Has Unraid stagnated due to lack of support and communication from Limetech?


jaybee

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A dedicated thread has been made in the correct place so that we can discuss the future of unraid, support and communication from Limetech.

It's been over a month since Limetech's last post, and we have seen this before where it goes quiet for months at a time. Is this appropriate and do we think we will get an update soon? Will 4.7 get fixed? Will version 5 ever go final? Will it fork to get it finished? Are you all still recommending unraid and have confidence in the product?

Discuss.

 

 

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just my 2 cents my unRAID is working fine and it's doing what was said on the box ....

 

so i'm happy atm and all is well with my v5 box..

(the issues with the various hardware configurations is a issue with any software out there as not everything is guaranteed to work,BUT i believe they are trying to fix the issues)

 

i also used to have the same view about the naming convention of unRAID as 5.0BETAsometing BUT it works FINE and does what it's supposed to so i don't really have an issue.

 

:-X::)

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My 4.7 build works just fine

I do recommend unRAID to people and will continue to do so.

Did I vote? NO, because limetech is the only master of his time and like mentioned testing is in progress, which should not be rushed for future releases. Should it be announced sure why not, but does it address every persons request and need? Beats me.

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I like that this has been given its own thread and hope we can keep the discussion contained here.

 

I voted "some time in the next few weeks" as I believe this to be the case. I am an unRAID fanboy, everyone knows it, but I am also out spoken on the stuff I don't like. No project is perfect.

 

unRAID 4.7 runs 24*7 for me and will until the day the hardware blows up. As an OS it is rock solid for my kit. I recommend unRAID to someone almost every week but I find myself making excuses for updates just as often.

 

unRAID v5 is in the shop window with a "coming soon" sign on it. It is frustrating that i walk past this sign a few times a day and it never changes.

 

Would I like it be here today... absolutely. Is it likely to be here today... probably not.

 

What I want, and will say until they turns the lights off, is for there to be more feedback. I literally dont care if I have to wait a year, but it is frustrating that I have all this new kit I want to buy and I cant for lack of V5.

 

Will this change my opinion on unRAID.... No because right now it does what I paid for and does it exactly as advertised. I have the right to be frustrated as I am a paying customer but it is a unique product with a unique development model.

 

It will be ready when it is ready. But feedback on progress is free and I dont think it is unfair for people to get vocal when they dont see it.

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It will be ready when it is ready. But feedback on progress is free and I dont think it is unfair for people to get vocal when they dont see it.

 

Feedback on progress is only free if the person providing the feedback doesn't assign any value to their time.  I do agree that some sort of feedback would be nice.

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I've seen several people post that Tom is awaiting some fixes in the linux kernel. It seems to me that a simple roadmap making this clear with a bug tracker (showing what needs to be fixed before a final version can be certified) would go a long way towards keeping us all informed and happy.

 

Heck, if I knew there were bugs that I didn't impact me, I'd feel even better about the RC releases. Beyond that, if we know that the plugin system is not going to change, then I think plugin developers would feel better about ongoing development.

 

Right now, I'm personally awaiting the 5.0 final to buy a plus or pro license. Basic is doing what I need right now and I'd like to know there is a future here before buying into it.

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It will be ready when it is ready. But feedback on progress is free and I dont think it is unfair for people to get vocal when they dont see it.

 

Feedback on progress is only free if the person providing the feedback doesn't assign any value to their time.  I do agree that some sort of feedback would be nice.

 

Absolutely agree. However to be fair any cost incurred would be more than offset by community support in this forum for what is after all a commercial product.

 

But semantics aside I think it is fair to say this ever reoccurring thread would be rare if there was more feedback.

 

But we have to be honest and accept, just like apple, regular development feedback isn't going to happen.

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the one thing that has been asked has not been answered so allow me...

 

i REALLY don't think unRAID has stagnated if anything the forum has attracted a lot of new users and there has been quite a lot more posts and activity lately...

 

dunno where the stats are for the overall site but that how it seems to me...[nm found it and it does appear that i am almost correct]

 

;D

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But we have to be honest and accept, just like apple, regular development feedback isn't going to happen.

 

The difference is for most of their products they have set schedules things are released at. They may be unofficial but everyone knows the new iPhones and iPods come out in the fall and iPads in the spring. Macs are a different story because they are at the Mercy of Intel and others schedules. But if there was any kind of consistency in the releases even that would make people feel better. But the fits and bursts things are released at now makes people think Tom is just working on it whenever he feels like it and not actively and consistently developing a commercial product most of us paid a good amount of money for.

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These threads start, then devolve, and then restart. It's a byproduct of people not reading historical posts to discover this is not new territory.  The entitlement that is sought based on the assumption that a license buys stock in the company and seats us in the board meetings is not there. In the end nothing changes, because we aren't in charge.

 

...  makes people think Tom is just working on it whenever he feels like it and not actively and consistently developing a commercial product most of us paid a good amount of money for.

 

I don't consider $120 a "good amount of money", compared to the total overall cost of my server. I can tell you in the scheme of things, considering how much I pay for Microsoft products and for my hardware, I would have DONATED $120 to unRAID's development if it was set up that way. Regardless, you either accept this is how things are done, or you move on to something else. I don't feel like I am OWED anything, because I am currently using the product I purchased. I have spent 10 times that amount in donations on projects that fell apart inside a year.

 

 

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I'm going to remind people of this post.

 

 

You guys all need to calm down.  I should have just named 5.0-beta4 or -beta5, or one of those, "5.0-final".  Code's been solid for a long time, aside from h/w incompatibilities largely beyond my control.  Hopefully latest 3.2.13 linux kernel addresses some of these problems.

 

 

[snip] ... [snip]

 

If you have specific company questions or gripes, please email me directly: [email protected].

 

As for perception of my lack of involvement, rest assured I do nothing but work my ass off, sorry if that's not reflected in constant forum updates.

 

 

Feel free to go back to the original thread to read more.

Point is. We KNOW the product is being worked on.

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I had to buy an expensive NAS box a while ago cause 4.7 didn't support 3tb drives and I refused to use a beta on over 22tb of data. I have since switched over to the beta and it has been running fine. No problems at all, but I have a feeling the same problem will happen. There are already 4tb drives out. The current stable of unraid doesn't even support 3tb drives. If 5.0 supports 4tb drive sizes then we are good for a while, and if it does not then that will be the problem heading down the road. Drive sizes change much quicker then unraid can keep up. 3tb drives have been out for years now...and you'd think everything supports them. I do like the version 5 and I didn't even have to buy it again....so I can't complain out right at all.

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Hate to post in another edition of "Wheres limetech" but just couldn't help it.

 

I think 90% of the problem is unraid is a hugely successful project that may have grown outside of the scope that Tom had envisioned when creating it. Remember, it was created by a person as an answer to his own needs and released to the public as a (great) alternative solution to common OSs for media servers. There are a lot os users that are coming to unraid from Windows and they are uncomfortable to say the least about using something based on linux, compounding that and very few status updates.

 

Unraid is simply too big for what is possibly a one man show. Add that to the fact that this is possibly not his only avenue for income. Development will be slower than Apple, Microsoft or any other alternative. I think that reference in a previous post was good but taken the wrong way. Of course everyone knows the general release timeframe for Apple but they are also a huge company that has hundreds if not thousands of employees working on New releases, and a very locked down set of hardware. They write the driver for one thing and don't have to worry about if you are going to use a different chip that requires a different driver. This is where 5.0 has gone, the code is stable but has issues with certain hardware, something largely outside of limetechs control, but being worked on as we speak. He could always choose to say it works with X adapter from X company and that be it. I for one am glad he didn't and accept the fact he is at mercy of the drivers.

 

I bought a license for V5, I have never even booted 4.7, and am quite happy with it.

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I wanted to add my 2¢.

 

I bought unRAID Pro a couple of months ago.  I've been running V5.0 RC-5 without any problems, but I've kept plugins to a minimum.  I'm looking forward to V5.0 going gold, at which point I expect plugin development to resume and stability to improve.

 

From ancient posts, I see that Lime Tech originally sold only complete systems (server hardware & software as a package).  Later, due to popular demand, Lime began selling software to enthusiast builders like us.  IMHO, we're a difficult bunch to please much of the time. We're used to rolling our own systems, having things our way, and conquering pesky incompatibilities.  We find it frustrating when we have to wait on someone else when we're ready to move forward.

 

From what I can tell, it appears that Tom is stuck waiting on some kernel issues to be resolved by others in the Linux development community.  In the interim, he appears to be working on his next server hardware product, filling that gap in Lime's offerings. I expect he's as frustrated as many of us are, but since he has nothing new to report on V5.0, he's focusing on tasks he can do to improve his business.

 

I agree it would be nice to have a published development road map, so we could all see the milestones, hurdles, and external dependencies.

 

That said, I am very happy with V5.0 RC-5.  Here's my build - a 12TB server which is working flawlessly.


  • AMD A4-3300 2.5GHz dual core APU
  • ASUS F1A55-M LE A55 motherboard
  • SuperMicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA RAID controller
      (with room for a second, if I ever need to expand beyond 14 drives)
  • 4GB GSKill DDR3 (2x2GB)
  • NZXT Source 220 case
  • Cooler Master 4 in 3 HDD Module (STB-3T4-E3-GP)
  • CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W PSU (CMPSU-430CX)
  • Silverstone 4-in-1 SATA power connectors with capacitors (x2)
  • 2 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM (Parity, Drive 1)
  • 5 x WD Caviar Green 2TB (Drives 2-6)
  • 1 x WD Caviar 640GB 7200RPM (cache)
  • unRAID 5.0 RC-5 (from day 1)

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Hate to post in another edition of "Wheres limetech" but just couldn't help it.

 

I think 90% of the problem is unraid is a hugely successful project that may have grown outside of the scope that Tom had envisioned when creating it. Remember, it was created by a person as an answer to his own needs and released to the public as a (great) alternative solution to common OSs for media servers. There are a lot os users that are coming to unraid from Windows and they are uncomfortable to say the least about using something based on linux, compounding that and very few status updates.

 

Unraid is simply too big for what is possibly a one man show. Add that to the fact that this is possibly not his only avenue for income. Development will be slower than Apple, Microsoft or any other alternative. I think that reference in a previous post was good but taken the wrong way. Of course everyone knows the general release timeframe for Apple but they are also a huge company that has hundreds if not thousands of employees working on New releases, and a very locked down set of hardware. They write the driver for one thing and don't have to worry about if you are going to use a different chip that requires a different driver. This is where 5.0 has gone, the code is stable but has issues with certain hardware, something largely outside of limetechs control, but being worked on as we speak. He could always choose to say it works with X adapter from X company and that be it. I for one am glad he didn't and accept the fact he is at mercy of the drivers.

 

I bought a license for V5, I have never even booted 4.7, and am quite happy with it.

 

Hi Influencer,

 

I don't think most people are upset about the speed of updates, but rather about being in the dark. We know this is pretty much a one man show. So we are scared that if we don't hear from him for over a month, we might never hear from him again (It has happened to other such projects in the past).

 

Also the fact that many people have paid for the licenses (some very recently), they see Limetech as more of a business rather than some developer who is working on free open source software just because he likes to.

 

My issue is not really with the time frame. The one thing that kinda bothers me is that, users are asked not to use any plugins with the beta software. However 5.0 has been in beta for such a long time that many plugins nowadays only get created for 5.0 and not the stable (not directly limetech's fault). I am sticking to 4.7 until there is 5.0 stable because 1) I value the stability of the server that holds my precious data and 2) some plugins require recompiling every time there is a kernel update. Unfortunately I cannot use the newer plugins like couchpotato server v2 or plex.

 

Thanks

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Much of unraid is open source, only certain aspects are closed. It has been said in precious threads like this if limetech were to disappear certain individuals in the community could reverse engineer the closed source aspects to keep it alive.

 

Limetech is a business, and unraid is a product, a very worthy product IMO.

 

I know users don't like being kept in the dark, but it has been proven in the recent flurry of updates even limetech being very active did little to curb the where's limetech questions. In the end 4.7 is stable, and it is what's being sold. We didnt buy windows 3.1 expecting windows 8. I think it speaks a lot for the license to be lifetime with free updates.

 

We all will have different views for what's acceptable, but none of them will make v5 come any faster, :)

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A table or list of remaining issues (or hardware incompatibilities if that is the main thing) in 5.0 would help a lot. At least I would know if I had troublesome hardware. More importantly, others might be able to help contribute or point to fixes since these very well could be on the open source side of the project. It also might reassure plugin developers that certain elements are not going to change drastically. Just my $0.02 as a newbie!

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