Updating packages on Edgy

[Paoletta_Portenti]

Complet Noob question, but very much needed:

On a slot-loading iMac g3, I have tried several Ubuntu distros, and Debian. Ubuntu versions past Edgy were too much trouble to get them to work. So was Debian.

Edgy installed very easily, and works immediately. BUT I would like to update things like Firefox and Open Office to later versions.
All the repositories Edgy queries for updates have long changed address I think. Edgy just cannot find them.

So: how do I update software while keeping the OS that works (Edgy)?

Can it be done?

Thank you!

[ciscosurfer]

Edgy is obsolete and went EOL (End of Life) as of April 25, 2008. But perhaps these links may be helpful:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades

[Paoletta_Portenti]

I think maybe I don't understand soemthing basic.
So here it is:
Edgy is the last distro that
1)installs on PPC without any fuss
2)runs well enough on an older iMac G3 (others may run well, but install is fussy)
It includes Firefox 2, and Open Office 2.2, as well as older versions of all the other packages. I want to update those without updating Edgy.

Are you saying that if I want to use Edgy, I have no path to update Firefox (or Open Office, or....)? In other words, that the only way to get more recent versions of things like Firefox is to update the OS??

[ciscosurfer]

[...]
Are you saying that if I want to use Edgy, I have no path to update Firefox (or Open Office, or....)?You can certainly try manually downloading the latest Firefox or Open Office suite from each site and see if they work. It's possible they will work. But my guess is you will run into dependency and library problems as later releases rely on certain version levels of various files to be current on your system. This is true with most software as it matures.

To give a quick example, it would be like trying to run Firefox 3.5 on a Windows 98 machine. Your computer (both the OS and the hardware) must meet certain minimum requirements before installation of any piece of software. In the case of Firefox, here are the min. requirements to run the latest version under Linux: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/system-requirements.html

Another relevant point is that of security. Older releases of software are riddled with bugs and holes (Firefox is a prime example). So this might be something to also consider.

In other words, that the only way to get more recent versions of things like Firefox is to update the OS??Generally speaking, the answer is yes.