Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10

rudyamid — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:09:56 +0000

I haven’t used Ubuntu Linux before, although I did try the Live CD more than a year ago. I started to install 8.04 two weeks ago in a Toshiba Tecra M3 laptop to replace Windows XP, because I was having virus issues. Choosing the right Linux OS was my #1 concern because I have reservation about it working seamlessly with a portable computer. Surprisingly, Ubuntu works with the vital parts: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, SD reader, DVD-ROM, and the power management. The Tecra M3 is a 3-year old computer (circa 2005), so the developers had time to make their drivers work with it. There was a problem connecting, via USB, to an external hard drive formatted with NTFS. Also a problem was going into suspend mode while logged in. I had to log off first, and then suspend. I haven’t had time to make those work, yet.

After the installation, I noticed on October 30, they were releasing Ubuntu 8.10. I should’ve read the Ubuntu home page first, instead of going directly to the download section. I wished they mentioned a new version was coming on that download page. Anyway, I made it an opportunity to go through an upgrade process. Interestingly enough, the upgrade is not that smooth for me:

I used the network upgrade via my current 8.04 install. Going through my 1.2Mbs/385kbps DSL line, it was really slow! There were over 1180 packages to download. The estimated completion was 6 days. I had a good chuckle.
Downloading the ISO via HTTP is extremely slow. I suppose with everyone trying to download it during release day, saturated the bandwidth on the mirror sites. I went through Bittorrent and got it in less than 20 minutes.
I downloaded the Full Install CD, instead of the Alternate CD. When I was using Fedora Core Linux, the upgrade and full install processes can be done via one disc. I assumed it was the same way with Ubuntu. Bad assumption.

After spending at least 6 hours tinkering and waiting for the install to finish, I finally got the laptop up and running. Reading the upgrade page is a good start, but it couldn’t help me avoid these issues. I’m sure others have better luck with it. Otherwise, I hope this post helps someone.

This article was posted on Rudy Amid's Blog:

Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10

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Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10

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