Koala is Bad news for me!

[Roasted]

All very good advice but if a OS is deemed 'final' it should be ready for use!

That would be true in a perfect world. But unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world.

In any event, it needs to be 'used' in order to determine if it is right.

Absolutely. There's so many different hardware combinations out there, and there's only a certain amount Ubuntu developers can test with.

Even though I'm guilty of installing new versions of Ubuntu the day they come out, I still know I'm taking a risk. It's like this with any operating system.

I think it's important to know that things could be much much worse, and we should be happy that we don't have to wait a year for it to be semi-stable, like some of our unfortunate system32 colleagues.

In a few short weeks, I'm sure all of us will be rockin out with a stable Karmic release.

[P4man]

Thanks P4Man, after doing 'grub-install -v' it shows that I am running the old version of Grub, ie (GNU GRUB 0.97)

None of this is my choice but it was what evolved after upgrading to Karmic.

The thread you directed me to gives some info on Grub 2 but it appears that it is possible to use either Grub or Grub2. My old version of Grub should work if I could get the 9.10 kernel to appear. It now appears on the 'menu.lst',perhaps because I did 'update-grub' but it fails to show at boot-up.

Is there a way to get the Grub to boot up with the 9.10 kernel as a choice?

I remembered an old 'Super-Grub Disk' in that drawer and when I tried it, I booted very happily and briskly to Grub and 9.10.....everything works the way should and it is brilliant!

Now I have to fix Grub to work the way it should!

This is all very odd. Do you have more than one grub installed perhaps? You can only have one grub stage 1 bootloader per disk (it sits on the MBR) but perhaps you made a boot partition and now you also have a /boot and /boot/grub folder in your root partition? Or more than one root partition?

Anyway Im not a grub expert at all, I hope someone can give you better advice than me. My specialty is having hunches

[Plumtreed]

Thanks Roasted, we seem to be sorting out my problem which appears to centre around Grub/Grub2.

Booting via 'Super-Grub' has established a Grub menu containing 9.10 as the dominant menu. So now I boot into Karmic and everything appears perfect.

My only problems now are:

-I don't use Windows so the other OS on my puter was a Ubuntu based and the upgrade didn't take that into consideration.

-I am not running on Grub2

[Plumtreed]

Thanks for your hunches Pac4man, your handholding seems to be getting me through

I was very anxious to make the 'upgrade' work and except for the Grub problem it has. The Grub problem may be something very specific to my laptop.

I'll check out your theory and get back later.

[Slim Odds]

All very good advice but if a OS is deemed 'final' it should be ready for use!

Please name ONE OS that was 100% FLAWLESS as a FINAL release.

........... I'm waiting ...........

[jdunn]

True on posts #4 and #5. I downloaded Koala and burned a CD today but I don't plan on installing it for a couple weeks. I tried out the live CD though...works fine on my system. Also, I don't do upgrades. A clean install may be more work, but its worth it.

[Plumtreed]

Please name ONE OS that was 100% FLAWLESS as a FINAL release.

........... I'm waiting ...........

Is this a bit like Road Rage?

[Plumtreed]

True on posts #4 and #5. I downloaded Koala and burned a CD today but I don't plan on installing it for a couple weeks. I tried out the live CD though...works fine on my system. Also, I don't do upgrades. A clean install may be more work, but its worth it.

I did an upgrade and, except for Grub, it is 'brilliant! Upgrading to a new release is the ultimate for an operating system and unless people have a go it may never be achieved.

I have a 'stable' desk-top computer running LTS so I can afford to play on my Laptop.

If you can chance it, try upgrading to help establish the practise and contribute in a small way to the development of the OS. It may also contribute to your own learning experience

[beacon]

I like Ubuntu and use it exclusively. While I agree with the arguments put forward that one can't expect perfection from the outset, I would suggest following the advice of others; i.e., unless you are much more advanced than I, stick with 9.04 for the moment. I upgraded and had to spend hours on the forums and seeking outside help for a number of difficulties without much luck. So I got rid of Koala and reinstalled 9.04.

[P4man]

I like Ubuntu and use it exclusively. While I agree with the arguments put forward that one can't expect perfection from the outset, I would suggest following the advice of others; i.e., unless you are much more advanced than I, stick with 9.04 for the moment. I upgraded and had to spend hours on the forums and seeking outside help for a number of difficulties without much luck. So I got rid of Koala and reinstalled 9.04.

I dont think thats sound general advice. I think the better advice is to try 9.10 from a livecd, and see if it all works with your hardware before installing or upgrading. As with every new release where some things are changed fundamentally (like a new xorg with new intel drivers in this case) it will solve problems for many users and introduce new issues to others. Im still convinced 9.10 is a step forward for far more users then a step backward, although its clear this doesnt apply to everyone.

In short: try before you "buy"