10.10 > 11.04? Safe to try?

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Update Manager has been offering to update me to 11.04 for quite some time now. Earlier this year I tried to run 11.04 from a LiveCD thumbdrive and wireless networking shut down on this cheapo Acer Aspire One. The problem persisted after rebooting from the HD with the LiveCD removed, which suggests ghosts in machines, and other spooky things that go bump in the night.

Anyway, quite a bit of time has passed and I'm wondering about taking the step.

[snowpine]

Well, it's not "safe" to use 10.10 since it has reached its end of life and has no security updates or bug fixes. And even if the update succeeds, 11.04 only has 1 month of support left. Therefore I recommend a fresh reinstall of 12.04, the current long-term-support release.

If you have a wireless problem then I recommend you troubleshoot that separately in a new thread, it is probably an easy fix. :)

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Thanks, Snowpine. The obvious follow-up questions to doing a fresh reinstall of 12.04, are:

1. E-Z to do? instructions?

and

2. My settings, files, apps, etc., gonna be safe?

[snowpine]

1. E-Z 1-2-3 instructions here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-desktop

2. A fresh reinstall will wipe all your settings, files, and apps, so you MUST do a full external backup of everything you want to keep.

[Rocket J Squirrel]

1. E-Z 1-2-3 instructions here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/install-ubuntu-desktop

2. A fresh reinstall will wipe all your settings, files, and apps, so you MUST do a full external backup of everything you want to keep.

Gracious. How's a girl to know which parts to back up and which not, to avoid overwriting parts of the new OS with old bits? Doesn't this require a pretty intimate knowledge of the file system and how to tell user stuff from OS stuff?

[snowpine]

All of your user documents are in the /home folder. You will need to reinstall apps and tweak settings after a fresh reinstall.

If you prefer to upgrade-in-place then you can keep all of your apps and settings HOWEVER 1) you need to upgrade step-by-step from 10.10 -> 11.04 -> 11.10 -> 12.04 and 2) there are VAST differences in the look and feel of 12.04 compared with 10.10, so it is likely your old settings won't make sense any more with the new Unity interface.

Before you do anything you might want to try a Live CD or Live USB of 12.04 to see if you even like it (and if it runs on your hardware). :)

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Thanks snowpine,




If you prefer to upgrade-in-place then you can keep all of your apps and settings HOWEVER 1) you need to upgrade step-by-step from 10.10 -> 11.04 -> 11.10 -> 12.04

1) A step-by-step upgrade sounds like a way to avoid having to search out and re-install my apps. Downsides other than the time involved?


[...] and 2) there are VAST differences in the look and feel of 12.04 compared with 10.10, so it is likely your old settings won't make sense any more with the new Unity interface.

2) That's something I'd face anyway whether I went 10.10 > 12.04 with a fresh install or whether I did it stepwise, as described above, ain't it?

[snowpine]

That sounds sensible. So long as you have a good backup, you can experiment with the step-by-step upgrade, and if it doesn't work, then you still have the option of a fresh reinstall.

Another option (if your hard drive is big enough) is to set up a "dual boot" with your old Ubuntu and your new Ubuntu. Then you can switch back and forth between them while you are adjusting to the new system.

Your call, good lucK! :)

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Thanks!

[snowpine]

I also highly recommend you read this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes

[darkod]

Step by step upgrades will almost certainly leave your system with some problems. Sometimes even doing one upgrade will create issues. Doing 4 in a row is almost certain to.

When you boot with the 12.04 LTS cd it will offer to upgrade your system, if I'm not mistaken. That's a new feature included in 12.04. It is supposed to keep all your documents and settings.

BUT, that process can also go wrong sometimes, like anything else in IT, so having the backup mentioned before you start the 12.04 install is much advised.

Make the backup of all your personal stuff, and you can try the upgrade with the 12.04 cd, not online release by release.