4 ms·

There is no 19.x LTS, next LTS release would be 20.04.

etrautmann 8y ago
Which itself is not obvious to many users. I made the mistake of installing 17.04 and it was a major headache to upgrade it after support was dropped.
- ohyeshedid 8y ago
  Totally understandable. Basically, even.04 are LTS releases and odd.04 are beta/experimental/very early rc's.
  - jrochkind1 8y ago
    wait... do all versions end in .04?
    - juki 8y ago
      No, there are two releases every year; a <year>.04 in April and <year>.10 in October.
    - vel0city 8y ago
      Ubuntu releases a new LTS release for the first release every two years. Ubuntu usually has two releases a year, one in April (.04) and one in October (.10). So 16.04 is a LTS release, as it was the first release in an even year. 16.10, 17.04, 17.10 were all regular non-LTS releases. 18.04 was an LTS release. 18.10 and 19.04 are regular non-LTS releases. https://www.ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle https://www.ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
- Lorkki 8y ago
  I don't remember how long it's been the case, but these days LTS is the first option that they show you, and it's clearly marked as such: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop LTS releases also don't offer upgrades to non-LTS versions unless you explicitly enable that via the "Software & Updates" tool.
  - cr0sh 8y ago
    My first Ubuntu install was 8.04 LTS - I'm pretty sure it was made clear then how it worked and that it was a more preferred install for "stability-over-time" reasons. It was also a revelation to me - easiest install ever. Prior to that I was running some version of Mandrake (and prior to that, Woody). I've been running Linux in some form or another since around 1995; I started with Turbo Linux 2.0 (ok, ok - my first Linux was Monkey Linux over DOS, but it was more a plaything). I'm not unfamiliar with the intricacies of installing Linux (and I've compiled my own kernel before just to get certain things working - did that for a 486 laptop just to get everything on it working - sound, modem, PCMCIA, ethernet card, video, etc). Being able to just "point and click" - while Mandrake allowed it, and SuSe also to an extent - it wasn't anywhere near as clean as what Ubuntu allowed for. I've pretty much stuck with Ubuntu since then (though not with their wm/desktop - blech at times).
- jammygit 8y ago
  The Linux world has a lot of conventions you just 'need to know about' in order to navigate. It works very well for experienced people, but it isn't helpful for newcomers. When I was first starting out I didn't understand the versioning system or what it meant. Were releases named something like "Ubuntu Standard 18.04", or "Ubuntu Preview 19.04" it would have helped clarity. LTS doesn't mean anything to average people. Small things like would help me convince family members to switch
  - acqq 8y ago
    > Were releases named something like "Ubuntu Standard 18.04", or "Ubuntu Preview 19.04" it would have helped clarity. They should be just “Ubuntu 18.04” but “Ubuntu Preview 0.1810”, “Ubuntu Preview 0.1904” etc. The non-LTS releases are really not for everyone, and should not even attract the normal users with the "bigger" number. They should really warn the "normal users" that only 18.04, 20.04 are somewhat "safer" for them (I've personally had significant problems with 17.10 which used "wayland" as default even if a lot of applications just didn't work correctly under it, then 18.04 thankfully changed that default. And even 18.04 had initial issues which were removed only some months later -- so who wants less issues shouldn't install 20.04 before, let's say, September 2020). I've also actually tried to keep up with upgrading every 6 months, and it's... such a waste of time when something breaks... and it will. Once the breakage was such that eventually the answer was "oh, you upgrade in place? We don't test it much like this, you should back up your home partition, install clean, copy back your home partition, then it will work." That being said, given that I haven't paid for it, except with my time, sometimes the price is right. But sometimes, once can actually decide to trade money for the time spent debugging the OS... unless it's just about programming. Linux has some advantages there. Additionally, to me it seems that KDE is still easier to use, so most users should start with Kubuntu and only LTS.
    - cr0sh 8y ago
      I split my /home partition off from the root - separate drives, in fact. This helped save my bacon (I posted elsewhere here if you want to read about it). Basically, it allowed me to "upgrade in place" by using a new drive for the OS, after I totally fubar'd my 14.04 LTS (long-in-the-tooth) system... Ubuntu could try to make things clearer - but one would think that "LTS" would be clear enough. "Long Term Support" - and they give enough other warnings about things... I've been running Linux in some fashion since 1995; if installing Ubuntu isn't easy enough, I don't know how you could make it much easier (that said - my latest install was Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 LTS - and that was probably the best install experience I've ever had).

Which itself is not obvious to many users. I made the mistake of installing 17.04 and it was a major headache to upgrade it after support was dropped.

ohyeshedid 8y ago
Totally understandable. Basically, even.04 are LTS releases and odd.04 are beta/experimental/very early rc's.
- jrochkind1 8y ago
  wait... do all versions end in .04?
  - juki 8y ago
    No, there are two releases every year; a <year>.04 in April and <year>.10 in October.
  - vel0city 8y ago
    Ubuntu releases a new LTS release for the first release every two years. Ubuntu usually has two releases a year, one in April (.04) and one in October (.10). So 16.04 is a LTS release, as it was the first release in an even year. 16.10, 17.04, 17.10 were all regular non-LTS releases. 18.04 was an LTS release. 18.10 and 19.04 are regular non-LTS releases. https://www.ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle https://www.ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
Lorkki 8y ago
I don't remember how long it's been the case, but these days LTS is the first option that they show you, and it's clearly marked as such: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop LTS releases also don't offer upgrades to non-LTS versions unless you explicitly enable that via the "Software & Updates" tool.
- cr0sh 8y ago
  My first Ubuntu install was 8.04 LTS - I'm pretty sure it was made clear then how it worked and that it was a more preferred install for "stability-over-time" reasons. It was also a revelation to me - easiest install ever. Prior to that I was running some version of Mandrake (and prior to that, Woody). I've been running Linux in some form or another since around 1995; I started with Turbo Linux 2.0 (ok, ok - my first Linux was Monkey Linux over DOS, but it was more a plaything). I'm not unfamiliar with the intricacies of installing Linux (and I've compiled my own kernel before just to get certain things working - did that for a 486 laptop just to get everything on it working - sound, modem, PCMCIA, ethernet card, video, etc). Being able to just "point and click" - while Mandrake allowed it, and SuSe also to an extent - it wasn't anywhere near as clean as what Ubuntu allowed for. I've pretty much stuck with Ubuntu since then (though not with their wm/desktop - blech at times).
jammygit 8y ago
The Linux world has a lot of conventions you just 'need to know about' in order to navigate. It works very well for experienced people, but it isn't helpful for newcomers. When I was first starting out I didn't understand the versioning system or what it meant. Were releases named something like "Ubuntu Standard 18.04", or "Ubuntu Preview 19.04" it would have helped clarity. LTS doesn't mean anything to average people. Small things like would help me convince family members to switch
- acqq 8y ago
  > Were releases named something like "Ubuntu Standard 18.04", or "Ubuntu Preview 19.04" it would have helped clarity. They should be just “Ubuntu 18.04” but “Ubuntu Preview 0.1810”, “Ubuntu Preview 0.1904” etc. The non-LTS releases are really not for everyone, and should not even attract the normal users with the "bigger" number. They should really warn the "normal users" that only 18.04, 20.04 are somewhat "safer" for them (I've personally had significant problems with 17.10 which used "wayland" as default even if a lot of applications just didn't work correctly under it, then 18.04 thankfully changed that default. And even 18.04 had initial issues which were removed only some months later -- so who wants less issues shouldn't install 20.04 before, let's say, September 2020). I've also actually tried to keep up with upgrading every 6 months, and it's... such a waste of time when something breaks... and it will. Once the breakage was such that eventually the answer was "oh, you upgrade in place? We don't test it much like this, you should back up your home partition, install clean, copy back your home partition, then it will work." That being said, given that I haven't paid for it, except with my time, sometimes the price is right. But sometimes, once can actually decide to trade money for the time spent debugging the OS... unless it's just about programming. Linux has some advantages there. Additionally, to me it seems that KDE is still easier to use, so most users should start with Kubuntu and only LTS.
  - cr0sh 8y ago
    I split my /home partition off from the root - separate drives, in fact. This helped save my bacon (I posted elsewhere here if you want to read about it). Basically, it allowed me to "upgrade in place" by using a new drive for the OS, after I totally fubar'd my 14.04 LTS (long-in-the-tooth) system... Ubuntu could try to make things clearer - but one would think that "LTS" would be clear enough. "Long Term Support" - and they give enough other warnings about things... I've been running Linux in some fashion since 1995; if installing Ubuntu isn't easy enough, I don't know how you could make it much easier (that said - my latest install was Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 LTS - and that was probably the best install experience I've ever had).