Upgrading to latest version of Ububtu

[reut2]

I have just installed Ububtu from a DVD I burned a couple of years ago 12.10.
I'm trying to upgrade, but when I try to use upgrade manager I get the following message. On the dialog box it says "Failed to download repository information,check your Internet connection"
The details are below. Can I upgrade without having to buy and burn a DVD?


W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-updates/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-backports/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.24 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/source/Sources 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/restricted/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/universe/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, W:Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/quantal-security/multiverse/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.201 80]
, E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

[v3.xx]

Can I upgrade without having to buy and burn a DVD?

It can be upgraded, but not recommended. 12.10 would have to upgrade to 13.04 to 13.10 to 14.04 to ..
Too much upgrading, just asking for trouble.

Also older machines have trouble running the newer ubuntu, its resource demanding. What are your computer specs?

[deadflowr]

Back when 14.04 was about to come out there was chatter about how to deal with users of 12.10.
see, 12.10 was the last 18 month release cycle and because of that it went end of life after 14.04 would come.
But...
because 13.04 became the first 9 month release cycle, users of 12.10 would end up going directly into a dead release.

So, the thinking at the time was to open 12.10 to the `14.04 release channel as a one time circumstance, which would allow those users to jump directly to 14.04.

Unfortunately, I do not know if this actually happened or not.

But, you may be able to find out by doing the following.

You need to change your sources.list from the us.archives and security repos to old-releases repos.
I would recommend making a quick copy of the sources.list file and place it somewhere in your home folder (Documents is Best)

cp /etc/apt/sources.list ~/Documents
then here's a one-liner to quickly change the sources.list to the old-releases

sudo sed -i -e 's/us.archive.ubuntu.com\|security.ubuntu.com/old-releases.ubuntu.com/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
when you make the change ( or attempt to) run

sudo apt-get update
to make sure it works without any errors.

Then if it works you'll need to see about changing the release-upgrade since 12.10 will probably be set for normal, rather then lts. (long term release)
You can try doing this in software sources, it might be called Software and Updates in 12.10 but I'm not sure.

In software and updates you would go to the Updates tab and go down to where it says notify me of new releases when and see if you can toggle it to lts.
If so, try that.

Alternatively, you can try editing the release-upgrade file at
/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
you would need to change the line the says
{code]Prompt = ????[/code]
from whatever it says to

Prompt = lts
this need to be done with sudo, as it is a root owned file.

Then rerun the apt-get update command or try the software updater (update manager).
With the software updater (update manager) when it updates it should show a prompt for new version 14.04. --Hopefully


You can also try the release-upgrade terminal command if you want, which will do the upgrade through the terminal.

do-release-upgrade
no need for sudo with this command as it will eventually prompt you for your password, anyway.


Like I say, not sure it'll work but that is basically what you would need to do if it does.

Hope it makes sense.


Edit: Oh, and it should go without saying, be I will, that you should backup any personal data (ie, your home folder) regardless of if it works or not.

[ajgreeny]

As you may have already figured, it is possible, in theory, to upgrade to a supported version of Ubuntu, but in all honesty, it is not advisable; there are far too many opportunities in the multi-stage operation for things to go wrong and leave you with a very big mess to try to get up and running properly.

I recommend very strongly that you have all your /home files and folders backed up, including the hidden ones, then do a clean install of 14.04-Trusty which is now very slick and stable, and one of the best versions of Ubuntu there has been, in my opinion.

Do not try to upgrade to the current, for a few days at least, version of 15.04, as that will lose its support in Jan 2016, and I would not bother personally to go to 15.10 when it arrives next week; stick with 14.04 which is supported till 2019.

You might like to consider manually partitioning and making a separate /home or /data partition when you do this new clean install as it can make further installations a lot easier; backups are still essential before installing, and you should always have backups anyway, but you will probably never need them if things go according to plan.

Come back for more details if you decide to do the install this way and we'll give you more info.

[reut2]

I wanted to set up the home partition on a NTFS partition so i could share it with windows--I had Fedora set up that way. When I installed 12.10 last week, it would not allow me to use a non-native partition for /home, so I used a ext4 partition. Will i have the same problem with 14.04? Can I change the partition after the install is complete to ntfs partition?

[ajgreeny]

I wanted to set up the home partition on a NTFS partition so i could share it with windows--I had Fedora set up that way. When I installed 12.10 last week, it would not allow me to use a non-native partition for /home, so I used a ext4 partition. Will i have the same problem with 14.04? Can I change the partition after the install is complete to ntfs partition?
No, it can't be done and I think your memory of using Fedora must be erroneous.

You can make a data partition to share between Linux and Windows but your /home partition, if you have a separate one, must be on a Linux filesystem, eg ext4, as you now have. For it to work at all, the files and folders in your /home must have certain permissions; those are only enabled in Linux filesystems; Windows filesystems such as fat32 and NTFS do not understand or use permissions in the same way.

You can have both a separate /home and /data partition if you wish; come back again if you wish to take things further.