Guy Letourneau wrote: > I am using Ubuntu Intrepid. I am a user and not a coder. > I also live out in slow-speed, ex-urban Oregon. > > Lately this past week I have been notified of several large patches; > 17MB, 10MB and today 4MB. I don't like stopping my other downloads every > other day. > It sounds like you're using default update settings. By default, it checks once a day for updates and alerts the user if any are available, but waits for the user to take action, including to download the updates. You can change this behavior by going to Software Sources (in your System Administration menu), choosing the Updates tab and selecting your options. You can change the check frequency, allow it to download and install, download only, or do nothing.
I wouldn't recommend doing nothing, however. Mine is set to check daily and to download only. I control when they're installed and don't have to stop what I'm doing to download them. Regardless of which distro you select, there will be advantages and disadvantages. Ubuntu installs just about everything you might want, and a lot you might not, which makes installations a snap but is a burden to update. Slackware can be set to prompt you about each and every potential package, which makes installations tedious, but your system will be much cleaner. Of course, you may also need to manually check for bug fixes and procrastination can lead to unprotected vulnerabilities. No distro is up to date except perhaps on release day and when the distro itself is updated to include bug fixes. Either way, downloading and installing updates may be a fact of life for all distros. It's a matter of how much life you give to it. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
