To upgrade or not to upgrade?

**kroq-gar78** · June 26th, 2011

Hello Ubuntu Forums Community,

I have a Dell desktop which had 10.04 on it, then upgraded to 10.10 RC (back then when there was RC), and finally to the actual 10.10. It was all 32-bit, since I really didn't know what the difference was back then. It has 3GB RAM, so I was thinking recently that I should upgrade to 11.04 Natty 64-bit. Should I or should I not? Do most 32-bit programs now work on 64-bit? Also, I'm thinking of a complete re-install through liveCD/flashdrive b/c I heard that you should do that after some amount of upgrades. Also, which is more stable: Maverick or Natty? It runs Maverick right now, so if I do a re-install off LiveCD it would only benefit (or serve as a detriment to) me. It has a bunch of apps (lots of which I don't even use), and it has a dual boot with Windoz XP. Ubuntu is installed on and run off of a 320GB external HDD that's connected to the computer with a USB cable. GRUB is installed on the main HDD (inside of the computer; 80GB) so that I didn't have to boot off of USB as default (security issue, in my opinion).

My other desktop, an alienware, has a WUBI install w/ 10.04. Can I even upgrade it to Maverick? Some places, I heard that Maverick is more stable than Lucid; please tell me if that's not necessarily the case. I have dual NVidia's on the Alienware using proprietary drivers.

So, the four main questions:

Should I upgrade my Dell from 32-bit to 64-bit?
Should I upgrade my Dell from 10.10 Maverick to 11.04 Natty?
Which is more stable: Maverick or Natty?
1. Would it affect my performance on either of my systems (both proprietary NVidia graphics cards)
Should/can I upgrade my Alienware WUBI from 10.04 Lucid to 10.10 Maverick?

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
kroq-gar78

P.S. I'm not really worried about Unity. I'm using it right now on one of my other computers and am completely fine with it.

**josephmills** · June 26th, 2011

Hi there with any form of ubuntu you can add a repository and then add unity,fluxbox,gnome3,kde or whatever

How to install unity on ubuntu 10.10

open your terminal (ctrl+alt+t)
then type in

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:canonical-dx-team/une

then

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity

then log out
now when logging in select ubuntu netbook edition enter your password and there you go you have unity

How to install Xfce on ubuntu 10.10
open you terminal and type in

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:koshi/xfce-4.8

then

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xfce4

then log out of you session and when you go to log back in select xface session and that is all there is to it .

How to install gnome 3 on ubuntu 10.10

The first thing that we are going to do is open a terminal(ctrl+alt+t)
Ok now that the terminal is open lets make sure that gcc is installed to do type in

Code:

gcc --version

Did you get an error if so please install it

Code:

sudo apt-get install gcc

then time for the dep

Code:

sudo apt-get install curl libtiff4-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libcroco3-dev xulrunner-dev mesa-utils mesa-common-dev libreadline5-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libwnck-dev librsvg2-dev libgnome-desktop-dev libgnome-menu-dev libffi-dev libgtk2.0-dev libgconf2-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev gtk-doc-tools gnome-common git-core flex bison automake build-essential icon-naming-utils autopoint libvorbis-dev libpam-dev libgcrypt-dev libtasn1-dev libtasn1-3-bin libgnome-keyring-dev libupower-glib-dev libxklavier16 libxklavier-dev xserver-xephyr python-dev libpulse-dev libjasper-dev jhbuild libgtop2-dev libsqlite3-dev libproxy-dev libdb-dev libproxy-dev libcups2-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev gperf

then

Code:

sudo apt-get install curl jhbuild libjasper-dev libdconf0 libtiff4-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libcroco3-dev xserver-xephyr xulrunner-dev python-dev mesa-utils mesa-common-dev libreadline5-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libwnck-dev librsvg2-dev libgnome-desktop-dev libgnome-menu-dev libffi-dev libgtk2.0-dev libgconf2-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev gtk-doc-tools gnome-common git-core flex bison automake build-essential icon-naming-utils autopoint libcanberra-dev libpulse-dev libvorbis-dev gnome-settings-daemon-dev libxklavier-dev libpam0g-dev libtasn1-3-bin libupower-glib-dev libgnome-keyring-dev libgtop2-dev libvala-0.12-dev valac libcups2-dev evolution-data-server-dev libecal1.2-dev libedataserver1.2-dev libedataserverui1.2-dev iso-codes sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev libproxy0 libproxy-dev libdb-dev libdb4.8 gperf libsoup2.4-dev libsoup-gnome2.4-dev python-argparse libsane-dev libgudev-1.0-dev libpolkit-gobject-1-dev liblcms2-dev libxcb-aux0-dev libxcb-event1-dev libx11-xcb-dev libgconf2.0-cil-dev libxtst-dev liboauth-deb

then must and I mean absolutely must – remove the .la files from /usr/lib and /usr/lib64. It seems that these files contain hard-coded paths, which cause issues with the compilation of your new sandbox installation of GNOME 3. So, let’s get rid of them. The easiest way to do this is

Code:

sudo find /usr/lib*/ -name "*.la" -delete

Next we need to download and execute the setup script, but first add the following to the path

Code:

export PATH=$PATH:/home/YOUR USERNAME/bin

Obviously, replace “YOUR USERNAME” with…your username. the bit before the @ sign in your command prompt,
next it is time to start the fun

Code:

cd

then

Code:

wget http://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-shell/plain/tools/build/gnome-shell-build-setup.sh

then

Code:

chmod +x ./gnome-shell-build-setup.sh

then

Code:

./gnome-shell-build-setup.sh

then build time

Code:

jhbuild build

this will take some time (two to three hours )and you will have to watch for errors
then

Code:

cd ~/gnome-shell/source/gnome-shell/src

then

Code:

./gnome-shell --replace

now you should have gnome 3 installed
This will give you a happy sandbox to play in. It won’t affect your current GNOME installation, and you can test out GNOME 3 to your heart’s content. To get back to your previous window manager, simply switch back to the terminal and hit CTRL-C.

If you have been utterly blown away by the GNOME 3 experience or – like me – you just decide to doggedly persevere until you get it working exactly as you want, then type the following lines to replace GNOME 2 with GNOME 3:

Code:

ln -s ~/gnome-shell/install/share/applications/gnome-shell.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/gnome-shell.desktop

gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/session/required_components/windowmanager "gnome-shell" -t strin

have fun with gnome 3

How to install kde on ubuntu 10.10

first thin open up a terminal (ctrl+alt+t)
then type in

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

then

Code:

sudo apt-get update

then

Code:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

then log out and when logging back in select kde and go have fun

If anyone would like to know anymore fluxbox ect post hope that this helps with making a choice

**kroq-gar78** · June 26th, 2011

Ah, sorry, it seems that my original post is misleading. I meant that I'm not "scared" of unity. I already know how to install all of these other awesome desktop environments, but I was really asking if I should upgrade my computers and how it would affect me (look at the original post, then main questions).

P.S. Thanks for the info on Gnome3. I didn't know how to install it

thanks.

**josephmills** · June 26th, 2011

I would have to say that 10.10 is more stable at the moment then 11.04 that is just my option. it also depend if you are a power usr or a everyday usr I like the classic gnome with all its options. as far as nivida they will use the same drivers under additional drivers I sure that a couple people will not like what I have to say but that is how I feel about it. oh and dont install all those desktop enviroments at once could mess stuff up as far as 64 or 32 you would be pushing it with 3 gigs if you ever wanted to run vbox

**nzjethro** · June 26th, 2011

Depending on your system specs, you may find 10.10 smoother than 11.04 (my oldish laptop runs 10.10 perfectly, but 11.04 a bit laggy). Of course you should try the Live CD to see how your system will handle it, because there will probably be a certain degree of performance change.

The way I see it, 10.10 is supported until April 2012, so if you're enjoying 10.10, why bother with an upgrade? I've given Natty a shot twice, and then tried 10.04 LTS as well (thinking I could get an extra year of support), but I've come back to 10.10. If you like how you have 10.10 set up and it runs well on your system, I wouldn't recommend updating.

I hear that 64 bit OSes have improved a lot, so if you do decide to go 11.04, I would go for a clean 64 bit install, rather than upgrading Maverick through the Update Manager. It'll give you a cleaner start, plus you don't have to deal with some of the upgrade errors I've read about on here.