers that question.

Having filesystems reliable is a very basic requirement. You can hardly do any useful work without it. It pays to be conservative in choosing filesystems.

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For the moment, I don’t think a member of the general public (we need a politically correct term for ordinary computer users) would know what to do with a USB disk formatted for Linux. For some time to come, our USB disks will have to be read/writable by Windoze. I thought everything Linux had moved a long time ago to ext4 - we must keep this simple.

My current dilemma is whether to use NTFS, which Linux distros now usually recognise more or less, or exFAT. In the repair shop, we do sometimes encounter Macs, or Mac USB disks, from which the data must be safely recovered. exFAT is good for Macs and is said, apparently, to be best for streaming big files (video, etc). But I haven’t yet seen a tutorial suitable for the general public that indicates which format is best for reliability, or is least likely to crash with Mint 22.:wink:

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The other factor you need to consider is the quality of usb drives.
Your users should buy brand name flashdrives, not cheap generics.

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How about Luggles. Like Muggles, but Linux-Muggles. :grinning_face:

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It had better be something that everyone would understand. Too many acronyms already. Maybe I am showing my age again.

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As far as I’m aware, we don’t even know if it’s repeatable (same machine, disks, USB ports & cables, file sets, short time between tests…). A repeatable bug may not be reproducible, for example between machines, because the electronic components (hence drivers), BIOS, etc will be different.

The recent libpciaccess update bug, that affects Ubuntu and all derivatives, is associated with particular video cards and their updated drivers (I haven’t double-checked that, but it’s the principle that matters for what follows).

It’s likely that from next October, nearly all Windows machines used by the general public will be more recent than about 2019. One reason for M$ killing off older mmodels may well be the effort it takes to validate each update on a wide range of hardware - BIOS combinations, and deal with customer complaints. With the exhortations flashed up currently on our Win 10 machines one may be forgiven for also imagining less laudable motives.

The situation is more difficult with Linux, where many of us will have a stock, still working, going back to the introduction of SATA disks in 2007. I guess, though that unless it’s for a friend the equipment to be considered will be 64-bit, with an age cutoff of 10-12 years. Perhaps those recent super-slim portables, with their expensive LiPo batteries most users can’t change themselves, won’t last that long; as time goes by the problem will be solved :wink:

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I for one - would like to know what @callpaul.eu thinks about these issues with Linux Mint - as he deploys this in a similar vein to @crl…

I’ve tried Linux Mint in the past - but it seemed a bit “Windows-ish” to me (same with KDE each time I’ve tried it)… I prefer the MacOS looks and feel one can achieve in Gnome 3.x (and for that matter the old Unity DE/WM).

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Thanks Dan.

I have been using and recommend linux mint now for over 15 years, done over 400 installs on client machines and its my main workhorse. But I dont claim to be an expert, just seen and done most things.

Before i used ubuntu but never really felt comfortable with colours or desktop layout. Personal choice. Plus I got burned trying to solve a client issue so swapped to mint. Not going to mention 50 years in computers or microsoft apple experiance.

Originally did linux mint mate, bit older interface but as suggested it looked like windows so easy conversion for new users. Did loads and loads of older machines on 32 bit as most clients did not have money to buy new.

Then whent through a burst of apple laptops wanting system updates some were just not capable of running osX after léopard so moved them to mint. Those who could upgraded but then found safari limits on mac osx so just installed chrome. Many of those now find no upgrade path and chrome not accessing sites so will offer mint to those who dont want to buy new.

Small batch of netbook computers with 2gb memory so offered linux mint xfce which are still plodding away mainly students with little money.

About 4 years back did a review and did not like the path of conical with ubuntu so took LMDE as a alternative, this is now all I offer. Not had any complaints, runs on all sorts of different machines desktop laptop, no printer issues, never had any wifi card issues.

Only difficulty was with a ssd it did not like the previous windows format disk kept falling over. Reformatted into linux format and re installed now running fine. Suspect it was a issue with the disk file size from ntfs but never confirmed

My clients are NOT power users, few graphical artists, few musical technicians, many from association, but most retired home users who want email, net, photos, Facebook, voip, and light weight low cost.

Debian is my prefered option, being a one man band and retired myself dont need problems just working solutions so I can fix quick, keep my prices low and then go play out ?

Plus I live in a small village where everyone knows everything !

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So you hsve done hundreds of these conversions and never seen the Mint problems @crl refers to.
Maybe the problems only happen with power users.?

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Perhaps just Ubuntu not seen anything in debian version and no issues reported from my clients on any version just keep working but the card in the laptop is never changed it’s the original

I have read about a upcoming bios issue effecting security later this year but don’t know what

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Even I, at my advanced age, recognized the reference to the Harry Potter world, Nev. You’re clearly a Muggle, but not a Luggle.

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Thanks Bill. That was outside my sphere.

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OK, it is clever.
As long as we have @berninghausen around to explain the world to me, I think I could cope.
That is ‘average linux user’… what about new Linux user?

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@nevj :

Hi Neville, :waving_hand:

My research has led me to the following state of affairs:

Status of the libpciaccess Problem in Linux Mint

The libpciaccess issue affecting Linux Mint users, particularly those with AMD Radeon GPUs, is still present as of August 2025.
Users have reported that upgrading to certain versions of the libpciaccess package leads to a black screen during boot, although they can still log in blindly.

Current Situation

  • Bug Reports:
    Multiple bug reports have been filed regarding this issue, particularly affecting users of Linux Mint 22.1 and Ubuntu 24.04. The problem arises after upgrading to libpciaccess version 0.17-3ubuntu0.25.04.1, which causes the screen to turn off after the boot process.
  • Workaround: Users have found that reverting to the previous version of the package resolves the issue. This can be done using system snapshots or by preventing the package from upgrading.
  • Ongoing Discussions: The issue is being tracked in various forums and bug tracking systems, with users sharing their experiences and potential fixes.

Summary of User Experiences

Symptoms: After the problematic update, the system shows a black screen after the boot logo, but users can still log in.

Resolution Attempts: Many users have successfully reverted to earlier versions of the package to regain normal functionality.

I wonder when the issue will be fixed by providing an update of the libpciaccess package.

On Linux Lite 6.2, the version I am presently using, it´s version 0.16-3. So that´s fine.

Linux Lite´s latest version 7.4 however comes with libpciaccess0:amd64 version 0.17-3build1 preinstalled. I guess you´d have to be a bit more cautious with that one. At least for the time being.

Many greetings from Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi Rosika,
I will have to watch. I do not have an Ubuntu derived distro, but I do have an AMD Radeon graphics card.

These things are usually fixed if you wait.

Regards
Neville

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@nevj :

Hi Neville, :waving_hand:

thanks for the feedback.

Yes, I hope so, too.
I will watch the subject as well.

Fow what it´s worth: I´m glad the topic has been brought up here.
It seems to have eluded my attention.

Cheers from Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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I will watch out for the issue. However, I have not yet encountered it; in part because I don’t copy anything to usb.

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Thanks, Xander.
It´s highly appreciated.

Cheers from Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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