New 15n - Crazy # of updates

[_other_]

Hi all,

Absolute noob here. recently acquired a Dell Inspiron 15n with 8.10 installed (figured that a functioning installation would be a good intro to Linux).

Update manager indicates that there are 796 updates available. I know that 8.10 has been around awhile but this seems like a large number to me.

I am a big fan of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought and I can't imagine that one or more of these updates isn't going to break something.

Approximately 50% of the updates are related to language pack (I'm surprised I didn't see Aramaic in there, of course I didn't look too hard ;), ~15% various library updates and the rest is a smorgasboard. The only things I've installed so far are the Firefox updates.

I'm wondering if I should be picking and choosing which updates to install. If so, how do I go about doing this?

Right now everything seems to be functioning correctly except for a few minor glitches. I'd like to keep it this way until I gain a little more familiararity with Ubuntu.

Specs:

Dell Inspriron 15n (1545)
Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
2GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
Bright, Glossy, widescreen 15.6 inch display (1366x768) (WLED)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Ubuntu Notebooks Edition 8.10 w/ Multimedia Playback
Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card forXPS 1340
8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini Card
Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
9-cell Primary Battery

Thanks in advance for any advice given!

brett

[joshedmonds]

While that does sound like a lot, I would expect a new install of 8.10 to have updates numbering in the hundreds (maybe not 800, but what would I know).

Each package that has been updated is not necessarily a program, as you've noted, it may be a language pack or library, and many programs have several packages that go together e.g. a firefox update will also pull down a branding package and a gnome integration package.

For that reason I would concentrate less on the number of packages, and more on the size of the download. Install all of the security updates, then worry about the others.

See if there are any programs you know you don't want installed. If you uninstall a package then reload the updates, updates for that package will disappear from the list.

If the system is new, now is the perfect time to install the updates, I'd rather break a system I hadn't spent any time on than my perfectly customised system. Having said that, what are you expecting to break? You are coming fairly late to the 8.10 party, and if you do break something someone else will know about it too. Search for 'ubuntu 8.10 dell 15n' and see what may have already come up.

Of course, if you are worried, you should also know how to reinstall your default 8.10, as it will have all the necessary drivers bundled (as is my understanding) to get you back to where you are now.

[lnxnut]

Mine had 806 updates but didn't take long as you would think for all of it to update, most was small files. I would recommend letting everything update to the latest files.

[oddeyed]

Well, if you do plan to upgrade all the programs, I would say you might as well upgrade to 9.04.

[RedRat]

I believe that Dell has released a 9.04 disk. You might want to check their Linux web site for the iso disk.
Check this out:
http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_9.04

I would explore this page first:
http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Products/Consumer

[jaqrah]

I recently did a clean install of 8.10 and there were hundreds of updates.

Have no fears...update!