Ubuntu MATE 23.10 Testing

franksmcb · 23 September 2023 20:57

A new release of Ubuntu is on the horizon! And so is the release of Ubuntu MATE 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur)!

Thank you to everyone who has helped with previous testing, including the initial ISOs.

The team can't stress enough how important the community contributions are during these testing periods.

Testing for Ubuntu MATE 23.10 is underway. This testing is focused on the Beta and daily releases. Final release is scheduled for October 12. 23.10 is an interim release, and will be supported until July 2024.

If you've been nervous about testing, now is a great time to ask for help and join in! Chat with other testers on IRC (#ubuntu-quality on Libera Chat) or Telegram (Ubuntu Testers). Testing doesn't require any coding knowledge, can take as little as 30 minutes to complete a test case and file a report, and can be done on a VM or bare metal with a spare machine.

Directions and helpful hints are below.

Mantic Minotaur Release Notes

Ubuntu MATE chat on Wimpy's World

You can find the test ISO here:

http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/daily-live/current/

You can test on either a spare machine or a virtual machine, and please let us know in this thread if you encounter any problems, and please file Bug reports. The sooner the team know about a problem, the sooner they can tackle it!

If you’re new to ISO testing, or need a refresher, here’s a quick guide:

First of all, you’ll need a Launchpad/Ubuntu One login. Go here to create one if you haven’t done so already.

You’ll want to download the Mantic Minotaur daily build here: Ubuntu MATE 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) Daily Build

Take a look at the testsuites for Ubuntu MATE, many of which take less than 30 minutes to complete.

Follow the directions in the testsuite. If it does all of those things, great! If it doesn’t, however, we need your help. Click on the link at the top of the page that reads “Report a bug against the contents of this testcase.” Sign in with your Launchpad/Ubuntu One account.

Follow the directions in the bug report, and be as specific as you can! This is a key step - an unreported bug will be an unfixed bug.

While the Ubuntu MATE 23.10 Release Notes are not available at this time, this post will be updated once they are online.

There have been minor updates to Ubuntu MATE packages for release in 23.10. The underlying Ubuntu base packages have had more substantial changes.

Early testing and bug reporting will help improve the final release.

Thank you again for testing and for reporting your issues, concerns, observations, and questions in this thread!

However it must be stressed that reporting bugs to the Bug Tracker will have the most impact in having bugs resolved before release.

You can upgrade to the developmental release using the instructions below. However we encourage testers to try the daily ISOs as much as possible. We recommend anyone who upgrades their system to the developmental version to backup first! If you rely on your system as your daily driver, it might be advisable to wait for the final release.

Friendly reminder that developmental releases HAVE the possibility of breaking and requiring a reinstall. So please keep that in mind should you choose to run it as your daily driver.

To upgrade, press Alt + F2, and type:
update-manager -cd
If you aren't prompted to upgrade, press Alt + F2 again, then
update-manager
and click Settings and Livepatch. Go to the Updates tab and toggle the option for 'Notify me of a new >Ubuntu version' to 'For any new version.'

Press Alt + F2 again, and then type:
update-manager -cd

franksmcb · 26 September 2023 22:49

Release notes are now available.

23.10 Ubuntu MATE Release Notes

tkn · 28 September 2023 22:46

MATE User manager doesn't accept any password (and thus can not create user accounts)
users-admin of the package gnome-system-tools, however, does.

tkn · 28 September 2023 23:07

Ubuntu-MATE 23.10 won't boot from USB flash drive on some computers.
On my Desktop it boots, on my Thinkpad T420 it does not.
(the T420 can boot from the same USB flash drive if it contains, for instance, an Antix Live ISO instead of Ubuntu-MATE ISO)

Maybe the reason is the partition-type ?
Antix ISO: partitiontype: 0x00 (bootable)
Mate ISO: partitiontype: Basic Data (System, Read-only)

EDIT: I managed to boot it on my T420 by doing some BIOS magic and so I discovered that the Ubuntu-MATE 23.10 ISO does not support legacy boot.

guiverc · 29 September 2023 01:35

You are aware that Ubuntu ISOs can be written with various ISO writers that re-format the ISO such that it will only boot on uEFI or legacy systems (but not both). Thus the software used to write ISO, plus options use really matter.

I QA-test using mostly older hardware (pre-uEFI) and have had no issues, but I write the ISOs using the documented procedures (clone only) such that my thumb-drives will boot on all devices (be they using legacy or CSM, uEFI or Secure-uEFI).

There are also some boxes that have unfixed firmware bugs that cause an ISO to boot very slowly (on releases >20.10 especially), with some taking 11 minutes with ~8+ minutes showing either nothing on screen, a blinking or just static cursor (box firmware specific as to what shows). Did you wait long enough? It's very easy to assume a failure with 8 minutes of no-output. Yes you can write the ISO so it boots faster on those devices, but it'll also fail to boot on other devices.

With details you provided, you've not ruled out the issue being caused by ISO write method (did you clone it to thumb-drive or reformat ISO?), you didn't wait long enough, or something else (including there is a problem).

Being specific as to the ISO is also helpful; if you gave an ISO date & I have it, or could download it, I can test it on ~8 pre-uEFI boxes for example. If you're not familiar with the dates used on ISOs, the current ISO QA test site (Mantic Daily | Ubuntu QA) shows the VERSION (date) detail to the right, ie. currently it's 20230928 (YYYYMMDD format) for Ubuntu-MATE. That detail can also be found on the system itself if running (*top of the /etc/apt/sources.list file etc) The date is also seen at download time too (date being related to creation time, not when you downloaded it)

I've not noted any issues booting 23.10 ISOs on legacy or pre-uEFI hardware (my oldest test box being from 2005 though RAM & CPU upgraded since then)

guiverc · 29 September 2023 03:53

I started a zync of the current daily, it was 20230928 when I grabbed it, and started testing some boots on older legacy boot machines.

(Not all results got to be entered against 20230928 as the newer 0929 ISO was available as I entered results, but my ISO was 0928 & I didn't upgrade to 0929 )

It booted fine on

hp dc7700 (c2d-e6230, 7gb amd/ati rv610/radeon hd2400 pro/xt)
hp dc7900 (c2d-e8400, 4gb, intel 4 series integrated i915)
dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e6850, 5gb, amd/ati radeon rv516/x1300/x1550)
dell [optiplex] 780 (c2q-q9400, 8gb, amd/ati cedar radeon hd 5000/6000/7350/8350)
lenovo thinkpad sl510 (c2d-t6570, 2gb, i915)

and I've yet to do it on

motion computing j3400 (c2d-u9400, 4gb, intel mobile 4 series)

though that's a box that I need to allocate an extra 9+ minutes for boot to occur due to unfixed firmware bugs which are not compliant with standards.

I can continue booting on a few other boxes too, but I've found it if boots on the older 755 (the one I used, I have numerous) & more modern 780, it'll generally boot on all dell optiplex. Also the hp dc7700/7900 also have firmware compliance bugs that were never fixed, but later hp I have are newer and mostly uEFI era; and not an issue if ISO is written correctly to thumb-drive (in my experience anyway).

I'm not using the documented manner for ISO writing for Ubuntu, as I prefer mkusb, and whilst it's a tool that can also reformat the ISO to achieve non-standard results, I don't use any such features. My ISO write was done with

sudo mkusb-nox mantic-desktop-amd64.iso all

After ISO write I also verify write using

sudo diff_image_drive mantic-desktop-amd64.iso /dev/sdb

which you can find documented here as well as on the wiki & other places. That write method with mkusb writes the ISO in a cloned manner without format, meaning I can use the same thumb-drive to test

legacy hardware (BIOS/CSM)
uEFI
Secure-uEFI (ie. Secure-Boot on; providing newer ISO with non-revoked keys)

-- Updated detail

Boot on motion computing device completed; I only use the room clock for timing (no seconds shown) & start by pressing ENTER at grub when the minute changes.. Results were 9 mins of nothing but blinking cursor, then plymouth with the TRY/INSTALL appearing at 11 mins. Even that 'takes ages to boot' device works (firmware issues & a known issue; it can be made to boot quickly by writing the ISO in a specific manner, but then the ISO won't boot on all devices which I'd thus not recommend).

tkn · 29 September 2023 12:44

Yes, I used gnome-disks option restore disk image , AFAIK it roughly equivalent to sectorcopying and doesn't do any reformatting.

During the BIOS POST I hit F12 for a menu of boot devices.
Selecting the USB thumb-drive brings me back to this menu within several seconds (in legacy boot mode only).

I can not exclude the possibility of BIOS bugs ofcourse.

According to the file /.disk/info on the ISO , the version is:
Ubuntu-MATE 23.10 "Mantic Minotaur" - Daily amd64 (20230928)

tkn · 29 September 2023 12:51

Thanks for checking. According to this results it looks like it could be either a BIOS bug on my side or something with the thumbdrive. I have to investigate that. If I find out what it is, i'll follow up.

EDIT: adding some system specs:

System:
  Kernel: 6.5.0-5-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/1
    Distro: Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 4180AJ3 v: ThinkPad T420
    serial: <filter>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 4180AJ3 serial: <filter> UEFI-[Legacy]: LENOVO
    v: 83ET71WW (1.41 ) date: 07/23/2012
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 53.4 Wh (87.1%) condition: 61.3/93.2 Wh (65.8%)
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-2520M bits: 64 type: MCP cache:
    L2: 512 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1600 min/max: 800/3200 cores: 1: 2400 2: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    driver: i915 v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 tty: 80x24 resolution: 1600x900
  API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console for root.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.5.0-5-generic status: kernel-api
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network driver: e1000e
  IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 48.4 GiB (20.8%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 227.68 GiB used: 48.4 GiB (21.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 4 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1969
Info:
  Processes: 241 Uptime: 34m Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.53 GiB
  used: 1.12 GiB (14.9%) igpu: 64 MiB Init: systemd target: graphical (5)
  Shell: Sudo inxi: 3.3.29

EDIT 2023/10/2 : upgraded BIOS to latest version & used different thumb drive : no change
I probably should try again but with a wiped SSD.

ricmarques · 1 October 2023 20:34

I suggest also following the "Ubuntu 23.10 Beta Testing" discussion topic for "regular" Ubuntu in the "Ubuntu Community Discourse", where some issues are being reported and/or discussed (some of those issues/bugs may affect only "regular" Ubuntu, while other issues may affect some or even all of the Ubuntu "flavours"):

jmarkus · 3 October 2023 19:05

I just upgraded an old machine from 23.04, and I noticed a slight difference in the command line Wimpy posted in his announcement versus yours. Wimpy wrote:

update-manager -c -d

I have a few issues - like "Welcome" and Software Boutique" are just gray boxes. Grub (dual boot) was a blank as well - until I hit the right shift key. So far it seems to be running fine.

EDIT
Almost forgot. During the upgrade the language switched to something that looked a bit like Greek or Cyrillic. Since I didn't know what it was saying - I just hit enter whenever it paused for input. Was relieved upon reboot to find English.

guiverc · 4 October 2023 01:03

During the release-upgrade the text becoming 'unreadable' is a known & tracked issue.

My belief is you were using a package earlier than 1:23.10.7 thus why you experienced it; if you believe you were using later, or I'm incorrect, please say so

Later edit: It maybe worthwhile to report it anyway if you have any doubts as for my explanation; as it'll let us check - I'd use

ubuntu-bug ubuntu-release-upgrader

and provide the picture you posted here, or at least link to your post on this site so it can be seen

Thank you @jmarkus for noticing & reporting !

oldschool · 4 October 2023 23:41

I had the same issue upgrading from Lunar to Mantic the fonts changing to gibberish as in above picture. So was flying blind during installation but it all worked out.

Bombilla · 5 October 2023 08:18

Welcome @oldschool to the community!

radax05 · 5 October 2023 14:15

Same issue here... during upgrade from "lunar" to "mantic" => gibberish fonts except for the "Terminal" entries showing the operations that were performed during the upgrade session. I've also pressed the ENTER key when a dialog box popped-up.

Happy after the upgrade... looks like everything works as expected, but...

I had the re-install "wine", "vlc" (not as a snap), "clementine" (not as a snap and "gstreamer plugins"), "handbrake", "virtualbox", "mariadb-server" & client.

Anyway, I did expect to re-install some programs and perform required fixes for broken packages. No issues here!

guiverc · 5 October 2023 23:17

I'll encourage you to file a bug report, as this allows the unreadable text issue to be formally tracked (also gives us the ability to explore exactly what packages were being used during the upgrade process on your box)

My prior comment on the package referred to 1:23.10.7, but now we have available

 ubuntu-release-upgrader-core | 1:23.04.6  | lunar-updates   | all
 ubuntu-release-upgrader-core | 1:23.10.8  | mantic          | all

Thanks for helping make Ubuntu MATE (and Ubuntu) better.

jmarkus · 7 October 2023 15:30

Chris, Hopefully the bug report I just did made it through. It was not a process that I was familiar with.
Jim

guiverc · 8 October 2023 02:03

~~I keep a watch on #ubuntu-bugs-announce (IRC) during AEST times when my machine is on (16-18 hours/day), which likely didn't match your attempted filing, but I've looked for it and didn't find it.~~

~~Do you have the launchpad bug report ID? as I didn't find it.~~

I've found it now... I'd not read all my email, and have now finally got to that.

Most interesting to me is #30 on the bug report I listed earlier, quoting Gunnar:

To the extent I participated in the resolution of this bug, I had standard Ubuntu in mind, where the default desktop font can be accessed like this:

gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name

And that's the key whose value is temporarily changed when upgrading to 23.10. But on MATE that does not help, since MATE uses its own schema:

gsettings get org.mate.interface font-name

And since MATE uses the Ubuntu font by default, the issue is identical to the issue in standard Ubuntu. I think the fix in ubuntu-release-upgrader can be adjusted so it interacts with the schema which is actually in use in MATE.

Thank you for helping make Ubuntu MATE (and Ubuntu) better (also thanks to Erich who'd already found it & actioned, whilst I slept)

Comment #31 should be noted by Ubuntu MATE devs.

david_barker · 31 October 2023 23:11

Yes there are different ways you can create the USB boot disk and it matters. If one way doesn't work, use another way. With modern PCs I don't think it matters too much.

david_barker · 31 October 2023 23:24

Just did a clean install of 23.10 on a new system and so far it's absolutely wonderful. I haven't used it long enough to see if I get any errors doing certain operations but in the first 3 days it works well.

jmarkus · 15 November 2023 16:00

Just did another upgrade on another dual boot computer. This time only the Title bar language was effected during the upgrade process, but all is golden afterwards.

Grub also had the

GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
changed to
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden' which I already fixed

23.10 seems noticeably faster than 23.04 - Thanks, and Great work!