Linux Ubuntu 14.04.2 is out!

[Jrassek]

Hello Community,

i just wanted to inform you that Linux Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS is out.
You can check it here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/

Hopefully our beloved mint will get updated soon too, to 17.2

[karlchen]

Hello, Jrassek.

Hopefully our beloved mint will get updated soon too, to 17.2

The Linux Mint 17 releases 17.1, 17.2 etc are independent of the release dates of the Ubuntu service packs for Ubuntu 14.04. Ubuntu 14.04.2 in fact is 14.04 with service pack 2. Considering the fact that Linux Mint 17.1 was released in December 2014, I would not expect Mint 17.2 in the next few weeks.

About the relationship between Ubuntu 14.04.2 and Linux Mint 17 / Linux Mint 17.1:

Linux Mint 17 and Linux Mint 17.1 are both based on Ubuntu 14.04. As a consequence, provided you have enabled software updates of all 5 levels in the Linux Mint Update Manager, you will receive all Ubuntu 14.04 updates and the Ubuntu underneath your Linux Mint 17 / Linux Mint 17.1 will have all the Ubuntu updates, too, which turn 14.04 into 14.04.2.

Beware:
Unless it has alread happened, Update Manager will offer the update "base-files (7.2ubuntu5.1) to 7.2ubuntu5.2" soon. This software package brings along - among other files - the following 3 files which tell the exact name and version of your operating system: /etc/issue, /etc/issue.net and /etc/lsb-release.
The installer will ask you whether you want to keep the existing files or install the new ones. On Linux Mint the default answer is the right one: Keep the existing file, 3 times.
In case, you have already accepted to replace the existing files with the new ones, no need to panic at all. Simply reboot your Mint machine. /etc/init.d/mintsystem will revert the changes at boot time.

Cheers,
Karl

[altair4]

Ubuntu LTS point releases don't represent a new version of Ubuntu it's simply a roll up of all the updates an installed version of the LTS would have undergone for the last three months.

So for example you could today install 14.04 LTS and after the install do an update and download a humongous number of updates or you could install 14.04.02 and get them all built in.

To the user that installed 14.04 in the first place he's already at 14.04.02 if he's kept up with the updates.

I really matters to the user of a box with newer hardware for example since 14.04 may not have installed properly but 14.04.02 may since the kernel and other supporting packages are more up to date.

[karlchen]

Hello, richyrich.

What you quote is actually the old write-up "Known Issues - Boot, installation and post-install" as it had been published for Ubuntu 14.04 (without any service pack) in April 2014. It may not reflect the current state in all cases any longer.
Bug 1265192: Automatic installation bug: Install/reinstall wipes out all/other partitions was closed as solved in early January 2015.
This was probably the one that caused most unpleasant surprises and data loss, in particular to those who take the term "backups" to be a swear word.

Cheers,
Karl

[Jrassek]

I see...

Thx for all the information guys!

[Pjotr]

Note that Ubuntu 14.04.2 contains a hardware enablement stack with kernel 3.16. I haven't checked yet, whether Xubuntu and Lubuntu 14.04.2 also have that; they might skip that and stick to the original kernel series (like Xubuntu did/does in 12.04.x).

I wonder whether Mint 17.2 will make the kernel jump to 3.16.x as well. It would seem logical, because of the support for new hardware. If so, it'll be interesting to see how that will be tackled in the upgrade path from 17.1 to 17.2.

[Jrassek]

Maybe then my wifi card will finally work out of the box

[karlchen]

About kernel 3.16.0-xx and the new HWE in Ubuntu 14.04.2:

You will only get them in either of 2 ways:

1. You perform a fresh installation from the Ubuntu 14.04.2 installation ISO image.
2. You manually install them on your current Ubuntu 14.04 installation which started with kernel 3.13.0-xx and which was update to SP1 and to SP2 through Update Manager in the course of time.

You should be aware of the downside of kernel 3.16.0-xx and the new HWE though: They will be supported only till July 2016. Cf. 14.04.x Ubuntu Kernel Support

So it may be wise to switch to kernel 3.16.0-xx and the HWE it brings along only in those cases where they solve technical problems which you cannot solve while running kernel 3.13.0-xx and the HWE which it brings along.

Karl

[misGnomer]

Will the (Ubuntu) 14.04.2 LTS Hardware Enablement Stack (CAREFUL WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS THERE, SEE MESSAGES BELOW!) be pushed to all Mint 17.1 Rebecca users eventually and without intervention, considering the rolling intention?

Or are people just installing the updated packages manually as the linked wiki instructions suggest?

I'm actually already running the latest kernel releases via Ubuntu mainline PPA on my Haswell system and I reckon the recent hardware could also benefit from an X stack refresh.

[Welly Wu]

I am currently using Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux and let me tell you that it is a little bit buggy.

The new Linux kernel 3.16.0-31 generic AMD64 has no issues insofar as I can tell, but the new X.Org display server and client does have an issue with a software package: libgl1-mesa-glx:i386.
You need to do a sudo apt-get remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 in order to be able to install certain third-party software packages, libraries, and dependencies like Codeweavers' CrossOver for Ubuntu 64 bit, Google Earth Pro, and J River Media Center 20 64 bit GNU/Linux version.Once you remove this specific software package and its dependencies, then you should be fine.
A lot of people experienced broken or held back software dependencies prior to removing libgl1-mesa-glx:i386, but removing it finally solved their problems.

Otherwise, Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux is extremely reliable, stable, and secure by default. I have had no other known issues with it since installing it from scratch bare metal on my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC.
I used to like Cinnamon 2.4 64 bit, but it crashed on me too many times and I got tired of it.
I now strongly prefer Ubuntu Unity because it is modern, reliable, stable, and mature and it never crashes. I find that Ubuntu Unity is more keyboard and mouse friendly while still remaining highly usable for touch screen desktop and notebook PCs. It is an efficient and effective desktop environment suited for production environments and it utilizes screen real estate wisely. Your mileage may vary. However, it is my favorite desktop environment right now and I plan to upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.3 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux sometime in August 2015.
Be sure to wait one week after its' release and read the release notes carefully prior to performing the upgrade on your desktop or notebook PCs individually.
I also strongly prefer Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux because it supports both UEFI and Secure Boot security features by default whereas Linux Mint only supports UEFI and not Secure Boot.

The only negative to GNU/Linux is that nVidia Corporation does not support Optimus or Scalable Link Interface for mobile platforms with its current graphics drivers in the same way that these proprietary technologies are supported in Microsoft Windows 7, 8.1, etc. Hopefully, nVidia Corporation will continue to make progress and these two specific proprietary technologies will be fully supported within GNU/Linux distributions in which case my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC will be 100.00 percent compatible in the future. I'm not holding my breath, but I am hopeful. We shall see.

[AUserInEssex]

One of the instructions on the wiki page mentioned by misGnomer hosed my system.

The page in question is: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

The - dangerous! - instruction is:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-utopic xserver-xorg-lts-utopic libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-utopic libegl1-mesa-drivers-lts-utopic

I did manage to recover the system, but it wasn't fun. So beware!

EDIT: Still, I was warned, I suppose, in that I did not remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 first.

[Welly Wu]

The instructions given on the web url that you cited are not dangerous per se. These are the software packages that need to be downloaded and installed in order to get the new hardware enablement stack. Nowhere does it mention to remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 on the same web url page that you cited.

Where did you get the information to remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 first before installing the new hardware enablement stack?

[AUserInEssex]

The instructions given on the web url that you cited are not dangerous per se. These are the software packages that need to be downloaded and installed in order to get the new hardware enablement stack. Nowhere does it mention to remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 on the same web url page that you cited.

Where did you get the information to remove libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 first before installing the new hardware enablement stack?

Er, from your own post above - the one dated Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:03 pm. Still, perhaps I misread that post. If so, I am sorry. At any rate, I've reinstalled Mint since then and I'm not going to mess around with the drivers any more.

[Welly Wu]

On shoot! I didn't even see my own post! Thanks!

[johnnybegood]

If you post this command, you will run into no issues:

sudo apt-get install libglapi-mesa-lts-utopic libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-utopic xserver-xorg-lts-utopic xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-utopic xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-utopic libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-utopic libglapi-mesa-lts-utopic:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri-lts-utopic:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-utopic:i386 libgles2-mesa-lts-utopic libglapi-mesa-lts-utopic libegl1-mesa-drivers-lts-utopic libgles1-mesa-lts-utopic mesa-vdpau-drivers-lts-utopic

I hope it helps! Cheers.

[AUserInEssex]

@johnnybegood

Please supply some evidence that that command is safe!

[johnnybegood]

Just a couple of questions:

- Are you running a 3.16 kernel? I didn't introduce any reference to the kernel in the command I suggested because I don't like having a new kernel installed every week or so. The new stack is meant to run on a 3.16 kernel, which you can easily install using Mintupdate.
- Did you check if my command uninstalled any important packages? In my experience (three different computers with different graphic cards) I have had no problem regarding dependencies (this is what I meant, maybe I sounded too categorical). However, I had to

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg-lts-utopic

Which I suggest you do in case it fixes your problem.

Now, the command you're asking for to revert to the state before is the same without the lts-utopic ending, that is:

sudo apt-get install libglapi-mesa libgl1-mesa-glx xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-input-all xserver-xorg-video-all libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa:i386 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libgles2-mesa libglapi-mesa libegl1-mesa-drivers libgles1-mesa mesa-vdpau-drivers

Then sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

And in this case, I suggest you use 3.13 kernel, the default configuration (linux-kernel-generic)

I hope your problem gets fixed!