Arg: no mdadm on Ubuntu 18.04.5 Desktop install disk?

[Robert Heller]

At Sun, 3 Jan 2021 02:42:22 -0800 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> Just some 2 cents, but I know that LVM has MDRAID embedded in it.  I 
> wonder if MDRAID was dropped in favour of using LVM RAID?

LVM's "RAID" is not really RAID -- it is something else.


> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Pat
> 
> On 2021-01-02 5:04 p.m., Robert Heller wrote:
> > At Sun, 3 Jan 2021 01:42:45 +0100 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Sat, 2 Jan 2021 at 22:07, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> WTF? Does Ubuntu 18.04 in fact not support software RAID during installation?
> >> It used to.
> >>
> >> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SoftwareRAID
> >>
> >> However, I have a feeling that it was dropped at some point, many years ago now.
> >>
> >> There used to be "standard" and "alternate" CD ISOs and the alt was
> >> needed for things like upgrading an existing system _from CD_ as
> >> opposed to from the running system over the internet. Sadly I believe
> >> the alternate ISO no longer exists.
> > This is seriously dumb. I mean why drop these modules and tools? To save
> > space? Huh? I mean are they worried about the ISO not fitting on a 2gig thumb
> > drive? (Can you still get thumb drives that small?)
> >
> > I have yet to see a desktop MB with fewer than 4 SATA ports, so having a RAID
> > array on a desktop is possible, pretty much out-of-the box, at least on the
> > hardware side. (Yes, I know laptops don't generally provide for multiple
> > internal hard drives, so a *laptop* with an internal RAID array for the system
> > disk is unlikely.)
> >
> >>> PS: I also have the Ubuntu 18.04.5 live server/install disk -- should I try
> >>> that instead?  Eg, does it have the RAID modules and mdadm in its init ramdisk
> >>> (appearently, the stock Ubuntu 18.04.5 disktop/install disk does not)?
> >> Anyway, yes, I think you might get further with the server disk -- q.v.
> >>
> >> https://support.us.ovhcloud.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006076940-How-to-Configure-Software-RAID-on-Ubuntu-18-04
> >>
> >> JOOI: why the older version, since 20.04.01 is out now?
> > I do software development work (mostly with open source projects) and want to
> > maintain a level of downward compatibility on my development systems.  I want
> > to be able to support older (and still maintained!) systems.  *I* hate it when
> > open source projects require "bleeding edge" O/S, esp. when the projects are
> > not doing anything that really requires the "bleeding edge" O/S, but merely
> > because the developers are just developing on bleeding edge O/S.
> >
> > It is not like 18.04 is going EOL anytime soon. And I will upgrade in a couple
> > of years. I have never seen any *good* reason to stand on the bleeding edge.
> >
> >> Although saying that, the new server install has its own fancy
> >> disk-partitioning setup and it might be problematic.
> > Something I would rather avoid.  The "standard" Ubuntu installer is way to
> > user-friendly for my tastes.  I would really rather avoid an X11 based
> > installer if at all possible (it looks like it won't be with Ubuntu).
> >
> >> I upgraded my 18.04 laptop to 20.04 recently and it went fairly well.
> >> It tried to show me all my calendar notifications for the last 2 years
> >> or something in one go, and made a lot of noise and locked the desktop
> >> trying to display thousands of notifications. I dropped to text mode,
> >> killed a few apps, but the desktop didn't come back, so I rebooted
> >> from a vconsole. 2nd boot was fine and both GNOME and Unity are
> >> working fine now. (As "fine" as GNOME ever works, anyway.)
> >>
> > Oh, I won't be having anything to do with GNOME or Unity -- just some minimual
> > bits from Mate.  (I find *all* of the "modern" desktop environments horribly
> > hard to use.)
> >
> 

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