Feel stupid. Am stupid.

[jmgibson1981]

Awhile back I migrated my server / htpc to Debian from Ubuntu 16.04. Ran great, was very happy and was more reliable. However I had a video issue that I couldn't resolve. Was a big deal at the time. Worked it for a few weeks then gave up, back to Ubuntu I went.

Upgrade time comes around, 18.04 LTS ready to roll out. I tested it in a vm a few times, then went bare metal. Ran all the way through the upgrade process. It ran past the point of no return only to error out big time, leaving a bunch of packages not configured. A reboot proved a dead system.

I am currently in the process of installing Debian. I should have known better and stuck with Debian in the first place. I did know better rather, I just didn't listen to all the voices I've been reading about. It amazes me that for an OS that claims to be enterprise ready, if it can't even successfully upgrade a home media center / server then what business does it have running servers with millions on top of millions of dollars running through them. It is sad at best. A computer should theoretically be able to be software upgraded between versions without this kind of nonsense. Downtime is simply not acceptable for the enterprise, much less a home user.

I should have stayed put and worked out or just lived with the minor issue I had with Debian originally. I'm frustrated at best as I sit here and it installs. With Debian I am fairly confident that I can upgrade straight on though as needed. Knew I was in trouble when their own documentation suggests a fresh install > an upgrade.

[golinux]

You just discovered for yourself that Ubuntu is NOT Debian. Mixing distributions can have unintended consequences even though the base system is related. Hopefully lesson learned and lesson heard by anyone thinking of going there.

[jmgibson1981]

I reinstalled each time. Never mixed. I'm dumb, not that dumb. Just assumed that Ubuntu would be fine as they say it's for big deployments. After that misadventure I'm not willing to trust my system to it again. It should be ugpradeable without issue. Rather problems should be few and far between. But my googling tells me it's basically a crapshoot to upgrade ubuntu in place. Which is sad.

[Bulkley]

In the case of a server, stability is everything. A minimal Debian Stable meets that requirement. Problems arise when the box running the server is also used as a do-all desktop by someone who wants lots of shiny and/or new stuff.

[slayde]

I reinstalled each time. Never mixed. I'm dumb, not that dumb. Just assumed that Ubuntu would be fine as they say it's for big deployments. After that misadventure I'm not willing to trust my system to it again. It should be ugpradeable without issue. Rather problems should be few and far between. But my googling tells me it's basically a crapshoot to upgrade ubuntu in place. Which is sad.

Linux Mint also does that "reinstall to upgrade" thing and when I realized that it completely quashed my Mint infatuation. Don't get me wrong, I admire the folks who built/maintain it, and there are plenty of things to like about it, but the thing I found I like the most about it was Cinnamon and I can get that on Debian. I like Debian's stability, quality, package system with plenty of software, and overall good reputation. It's a keeper.

[KBD47]

Ubuntu updates can break things, especially kernel updates. Debian Stable sticks with essential updates only and that is why it is so reliable. Ubuntu is fun to play with, Debian is for getting work done on a stable OS.

[debiman]

fwiw, my server has been running debian stable for a long while now.
never any problems with upgrading.
even the dist-upgrade from jessie to stretch (stable - stable) went smoothly (reading up on it first).

[TonyT]

Perhaps explaining this will lead to a resolution:

However I had a video issue that I couldn't resolve.

[CwF]

I too made this stupid mistake.

A few years ago I took the time to analyze the files, *.debs, between debian and ubuntu. I remember finding over 1000 files with the same package name and different contents. I found it discouraging that Ubuntu assumes license to confuse and obfuscate progress. As I looked closer it seemed to my ignorant view that Ubuntu is simply a parasite. Now, 2 years into a stable debian, I'm sure that's the case...

[jmgibson1981]

Perhaps explaining this will lead to a resolution:

However I had a video issue that I couldn't resolve.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=138003&p=676627#p676627

I tried Debian again, had same issue. Ended up installing Ubuntu 18.04. Everything is working flawlessly although this upgrade nightmare makes me want to figure out my Debian issue. I'm debating reinstalling and creating an LVM partition on my ssd so I can mess with Debian while still having Ubuntu available when the wife is home so as not to interfere with her setup.

*EDIT* Server & Laptop are rolling Debian right now. Fully functional across the board save for the video stutter on playlists on server / htpc. Took most of the day as my internet was less than stellar yesterday but they are running just fine now.

The only Ubuntu in my house right now is an LXC container on the server for my mythtv backend. I hate to compile unless absolutely required.