Looking to upgrade to 12.04.1 LTS, but should I?

[Crazy K]

So I finally checked to see if I could upgrade to 12.04.1 through the update manager and it's there saying I can upgrade. I already upgraded from 8.04 to 10.04 so I'm thinking about going to 12.04. This is, my PC is pretty old. It has about 600MB or RAM so would that be enough?

I had a PC that had about 2GB of RAM, but it died. Funny how newer PC's seem to crap out more than the old ones.

Anyways I was wondering if I should upgrade or not?

I heard someone on here say it's best to go with Xubuntu for computers with ram less than 1gb. How would I upgrade from Ubuntu 10.04 to that though, if it's even possible?

[Crazy K]

Also I noticed with Ubuntu 12.04.1 it has a dock on the left side, is there a possible chance I can get rid of that to free up some RAM?

[Crazy K]

Also if this helps, here's some info on my PC

623.2MB of RAM

Processor 0: Pentium III (Coppermine)
Processor 1: Pentium III (Coppermine)

Available disc space: 7GB (I can easily clear some stuff out if I have to)

[jrog]

Also if this helps, here's some info on my PC

623.2MB of RAM

Processor 0: Pentium III (Coppermine)
Processor 1: Pentium III (Coppermine)

Available disc space: 7GB (I can easily clear some stuff out if I have to)

I wouldn't want to run Ubuntu with that amount of RAM -- Unity would likely not be a pleasant experience (though I can't be sure, I suppose). Xubuntu is a much better option; if you want to go even more minimal, Lubuntu is also excellent.

There are lots of different ways you could go about getting there. You could simply upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04, then install xubuntu-desktop (or lubuntu-desktop) after upgrading. (After a while, if everything is okay with Xubuntu/Lubuntu, you could then remove the non-Xubuntu/Lubuntu packages on your system, but that's another topic.) Or you could install xubuntu-desktop or lubuntu-desktop on your current system, then upgrade, then remove unnecessary packages (this would take longer than the first option, since you'd be installing new packages, and thus upgrading more packages than in the first case). Or (what I would recommend), you could backup necessary files, download the Xubuntu or Lubuntu 12.04 ISO, and reinstall from the disc.

[jrog]

By the way, if you decide to just install xubuntu-desktop or lubuntu-desktop (and then upgrade either before or after that, as discussed above), you can find out how to remove unnecessary packages by going to the following page and checking out the links (on the left-hand side) for "Pure Xubuntu" and/or "Pure Lubuntu:" http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/

[mikewhatever]

Honestly, I think a clean install is needed here, and Xubuntu is the obvious candidate. I can't recommend Lubuntu because of some major issues, but if you want to try, by all means, it's rather lightweight.
Ubuntu 12.04 will not run well on your machine.

[black veils]

clean install lubuntu. i doubt xubuntu will run well enough on that ram, so why bother when you can have lubuntu!

[Paddy Landau]

Honestly, I think a clean install is needed here…

Fully in agreement. Please back up all your data first.

I can't recommend Lubuntu because of some major issues…

I have been using Lubuntu for some years on older machines, and I strongly recommend it. My experience with Lubuntu 12.04 has been nothing but perfect. In other words, YMMV.

If you want something even lighter than Lubuntu, take a look at Bodhi; it is Ubuntu-derived, although not part of the official Ubuntu family.

[jrog]

I have been using Lubuntu for some years on older machines, and I strongly recommend it. My experience with Lubuntu 12.04 has been nothing but perfect. In other words, YMMV.

That's been my experience, as well, and I have seen rave reviews of Lubuntu all over the place (particularly for 12.04) -- I don't believe I've seen a negative one yet. mikewhatever, what are the "major issues" you're thinking of?

[Crazy K]

Which one would be better to use than? Lubuntu or Xubuntu?

Will all programs in Ubuntu work in Lubuntu and Xubuntu? Like maybe the mtp-lastfm program that I use to scrobble music to last fm?