Final Beta Testing

[Willem Hobers]

Hi all,

As a long time user of Xubuntu I started testing Xubuntu 18.04/Bionic a 
couple of weeks ago.
I have found testing to be a simple but productive way to help improve 
Xubuntu.

I am  no expert. I am an end user with general knowledge of computers 
and operating systems, software and hardware. I was new to testing 
Xubuntu and knew nothing about the Xubuntu testing process when I 
started. So testing seemed a bit daunting.
It isn't.

I have found one can test Xubuntu if one has some time to spare, a spare 
hard disk, partition, or USB-stick, or if one learns how to use virtual 
machines (I learned to use VirtualBox, and found that to be pretty 
straight forward). The testing tracker[1] contains the scenario's which 
need testing, and the scenario's describe each step to take to do the 
test. Reporting the results is as simple as clicking a button or two and 
filling in a short form. And starting at the testing tracker I have 
found that there is a lot of information out there to help you along the 
way.

However, when testing there will be situations where one is uncertain 
what to do, how to describe what's going on. Especially if one is new to 
testing.
In those situations I have found Internet Relay Chat [IRC, 2] to be very 
useful. IRC was new to me when I started testing. IRC is a way to get 
into direct contact with the developers and ask any questions you may 
have. I have found the developers to be very helpful and patient, and 
-somehow- almost always online. :-)

The reward of testing is, that if you do find an issue and report it, it 
will be picked up by the developers. They will analyze it, prioritize 
it, build a new, better version of the program you found the issue in, 
and finally that new version of the program will then be part of a next 
update of Xubuntu. Making Xubuntu better. Just because you found 
something that needed improving.

In short, I have found that, even though one is no expert or even a very 
knowledgeable end user, by testing any one can help improve Xubuntu and 
it doesn't need to take a lot of time or effort.

Cheers,

Willem

[1] http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat; I installed 
HexChat which works fine and fast.


Op 31-03-18 om 08:44 schreef flocculant:
> During the week leading up to Thursday 5th April we will see iso's 
> available for milestone testing.
>
> Please help to test this milestone - everyone should be able to do 
> something to test this for us all.
>
> If you've not already read the recent blog post from the Development 
> and QA teams regarding the importance of testing - then have a read 
> now ;) [1]
>
> Links to the Final Beta section on the iso tracker will be posted to 
> this thread as soon as I see them.
>
> thanks all
>
> Kev
>
> [1] https://xubuntu.org/news/testing-for-xubuntu/
>
>