[SOLVED] Is there a real need to upgrade

[bigtom71]

I bought a Dell 1525N preloaded with 8.04 and am wondering if it is worth the trouble to upgrade to 8.10 when everything is working on the current system?

[jerrylamos]

My 8.04's run fine. I've been running early 8.10's since they first were available. I got a lot of failures but I'm a glutton for punishment.

Take a look at Ubuntu Forums Installations & Upgrades. If you are interested in problems like that, have at it.

Jerry

[Bannor]

short answer no.

for some of us an upgrade will fix problems but your machine was preloaded so I would not imagine you having any issues. However the Ubuntu teams does a great job in adding cool featurs with every every new addition. I would imagine Canolical tests all of their pre loaded machines before a release so the risk of a major issue with and upgrade is a small one, but it is greater than if you sit on your hands and wait for the next lts update.

[Herman]

:) Hello jerrylamos,
How much spare hard disk space do you have?
I have a lot of space in my hard disks and not too much data, so what I always do is install the new Ubuntu beside the earlier one(s) and try it out for a while before moving into it.

That way if a program doesn't work as well as you expect, you can still just boot back into your older Ubuntu and use that one instead.
All operating system releases improve with age, like a good wine or a good ship.
It's fun to try out the latest and greatest, but I am always reluctant to delete something that works well. Multi booting is one way to have the best of both worlds.

Regards, Herman :)

[OrangeCrate]

I bought a Dell 1525N preloaded with 8.04 and am wondering if it is worth the trouble to upgrade to 8.10 when everything is working on the current system?

No, you never have to move to the latest and greatest, just because something new comes out. If what you have works for you, and it's still supported, that's just fine.

The LTS version will be used by many, right up until the next version comes out three years from now.

On the other hand, many think that using an absolutely stable release, day-to-day, is a little like watching paint dry.

Like Herman mentioned in his post, dual booting the latest cutting edge version, and keeping the LTS, or another stable version in another partition, is a good way to go.

Frankly, I agree with him, and I had 6.06 LTS in one partition on my older computer, until I updated it to 8.04 LTS, and there it will remain until the next one becomes available.

The other partition on that old box, has had every version since 6.06, and now is the home of Intrepid.

Hope you like your new Dell. I've had a 530N for a couple of years now. Flawless.

[Dumdideldum]

My suggestion:
if you don't need newer versions of packages to solve current problems at your installation and you are not really interesting in being an early adopter, leave your running system untouched until many problems, which appear apparently after upgrading, get resolved.

I for myself regret my update as it was really a massive mess, never faced such problems before, and not cosmetic ones, but kernel panics.

[bigtom71]

Thanks for all the input. I think I will just stay with what is working. Why fix it if it isn't broken. I might dual boot just to check out the latest and greatest thanks again.

[em4r1z]

No, there isn't, unless there was a feature introduced in a new kernel or library that you really need. Since most updates were already available in other distributions and you didn't try them, you might already have the answer.

Try this: Wait one or two weeks till the server's traffic is back to normal, download the LiveCD of your choice and see if anything there fancies your current needs.

[MoebusNet]

If you get the itch to try out the newer versions without messing up you hard drive, there _are_ a couple of options.

#1 (easiest) is to burn a copy of the live-cd and boot from it. You won't make any changes to your hard drive as long as you avoid selecting "Install".

#2 (more options) is to use a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox, VMware, etc.) VirtualBox OSE is available in the repositories and will allow you to install several *buntu, Linux or even Windows OSs (if you really must). The VirtualBox OSE version will give you a feel for the trial OS, but won't allow you to utilize USB. For that you would need VirtualBox PUEL version from their website, or another Virtual Machine that does support USB.

BTW, if your questions have been answered, please use the "solved" button under Forum Tools. Best of luck!