8.04 to 10.04 Dell Mini 9 Upgrade from USB

[drneals]

I purchased a USB from OSDisc.com for the upgrade of the title. There are no instructions so I need to know how to do this upgrade. I have looked at the files on the USB and it is not clear how to proceed. Any help will be most appreciated.

[ajgreeny]

If it is a live USB, you can not upgrade your version from 8.04 to 10.04, but will need to do a fresh install. If the netbook was one of those direct from Dell with Ubuntu on it, I do not even know if it would upgrade version to the standard ubuntu as Dell's version was customised a fair bit, if my understanding is correct.

So having said all that, start by booting to the USB; you will need to look in your netbook documentation to see how to do that if it does not happen by default. If the Live system runs OK, then the installed system should do, so go ahead and install. Make sure you back up everything first.

If you need more info about how to do this, come back again.

[drneals]

I said "upgrade" but that was a misstatement. I actually knew that I needed to do a fresh install. I have desktops where I had to do this - from CD's. How do I get to boot off of the USB? It doesn't boot up to the USB.

[ajgreeny]

Are you sure it does not do so? I thought just about all netbooks were able to boot from USB thumb drives or external hard drives; how else can you install an OS?

If you can get into the BIOS you may be able to change the boot device priority, or there may be a key to hit to list the devices that are bootable. Have a look at your documentation, or do a search online about booting a Dell mini 9.

It is certainly listed here on the ubuntu wiki.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks#Dell%20Mini%209
but there is no info on how to boot from USB.

[drneals]

There was a boot option on the initial screen - down in the lower right corner. I did it and installed the new OS. After the initial hang-up things went great.

[ajgreeny]

Great!

Everything working OK? Anything not working?