To the guys at umbrelOS

General Discussions
1

With all due respect to the guys at umbrelOS, I’m going to make a little constructive criticism that I hope they don’t take the wrong way.

  • The website is, to put it kindly, not user-friendly at all. The website is a very frustrating experience if you’re trying to install the OS. Everything is a loop back to the main page or to buy the hardware. A million images of the OS, and no links to it anywhere.

  • The existing information available, support with problems, is outdated and users are making their problems worse by following these outdated/obsolete instructions. I know this because I just registered and I’m on the forum trying to help several people and I’ve seen this.

  • I don’t understand the logic of “hiding” an HDMI port on the umbrel home. Honestly, I don’t know what to think.

For my part, I’m a retired systems engineer and I can live with this. I have the time, the vocation, the training, but the vast majority of users don’t have advanced technical knowledge.

I like umbrelOS and, despite the problems and errors in each update, I will continue using it. I see a lot of potential in it and it allows me to add value by helping those I can.

However, guys at umbrelOS, I think you are making decisions that will harm you in the short term.

I hope you do not misinterpret my words. They are said with love and respect and with the intention of making umbrelOS better.

11 Likes
2

Add me to your list of users who don’t have the Linux experience but want to be self sufficient in solving their problems…but end up creating more problems in the end.

An updated instruction/troubleshooting guide would be helpful, especially tailor made for each use case i.e. Rasp Pi, PC, etc. This should be updated before rolling out an update with the different issues you encountered during your installs and updated while bugs are found.

This creates a friendlier customer service/user experience rather than having the end user scrambling to try to figure out an answer that might not necessarily be either issue and creating more problems than working for a solution.

As a busy engineering tech with a busy family life, I don’t have the time to allocate hours/day to troubleshoot my nodes. Any work on improving the customer experience would be greatly appreciated.

4 Likes
3

Scary to read : just bought one because I am NOT an engineer & have no time on my hands . Starting to regret not to have purchased a Start9.

2 Likes