I have made a commitment.

[KGIII]

I am pretty big on time management. Even if I have 'free' time (like that spent here), I don't always have much and I don't always have blocks of time. For instance, I'm mostly here in the evenings. That's because I have blocks of time that I use for other things.

Anyhow, I have committed to myself (and I suppose now publicly) to beta test (as in the whole thing with filing bug and experience reports, keeping in touch with the developers) for the entirety of Lubuntu 21.04. I make no commitments beyond that - but I'll do this one release as a way to give back and to help my favorite distro.

LOL That may not seem like much, but I'm a miser with regards to my time. I'm retired. I want to spend it doing things I enjoy!

I should point out that they have to hold my hand, at least to get started. I have no idea how it is done properly. Being a time miser, I've seldom even filed bug reports. It wasn't until recently that I even clicked the notify button when my OS had a problem that needed reporting. I usually disable error reporting!

So, I'm gonna do this for the entire release.

I suspect I'm going to hate it and it's going to be a lot like work - work that I am obligated to do. If nothing else, I'm obligated because of the time they're investing in showing me how to do this all properly. Nah, I think I'll enjoy it. I've even dedicated an entire computer to nothing but beta testing the next version of Lubuntu.

I'll let you know how it goes. I've never done this before.

So, why am I writing this? Well, 'cause I can - and because it might inspire someone else. They're open source projects. They're pretty inviting. Maybe you too can give them a few blocks of time? You don't have to do much. If I like it, I might even try helping edit their online user manual.

Hmm... I should turn this into articles on my blog. Meh... Oh well...

Anyhow, yeah... Maybe someone will see this and decide to take the plunge into helping? Someone's gotta help.

Do you know why Ubuntu doesn't do i386/32 bit builds? It's not because they don't want to. It's not because modernity has pushed the architecture to the side. It's because they don't have enough testers. They have enough testers on the RPi, so they released an image for the Pi. If they had more people willing to test 32 bit OSes, they'd still have 32 bit ISOs.

So, get out there and give 'em some of your time. If I can commit to it, you can.

 

[wizardfromoz]

And what does Mrs KGIII think of all this?



Wiz

 

[KGIII]

And what does Mrs KGIII think of all this?

She doesn't mind. At least it means I'm home and in the house, available for when she wants to bug me.

 

[Alexzee]

You said that you suspect that you may hate it and it could be a lot of work on your part.

You may just find that reporting bugs and talking to developers spins out to be a good experience and learn new things about Linux that you didn't know.

Just a thought since this is your first time being a beta tester:-
To get something you never had you have to do something you never did.

Happy testing-

 

[KGIII]

You said that you suspect that you may hate it and it could be a lot of work on your part.

I might. I'm a miser with my time. I'm here because I *want* to be here. As my time runs short, I've become quite a miser with it. I don't like obligating myself to blocks of time, as a general rule.

Every day, I spend about 2 hours with a guitar in my hands and another 2 hours doing physical therapy/working out. Then, I usually have a dozen emails and another dozen phone calls that need to be made five days out of the week. Then, I have my hobbies that need my attention. I've a fairly sizable collection of automobiles, for example.

So, adding a time commitment is something I really didn't look forward to - but I'm going to do it.

And, if I can do it, it means pretty much anyone can do it.

I suspect I'll enjoy it. I've been a member of their mailing list for at least five years. I "know" the developers well enough. Hopefully it'll be fun. It doesn't look like it takes too much time. I'm willing to give 2 to 5 hours per week, maybe a bit more. So, we'll see...

I also don't want to make it a waste of their time. They have to teach me how to file bugs properly, what forms to use, etc... So, I want their time to not be squandered. That's why I'm committing to do it for the duration of the 21.04 release.

I'm thinking that I should document the journey on my Linux blog. It's sorely lacking content.

 

[wizardfromoz]

If the testing gets onerous, tell the Missus (she whom must be obeyed) that you are a Beta Tester now and too busy to put the trash out.

You'll be out of Testing so fast your feet won't touch the ground.

 

[KGIII]

If the testing gets onerous, tell the Missus (she whom must be obeyed) that you are a Beta Tester now and too busy to put the trash out.

LOL I am pretty good (I think) at managing my time and priorities. I've been clear with them from day one that I'm only committing 2 to 5 hours per week.

So far, it's repetitious. I'm also the only one that exhibits a bug during boot. I don't yet file it as a bug, and won't until I eliminate myself as the problem. So, it's exhaustive testing.

 

[wizardfromoz]

As Arte Johnson used to say "Very Interesting".

 

[KGIII]

As Arte Johnson used to say "Very Interesting".

I found a weird bug today.

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I still gotta figure out how to report it properly.

By the way, that's the first video I've ever made of me using a computer. I have zero video editing skills - but at least I managed to keep it small!

 

[f33dm3bits]

@KGIII How's the commitment you made going with beta testing Lubuntu 21.04?

 

[KGIII]

@KGIII How's the commitment you made going with beta testing Lubuntu 21.04?

Fantastic, thanks. It has been really fun. I sometimes have enough time to do a few tests per day and they really appreciate it. I've found a number of bugs - including one particularly nefarious and seemingly has existed for quite a while but nobody ever noticed.

Bug #1905322 “LibreOffice crashes under load.” : Bugs : libreoffice package : Ubuntu

lsb_release -rd Description: Ubuntu Hirsute Hippo (development branch) Release: 21.04 apt-cache policy libreoffice libreoffice: Installed: (none) Candidate: 1:7.0.3-0ubuntu1 Version table: 1:7.0.3-0ubuntu1 500 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hirsute/universe...

bugs.launchpad.net

It's amazingly hard to trigger - but it's a real confirmed bug.

I even spoke at the last stand-up to point out a few aesthetic issues that don't quite deserve a bug report but still need to be fixed. At least a couple of people think I should actually become an 'official' Ubuntu member but I'm not interested in going that far - at this point in time.

I'm learning a ton. It has been a fantastic experience, though it does take a bit of time. I'm okay with giving them the time. I set some time aside daily and give that to the project. I'm actually third in the number of tests, or so I'm told. I don't actually know where to look that data up.