Hacker News Reader

Comment by tailspin2019 | Hacker News Reader

tailspin2019

I too have started to notice some increased “friction” when trying to setup Ubuntu these days.

Like you, I don’t care about “snaps” (though in my ignorance I’m willing to accept I may be missing out on something useful...)

Even when you go to their Download page for Server, the first option is not a download link but some blurb about “Multipass” which I’m pretty sure is not what the majority of people are looking for when they click a menu option called “Download” for a server OS.

But this LinkedIn crap is just awful and surprises me coming from Canonical.

View on HN

That's the page, https://ubuntu.com/download/server

You get three options to run Ubuntu server.

The first option is to run Ubuntu server in a VM, and most users will want to run Ubuntu server in a VM. Multipass is a tool that helps you run Ubuntu server in a VM. Multipass is just a front-end for KVM when you use a Linux distribution. If you use Windows, it is a front-end for Hyper-V, etc.

The second option is to perform a manual installation, which means that you get the ISO and do your thing.

Between the two, most people would want to install Ubuntu Server in a VM rather than on baremetal. I think it makes sense to put that first. If a person is a power-user, then can read on and select Option 2.

I see that there is a perceived negativity on anything Ubuntu that if something is different, it is perceived as something bad is happening.

Canonical now goes far, far (far) out of their way to hide the normal ISO installers. I mean, they try and bury them so deep that I can only find them now by googling for the name of the ISO I already have. Find your path to this page easily from the landing pages: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/foca...

What search engine are you using ? The first result when typing "ubuntu iso" in Google leads to a page where the first button is a link to a direct download. For "ubuntu server iso" it's pretty much the same, with just one extra click

We are not talking about the same thing - those first hits are the "Live" ISO not the actual installation ISO; the "Legacy" (their word) installation ISO is the 7th link down on Google for "ubuntu server iso" below the Google injected "People also ask:" with a bunch of whatever you call those things they put there (forum and mailing list links usually).

Doesn't the live cd present a boot menu with a direct install option like others do? If not, that's even more annoying; it already requires a DVD these days because they have to include too much software, they should certainly be able to include a tui installer.

I've read that starting with 21.xx they won't even produce ISO media with the normal installer on it, we'll get the Live version and nothing else. Time will tell.

I agree that most people will want to run Ubuntu server in a VM.

I don’t agree that Multipass is the obvious default way that most people will want do this, given that Multipass is clearly aimed at local workstations for dev/testing and not actually servers.

I’m working on the assumption that “Ubuntu Server” is designed primarily for servers, and Multipass, by its own description page is categorically not designed for servers. It’s for a secondary use-case of running a test environment locally on a dev machine.

My point was that it seems strange to push a secondary use-case as the first option on the download page.

I’m not saying this is absolutely terrible, but it was just an example of some seemingly unnecessary friction being introduced.

From the Multipass info page: [0] > “Ubuntu VMs on demand for any workstation”

[0] https://multipass.run

I've used snap for setting up a Nextcloud server. It was honestly pretty easy, and it auto updates. I'm normally not a fan of autoupdates, but for a publicly accessible service, it is appreciated.

However, I've never packaged anything for snap, so not sure how it is to use.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com