How Often Do You Reinstall Ubuntu

[tekkidd]

Just curious as to know how often you guys reinstall ubuntu on your system

[tekkidd]

I have a desktop that i just reinstalled ubuntu on 2 weeks ago (runs 9.10 now) and a laptop thats been running since December of last year (runs 9.04)

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

Every couple of months at least, but I am dual booting now so I'll just leave it be. Lucid is REALLY stable for me (i've been using it since alpha).

[The Thunder Chimp]

I always think that when I install Ubuntu, it will be the last time, however, I reinstall it so often. Me and my adventurous side...](*,) For example I'm afraid I'll need to reinstall due to this problem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9230381#post9230381)...

[speedwell68]

I do a fresh install once every 6 months, when the new release comes out.

[wojox]

I do a fresh install once every 6 months, when the new release comes out.

+1 I do the same.:o

[Doctor Mike]

Every three seconds, on average...

[FoxMcCloudwp]

I only install every new release

[Bölvaður]

fresh install every release and also if I manage to turn the system into something I dont like and am quicker to reinstall than reverting what ever I did.

[seenthelite]

Fresh install with each new release and a partition for installing and testing alpha and beta release's. But this time because 10.04 is perfect on my Laptop I will leave it as long as it's working fine. Maybe install 10.10, when it's released, in a new partition.

[cariboo]

Several times a year. I always start testing when the toolchain for the next release is uploaded. I have fresh installs on my main home system and my netbook, My office system is an upgrade from karmic. The first re-install is usually when the first beta of the next release comes out. then at least 3 systems will get re-installs when the rc is released. I guess you could say about on average about 6 times a year per computer.

[CharlesA]

Usually every 6 months, but time will tell if I'll bother upgrading Lucid, since it's running fine for me now.

[JDShu]

With my new computer which came with Karmic preinstalled, I haven't yet. Upgraded directly to Lucid and my plan is too keep using it until the next LTS, lets see if that happens :P

[antmenj]

Always wait at least 3 months before upgrading distros to ensure a stable release

I think thats good advice. I do have a play with new releases but play is the operative word.

[Algus]

Haven't done a fresh install in a long time. Always use the upgrade tool. Working out the kinks gives me something to do.

Getting Lucid to run was an even bigger pain than normal though so when 10.10 hits, it might be time to do a fresh install.

[tekkidd]

Personally I dont like to reinstall all that much because that means i will be spending time reconfiguring the system to work. Another big issue with reinstalling is that i have quite a few files that i cant loose on my system.

[Genius314]

Every 6 months with the new release.

I think the last time I reinstalled outside the cycle was back when Beryl was still used... I completely messed up the installation switching from Beryl to Compiz, and did a clean install just to get everything working again. And that was a few years ago.

[jetpeach]

i don't see the point in doing a fresh install... i'm been upgrading on of my computers since 5.10 (i believe that was breezy badger?!)

after upgrading i occasionally have to debug a config file or do if an upgrade bug pops up, but generally these are easily fixable. IMO there just isn't any reason to actually do a "clean install" (unlike winblows, where a clean install is simply a necessity after a year or two, depending on usage)

[Primefalcon]

well I started using Ubuntu during 7.10.....

When 8.04 came... I messed up and reinstalled due to the ID 10 T error called new user syndrome which is complicated by a constant need to hacks at things...

By the time 8.10 came out I was a little more accomplished at fixing my issues, but pulseaudio would not recognize my usb headset and even killing it on startup would not accomplish anything since the underlying sound system seemed to have some bugs that well left my sound useless... so reinstalled 8.04 from necessity until 8.10 was fixed which fortunately only took a month for the devs to fix the specific issue I was having....

I installed 9.04 with ext 4, which left my system constantly freezing, So i re-installed 9.04 with ext3.....

9.10 went relatively smoothly I figured I'd try a fresh install again due to ext4 to see how that was going now... , there were a huge amount of bugs, but ext4 was stable, and the batload of bugs I managed to work through.... So relatively smooth...

I did a system update to 10.04 on the day it came out.... only bug I noticed was one where I kept being nagged about Transmission every time I logged in... clicking accept wouldn't kill it from next time..... For some reason I killed it with killall -9 transmission, and then restarted it... haven't been nagged since.

So yeah so 10.04 is the actual only release I haven't done a fresh install for.. And yet I am looking forward to ButterFS Under Ubuntu... Am I crazy?

Funny enough the netbook went from 8.10 to 9.04 to 10.04 without any hitches! it's an asus 900ha for reference (beautiful machine!)

[Dark Aspect]

Every six months, except I replaced the Ubuntu 9.10 release with Arch Linux. However, I am back as an Ubuntu user though I'll probably use Arch off and on in the future.

[Primefalcon]

Every six months, except I replaced the Ubuntu 9.10 release with Arch Linux. However, I am back as an Ubuntu user though I'll probably use Arch off and on in the future.
NO bad choice there either way I prefer Buntu but Arch is... well arch is nice!

[kgarbutt]

I too do a fresh install every six months when the new release comes out. Just installed Lucid today.

[23dornot23d]

I do a fresh install .... usually every 6 months - but tend to keep the older versions too .....
some versions do some things slightly quicker than others .... and its nice to see how things have improved.

[desnaike]

I reinstall every 6 months but 3 months after a new release to ensure the bugs are found and fixed. And with the lucid release I'll stay at least 2yrs.

[rogerpittman]

I normally do a fresh install with each new release (been with Ubuntu since 6.06), but I'm thinking now of sticking with LTS versions since 10.04 has proven to be extremely stable for me.

[judge jankum]

Had 8.04 on this puter from the start....Works flawless, so there's no way I'd change it.:)
Have 10.04 on another puter working great also....I just like having a system that works and sticking with it:popcorn:

[mamamia88]

pretty much every 6 months.

[jerenept]

when they release a new one - fresh-installed lucid today- waaay faster than the upgrade from karmic, just used my deja dup backups to restore files.

[Wim Sturkenboom]

Re-installed once about three years ago (Dapper Drake) after a computer crash.
Never after that. I did the upgrade to Hardy Heron and I'm considering to switch to 64bit (so I assume that will be a re-install).

[NightwishFan]

I reinstall probably once a week as I only test one OS at a time. As soon as I get some CDs next I am going to give Debian a shot.

[diskotek]

with every 4th or 10th month of the year :D

[Animal X]

...so it's not just me then....nice.

[tica vun]

I've had this install since 7.10. There were some snags along the way, but nothing that warranted reinstalling.

This isn't windows, people. There really isn't a reason to reinstall Linux other than "I can't be bothered fixing it properly".

[mihai.ile]

with every 4th or 10th month of the year :D



Done this since Ubuntu existed, with one exception: Dapper was 6.06 :D

In 6 months period usually I get the system full of unorganized folders, application no longer use, wierd configurations sometimes so I take the release time as a way to re-organize the pc along with a fresh install of the new version.

[tica vun]

Done this since Ubuntu existed, with one exception: Dapper was 6.06 :D

In 6 months period usually I get the system full of unorganized folders, application no longer use, wierd configurations sometimes so I take the release time as a way to re-organize the pc along with a fresh install of the new version.

So you're using a fresh install as an excuse for your own laziness? lol.

I've always hated installing an OS. Wiping everything you've accomplished and all the personalisation clean, painstakingly trying to get it to act like it did before...just upgrading to the new version and sorting things out is way less effort, and ubuntu has pretty much reached the point where a distribution upgrade is as seamless as a kernel upgrade - download, install, reboot, done. Why the hell would you bother with a fresh install when it works? And no, using a fresh install as an excuse to **** on your hard drive for six months isn't what I'd consider rational.

[mihai.ile]

So you're using a fresh install as an excuse for your own laziness? lol.

I've always hated installing an OS. Wiping everything you've accomplished and all the personalisation clean, painstakingly trying to get it to act like it did before...just upgrading to the new version and sorting things out is way less effort, and ubuntu has pretty much reached the point where a distribution upgrade is as seamless as a kernel upgrade - download, install, reboot, done. Why the hell would you bother with a fresh install when it works? And no, using a fresh install as an excuse to **** on your hard drive for six months isn't what I'd consider rational.

I like the idea of a fresh install every 6 months, if you do updates only, do as you wish...

[scouser73]

On every release, but this will be my last until the next LTS.

[RedMaster]

fresh install every release and also if I manage to turn the system into something I dont like and am quicker to reinstall than reverting what ever I did.

It's the same with me! ^^

[aaaantoine]

I ran a fresh install of Ubuntu every six months, meaning I fresh installed Feisty, Gutsy, and Hardy. I had given /home its own partition, so that I could do a fresh install without having to reload much of my files and settings. The first time I tried upgrading without a fresh install was with Intrepid.

By contrast, I installed Arch Linux in December 08, and have been running on the same install since. I still go through a fair amount of breakage every six months, but it's due to the KDE release cycle rather than the Ubuntu release cycle.

I think once Ubuntu has the full Linux/ATI graphics stack up and running, I'll get rid of Arch and wait for new LTS releases, so that I only have to deal with breakage once every two years instead of once every six months.

[philinux]

New release goes on drive 1 every 6 months.

Toolchain upload gets the treatment on drive 2 for the development release. Drive 2 might get reinstalled 3 or 4 times during the 6months cycle depending on how well it goes. Lucid only got reinstalled twice early on.

[BrokenKingpin]

LTS to LTS on my home server, release to release on my desktop/laptop. I am going to try and stick with this for a few releases on my desktop/laptop, as I am sick of reinstalling every 6 months.

[adityagnet]

I don't think you need to reinstall lucid that much coz i think its extremely stable but i ustd to reinstall karamic koala about once in 3 months!!

[98cwitr]

Haven't done a fresh install since 9.04.

[samalex]

My goal will be to either reinstall whenever one of these happens:
- Get a new laptop or hardware
- Release of an LTS version
- Release of a non-LTS version with Must Have additions
- HD crash

My current system came preloaded with 9.04 but I'll be moving up to 10.04 in probably the next month or so... just no time now since we're in the middle of moving.

And unless a subsequent version adds some major must-have feature I'll probably stick with 10.04 until 12.04 is released, unless something happens to my laptop that requires me to get a new one.

I'm not one to reinstall just for the sake of it because Linux isn't like Windows where bit-rot or crap in the registry requires reinstalling every 6 months or so. Other than to run the 'latest and greatest' release I'm not sure why anyone would want to reinstall Ubuntu unless it was to move to the latest LTS version or to move to another distro.

Take care --

Sam

[WinterRain]

i don't see the point in doing a fresh install... i'm been upgrading on of my computers since 5.10 (i believe that was breezy badger?!)



I don't see the point in upgrading. It only takes me 2 hours to get back to where I was, and never have to worry about issues popping up. Take a look around the forums and you will see tons of threads such as: "sound/video/network/boot no longer works after upgrade". They wind up spending more time trying to fix the issue than the time they would have spent clean installing.

The idea of over-writing files, cruft, fragmentation and bit-rot do not appeal to me. Just because it works for you, does not make it an ideal way to do things. Just because I smoke cigarettes and don't have cancer does not make it a good thing to do.

Btw, I reinstall every 6 months. 2 hours is not a lot of time every 6 months.