Upgradephobia!

[David McNally]

Hi everyone.

It's the first time that I'm upgrading on this computer, and I'm now a bit hesitant about upgrading.

On the computer I had before this (which wasn't a very good machine), I upgraded once, and lost all of the graphics effects because the graphics driver was lost. The next time, I lost several programs, and could not figure out why. However, at that time, I was still using windows a lot, so it wasn't that important that Ubuntu was having problems.

My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering I've never had a successful upgrade.

Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4 and GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh install. Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all of my programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine programs, game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and GRUB 2?

Thanks in advance.

--
David McNally
david3333333@...
Linux Kernel 2.6.28-15-generic

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[NoOp-4]

On 10/30/2009 04:50 PM, David McNally wrote:
...

> My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least
> I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering I've
> never had a successful upgrade.
>
> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4 and
> GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh install.
> Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all of my
> programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine programs,
> game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and GRUB 2?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>

What's the rush?

Wait for at least 30 days (seriously) before upgrading if you only have
one system -- unless of course you have a compelling technical reason to
do so. By then many issues that always occur with any new release
upgrade will/should have been sorted out.





--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[bqz69]

On Saturday 31 October 2009 12:50:11 am David McNally wrote:

> Hi everyone.
>
> It's the first time that I'm upgrading on this computer, and I'm now a bit
> hesitant about upgrading.
>
> On the computer I had before this (which wasn't a very good machine), I
> upgraded once, and lost all of the graphics effects because the graphics
> driver was lost. The next time, I lost several programs, and could not
> figure out why. However, at that time, I was still using windows a lot, so
> it wasn't that important that Ubuntu was having problems.
>
> My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least
> I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering
> I've never had a successful upgrade.
>
> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4
> and GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh
> install. Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all
> of my programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine
> programs, game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and
> GRUB 2?
>
> Thanks in advance.

I have tried to upgrade a couple of ubuntus, and it never worked out well for
me, so until further, i newinstall

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Justin Gruenberg]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 6:50 PM, David McNally <david3333333@...> wrote:
> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4 and
> GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh install.
> Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all of my
> programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine programs,
> game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and GRUB 2?

If ext3 and grub1 are working for you, there's no real reason to
upgrade to them.  Changing the format of a disk is likely to cause
problems (MASSIVE DATA LOSS).  Neither are things you're going to have
to interact with. . . and honestly, the less time you have to deal
with them the better.

As for your upgrade idea, it might be possible by backing up your home
directory and the list of packages installed (restoring the backup and
installing all the packages when you clean install karmic).  You're
probably going to encounter more issues doing this than just doing the
distribution upgrade through update manager.

I'd suggest just upgrading the normal route.  You might want to do
some googling of your specific hardware (graphics card, laptop model,
etc) to see if other people have encountered issues.

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[David McNally]

Hi.

So how exactly do I create a new install? Would I download and burn the ISO from ubuntu.com and select certain settings in the installation program?

And I suppose that I would wait for about a month for all of the bugs to get worked out (and for the ubuntu.com servers to lighten up a bit).

For me, GRUB 1 and ext3 are working just fine. After sending that last message, I found a few other emails from this mailing list that described data loss problems with ext4 (considering that it's a newer version), and if it's not that much better than ext3, and if ext3 is working just fine, then I suppose I have no problem with sticking to ext3, at least for now. And while GRUB 2 seems to be quite interesting and all, I have also found messages floating around about GRUB 2 issues that I'm not in the mood to fix (and never will be), so I figure I can wait for GRUB 2 to have the last few bugs worked out.

I don't have any weird hardware, as far as I know, so I'm probably okay in that camp.

So I'll probably just do a regular upgrade in about a month.

Thanks everyone!

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:10 PM, bqz69 <bqz69@...> wrote:

On Saturday 31 October 2009 12:50:11 am David McNally wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> It's the first time that I'm upgrading on this computer, and I'm now a bit
> hesitant about upgrading.
>
> On the computer I had before this (which wasn't a very good machine), I
> upgraded once, and lost all of the graphics effects because the graphics
> driver was lost. The next time, I lost several programs, and could not
> figure out why. However, at that time, I was still using windows a lot, so
> it wasn't that important that Ubuntu was having problems.
>
> My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least
> I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering
> I've never had a successful upgrade.
>
> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4
> and GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh
> install. Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all
> of my programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine
> programs, game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and
> GRUB 2?
>
> Thanks in advance.

I have tried to upgrade a couple of ubuntus, and it never worked out well for
me, so until further, i newinstall

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

--
David McNally
david3333333@...
Linux Kernel 2.6.28-15-generic

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[bqz69]

On Saturday 31 October 2009 03:12:08 am David McNally wrote:
> Hi.
>
> So how exactly do I create a new install? Would I download and burn the ISO
> from ubuntu.com and select certain settings in the installation program?

Yes.

Do not install ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso.torrent - when I tried that I
got xubuntu 9.04 for some reason

Here are the mirrrors:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors


--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Rashkae-2]

bqz69 wrote:

> On Saturday 31 October 2009 03:12:08 am David McNally wrote:
>> Hi.
>>
>> So how exactly do I create a new install? Would I download and burn the ISO
>> from ubuntu.com and select certain settings in the installation program?
>
> Yes.
>
> Do not install ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso.torrent - when I tried that I
> got xubuntu 9.04 for some reason
>

Ha, that's an interesting mixup... but in any case, if you do end up a
situation like that, install the ubuntu-desktop package.  The final
install will end up being a bit larger, but nothing will be hurt by it.

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Nifty Ubuntu]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 6:01 PM, NoOp <glgxg@...> wrote:

> On 10/30/2009 04:50 PM, David McNally wrote:
> ...
>> My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least
>> I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering I've
>> never had a successful upgrade.
>>
>> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4 and
>> GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh install.
>> Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all of my
>> programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine programs,
>> game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and GRUB 2?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>
> What's the rush?
>
> Wait for at least 30 days (seriously) before upgrading if you only have
> one system -- unless of course you have a compelling technical reason to
> do so. By then many issues that always occur with any new release
> upgrade will/should have been sorted out.
>

Exactly -- what is the rush?

Step one is:
    backup your system in a way that you understand and
    can verify.  Do do you have a backup?  If not, stop thinking
    about an update and focus on your backup.

Step two:
    evaluate what an update to 9.10 gives you.
    On the surface a working ext3 does not need
    to be updated.    A working grub does not
    need to be updated.

Step three:
    review your backup -- will it be valid after an update?

Step four:
    establish a plan to update and if it still makes sense update.


It took me from 7:00 PM to 4:30AM to work through steps 1, 2, 3
and by 5:30 AM I was up and running with 9.10 on a clean install.
Then started a restore of my personal data to run while I got some Zzsss.

On this old laptop 9.10 runs better than any of the previous distro installs,
good stuff.

Thanks,
mitch

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Joep L. Blom]

NoOp wrote:

> On 10/30/2009 04:50 PM, David McNally wrote:
> ...
>> My Ubuntu computer now is currently the only computer that I have (at least
>> I'm not using windows anymore!), so I'm a bit more nervous, considering I've
>> never had a successful upgrade.
>>
>> Also, when I was reading the release notes for 9.10, I noticed that ext4 and
>> GRUB 2 won't be installed on an upgraded computer - only a fresh install.
>> Would there be any way of creating a fresh install, but with all of my
>> programs and files (and I do mean EVERYTHING: Virtualbox VMs, Wine programs,
>> game saves, Compiz settings, etc), while still having ext4 and GRUB 2?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>
> What's the rush?
>
> Wait for at least 30 days (seriously) before upgrading if you only have
> one system -- unless of course you have a compelling technical reason to
> do so. By then many issues that always occur with any new release
> upgrade will/should have been sorted out.
>
>
>
>
>

Normally I do that but today I was adventurous and accidentally started
upgrading my Karmic Beta and it did it not completely flawlessly as some
repositories were not reachable but otherwise chapeau for a very stable
upgrade path. Try that with commercial software.
Joep


--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[SteVe Cook]

On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:59:36 -0000, Joep L. Blom <jlblom@...>  
wrote:


> Normally I do that but today I was adventurous and accidentally started
> upgrading my Karmic Beta and it did it not completely flawlessly as some
> repositories were not reachable but otherwise chapeau for a very stable
> upgrade path. Try that with commercial software.
> Joep
>
>
  I must admit, I’m constantly amazed at how well the upgrade process  
works, even when the cat removed a power lead during an upgrade I was able  
to rescue it.  I have one drive that has been upgraded from 5.10 and is  
now fitted to it’s third different Mobo that I will be upgrading to 9.10  
tomorrow, the only problems I’ve had are related to Flash and/or java, a  
quick alteration of the appropriate simlinks cures it, or the variuos  
third party repos
I’ve probably jinxed it now.
--
Steve

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Joep L. Blom]

Steve wrote:

> On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:59:36 -0000, Joep L. Blom <jlblom@...>  
> wrote:
>
>
>> Normally I do that but today I was adventurous and accidentally started
>> upgrading my Karmic Beta and it did it not completely flawlessly as some
>> repositories were not reachable but otherwise chapeau for a very stable
>> upgrade path. Try that with commercial software.
>> Joep
>>
>>
>   I must admit, I’m constantly amazed at how well the upgrade process  
> works, even when the cat removed a power lead during an upgrade I was able  
> to rescue it.  I have one drive that has been upgraded from 5.10 and is  
> now fitted to it’s third different Mobo that I will be upgrading to 9.10  
> tomorrow, the only problems I’ve had are related to Flash and/or java, a  
> quick alteration of the appropriate simlinks cures it, or the variuos  
> third party repos
> I’ve probably jinxed it now.

Yes of course proprietary and proprietary (closed source).
Joep


--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Faizan Kazi]

On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 11:34 PM, Nifty Ubuntu <niftyubuntu@...> wrote:

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 6:01 PM, NoOp <glgxg@...> wrote:
> On 10/30/2009 04:50 PM, David McNally wrote:
> ...
 

It took me from 7:00 PM to 4:30AM to work through steps 1, 2, 3
and by 5:30 AM I was up and running with 9.10 on a clean install.
Then started a restore of my personal data to run while I got some Zzsss.

Thanks,
mitch

Hey mitch, what program and what parameters are you using to backup your previous install??

I have heard BackInTime and SimpleBackup are good, but i dont know if they are comprehensive. like, if they are good enough to restore a complete backup over a fresh install (of the same version of ubuntu of course :) ) if things go wrong. 

Regards,

Fez

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[frenkiel]

On Mon, 2 Nov 2009, Faizan Kazi wrote:

> Hey mitch, what program and what parameters are you using to backup your previous install??
> I have heard BackInTime and SimpleBackup are good, but i dont know if they are comprehensive.
> like, if they are good enough to restore a complete backup over a fresh install (of the same
> version of ubuntu of course :) ) if things go wrong. 

    There is a aimpler and more secure way to manage personnal data: create an other
    partition (lets's say /data), and put in it all non-system stuff you want to keep,
    including home ( /data/home --> /home).
    You have then nothing to backup, as nothing is deleted (have just to restore links
    like /home)

--
Pierre Frenkiel
--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

[Faizan Kazi]

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 1:15 AM, Pierre Frenkiel <pierre.frenkiel@...> wrote:

On Mon, 2 Nov 2009, Faizan Kazi wrote:

  There is a aimpler and more secure way to manage personnal data: create an other
  partition (lets's say /data), and put in it all non-system stuff you want to keep,
  including home ( /data/home --> /home).
  You have then nothing to backup, as nothing is deleted (have just to restore links
  like /home)

 cool!! :) sounds good! :) it also helps two or more different installs of Ubuntu coordinate :) specially if they are the same version... right?

Fez

--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users@...
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users