Thanks for this post and i hope folk will reply so that we can find
solutions to this. I find ubuntu a bit of a pain with 6-month
releases. My solution is similar i guess to what you seem to do. I
have two external drives; one for working files and another for a
spare copy as i call it to distinguish between actual backup from a
backup app system. I do a backup i.e. just a copy each weekend. I use
Firefox with foxmarks - my bookmarks file is vast. Emails - i use
webmail to make use of googlemail's conversations idea and then
Thunderbird and the ImportExport utility to archive on CD once a
year.{Thunderbird offers so much in the way of addons that other email
client's are way behind IMHO}.

I keep a smallish hard drive on the PC as it only has the system files
all working docs are saved on remote hard drive. Actual backup apps
i've not liked... i much prefer just to copy a drive or folder. I do
all manually either first day of the week i.e. Sunday morning or first
w/e of the month.

I have not had much succes with
backup software yet.

You do not have to upgrade every six months. This is a mistaken idea that just
because Canonical has set a schedule to improve the OS with six month upgrades
you are on some upgrade roller coaster. You can stay with Hardy Heron until
April, 2011 for the desktop version and until 2013 for the server edition
without worrying about chasing the newest version and you will still receive
full support from Canonical. With Ubuntu you have a choice. You can upgrade or
stay with what works for you.

An alternative would be to use Debian. Their stable release moves at a glacial
pace if that is more to your liking. However, treating Ubuntu as a rolling
release has the same effect as using Debian Stable. Ignore Intrepid Ibex in
October and whatever comes afterwards. Some people are still using Dapper Drake
until next spring when it runs out.

True - one DOESN'T HAVE to install a new release. To me the LTS is
like a debian release in that it is more stable and less glitches. But
the updates are only security. If one uses 6.06 one is using Firefox
1.5 and Thunderbird 1.5 - both rather old. I looked into this and
reckoned that might as well do the 6-month new release. When there is
a glitch in an app and noted on launchpad it is left until the next
release to be rectified.

I wanted to use the latest release [because it was a big step forward]
of an app which just missed the 7.10 and got into 8.04. Due to this
being something i wanted for work i looked at another distro to run it
until 8.04 came along. [But in that distro i had other problems as
well and came back to ubuntu!]. In 6.06 LTS that app was 3 years
behind. I'd rather they produced a well sorted version on an annual
basis including security updates and e.g. printer driver updates. A
new release having the new kernel and system advances.

But i know i'm wrong somewhere in that theory. Ubuntu is the best
distro for using (less problems than others), and the community is the
best [this group as well as the forums Ubuntu and Kubuntu].
Furthermore i have admiration for Mark Shuttleworth - many of us owe
our gratitude as the ubuntu ethos is largely responsible for
conversion to linux (some may change to other distros).

Horses for courses. For many of us it is extremely important that any
operating system works solidly first time out of the box. Dapper was,
in my case,the release that happened to be on the CD that I was given
by a friend to try. Then I became hooked! Because it just worked. As a
tool used for my type of business it is superb and I am not into
reinventing the wheel :o)

On another machine [a laptop] HH runs quite happily for "my purposes"
as an XP replacement, and the main system server runs FreeBSD. However
I tried a number of different releases before settling on these, most
being discarded within the first hour.

If a particular release provides the facility needed, why upgrade for
the operating system for the sake of it. There are marked differences
between hobbyist users who enjoy the odd challenge and business users,
many of whom have considerably better things to do with their limited
spare time.

In my experience one of the problems associated with Linux in the past
has been the plethora of out of date information liberally scattered
across the web. This being exacerbated by the continual short term
release schedules of some distros. In the last few years this
situation has considerably improved. Undoubtedly the Ubuntu issues and
releases are a huge improvement on anything that I have seen that has
gone before. Ubuntu with its excellent support and dedicated forum was
the reason that I finally parted company with MS products altogether.

There are many Backup options:
linux.about.com/.../...ftware_Backup_Solutions.htm

Here is one method from KDE:
www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT2280165098.html

Here are ideas for Gnome:
www.foogazi.com/.../

You can also use a program such as Flyback:
bernaz.wordpress.com/.../flyback-a-time-machine-backup-utility-for\
-linux

Fair enough. You can control the level of updates in Synaptic in Settings|
Repositories and click on the Updates tab.You can check or uncheck the boxes and
at the bottom click on Release upgrade down arrow and set it for your level,
choosing from Never, Distribution releases and LTS releases only.

Did you find what you were looking for with Backup utilities?

I wish that I could say I had received the "excellent support" you have, but
my question has gone unanswered, but then again perhaps there is no
solution, but at least they could have told me that!

The question by the way, was that I am having streaks in the display, a
problem that doesn't exist with distro's that use Xvesa.

Well said. I confess to being an enthusiast and being a pensioner gives me time
to devote to my hobby, something that others can look forward to.

It is all about finding what works for you and using your computer rather than
spending your time in fruitless tasks such as installing and updating
anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-trojan software as well as defragging the
hard drive and endlessly re-booting, all of which decrease your productivity.
All of this seems so foreign to me, now.

Support by the community means different things to different people. For me, it
means searching with search engines, using the wikis and documentation, using
man pages, frequenting boards like this one and help forums for the distribution
that I am using or a general one like LinuxQuestions.org. The more obscure your
problem the less likely that anyone else has encountered it and the deeper you
need to dig. There is no such thing as one stop support when the community is so
broad and diverse.

I have not had streaks on my display using this computer or another one so I
have never had the troubleshoot it. I have not tried to help before because it
is best handled by someone with direct experience. Questions that I would ask
are: how much video RAM do you have, does it happen on every OS, does it happen
only sometimes or always, what happens if you use the Live CD, does it happen
with Live CDs for more than one distro, have you tried using boot parameters
from the grub menu of the Live CD, what happens if you change display managers
from gdm to kdm by installing KDE/Kubuntu, what are your monitor settings under
Settings| Preferences| Screen Resolution, is your monitor and video card
properly detected, what happens if you change the monitor type, what happens if
you change the refresh rate, have you another monitor to try and are you using
desktop effects or Compiz Fusion?

You may have answered some of these questions and I have not paid attention
because I felt someone else with more expertise would help. I am sorry if this
is the case as I see that you are frustrated.

Something you could try from a terminal is kill X with: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm
stop
Then try to reconfigure X with: sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Change the settings here to something more suitable.
Followed by: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

This is an old cure-all for X problems that sometimes works.

I would like to get UNBUTU going and
thank you for taking the time to write. I tried your suggestion but for some
reason got left with "Running local boot scripts" and no prompt. I tried
looking through the files but didn't really know what to look for.

I have had the same problem with SUSE, and Puppy Linux if I use the Xorg
option. With Puppy if I use Xvesa the display is fine. I did play with the
numbers in Puppy Linux Xorg and got it to look pretty good with 1024x768,
56Hz Horizontal and 71 Hz refresh rate. UBUNTU screen resolution menu
however only allows 43 or 60 Hz Refresh and no option for the Horizontal
rate. The computer by the way is a Compaq 5070 with a SIS-530 video
controller on the mother board so stuck with it.

Another thing I ran into, with the latest UBUNTU, v8.04, there isn't a
"Acticate" or "Deactivate" tab under /System/Network (where the telephone
Icon is) to dial out, like there was in v6.06! I guess I'm one of the few
still using a 56k modem for the Internet, what I get for living out in the
sticks!

When I first got my current computer no distro would install on it. The first
one to work was SimplyMEPIS. I used boot parameters to get it to work. At the
bottom of the grub menu of the Live CD is a narrow window where you can type and
add boot parameters. Two boot parameters for video problems were vga=normal and
xdrvr=vesa. Do not add commas between them, just leave a single space. After
entering them you can press enter. If the Live CD boots and works with these
settings then we know that this is what you need to use for your video problem
and will write them into the settings.

I am not a modem guy. I once was, but have not used a modem for over ten years.I
am hoping that someone will jump in with suggestions for you. Networking is not
as good with Ubuntu as some distros.

Have you considered trying Linux Mint which is an Ubuntu derivative that has
some great tools, including a networking one? It is nice looking and Elyssa, the
version based on 8.04, is just out (Gnome and Lite, so far). There will be KDE,
Fluxbox and XFCE versions to follow. Another one to consider is Simply MEPIS 7
which is based on Debian stable and it has great tools, including a networking
one. Neither of these is wandering far from Ubuntu as all three are Debian at
their core.

While I use and like Ubuntu, my biggest criticism is that the persist in
thinking that Gnome and KDE out of the box tools are sufficient, but other
distros such as the ones mentioned plus openSUSE, Mandriva and PCLOS have
expanded tool sets that add functionality and simplify everyday tasks. Your case
underscores the need for better tools.