Ubuntu - Have you upgraded from 7.10 Gutsy to 8.04 Hardy?

[freebird73717]

Just curious if any of you have upgraded from 7.10 to 8.04. I was holding off on the upgrade to hopefully let the bugs get worked out first.

Well it's been a while since 8.04 has been released so I thought it might be safe to upgrade (yes I want an upgrade and not a fresh install).

I had a look at the ubuntu forums and it looks like people are still having problems with 8.04. So it seems for me I will continue with 7.10 until the upgrade issues are fixed.

What about you? Have you upgraded? How was your experience? Any problems? Go smoothly?

[bagrol1]

I recommend a clean install anyway, that's what I do. Plus I switched to Mint which gives me fewer headaches nowadays.

[freebird73717]

I'm probably not going to upgrade right now anyway. 7.10 is very stable for me. It's just really hard to not click that upgrade button.

Must... fight...temptation... (strains to hold finger away from keyboad/mouse)

As far as a fresh install goes... How easy is it to keep your programs and settings that you already have? That is the main reason I wanted to upgrade. Didn't want to have to re-install my apps and settings.

[bagrol1]

It's not that bad with Linux. Just right down which progs you need and then a couple trips to Synaptic and there are installed. I keep a backup of all install files which do not come in Synaptic on a separate backup drive.

Anyway, I like installing Linux since it's fun and after a while I get bored so there is something to do

If you worry about time then try Mint. There you won't have to spend almost any time for customization, codecs, ect.

[GMaq]

Hello,

Tried 8.04 on my desktop, wouldn't install with a mixture of SATA/PATA drives. Installed 8.04 on laptop, looked pretty much identical to 7.10, also many packages in the repos were not any newer versions than 7.10. I use the linux-rt realtime kernel for Audio work, at that time it was very unstable with 8.04 and rock solid with 7.10.

I reverted to 7.10 on both my machines only to discover that Getdeb.net and WINE to mention only a couple pulled their Gutsy packages! Getdeb used to provide packages from 6.06 to 7.10. So far I have been able to compile what I need to stay current but I will need to bite the 8.04 bullet at some point in time, I've tried bleeding edge distros like Sidux and you basically have to pray every time you do a dist-upgrade that your system doesn't get hosed. that's the other side of the coin.

freebird I wouldn't be in a hurry if I were you, you're a smart enough guy to compile what you need. My gut feeling is that by the time 8.04 is as stable as 7.10.....8.10 will be out. I personally think that with all the third-party package support that Ubuntu has a 6 month release schedule is ludicrous, 12 would be pushing it. It just makes Linux in general look a flavour-of-the-month proposition, that's not going to win any long-term converts if you have to wipe or risk upgrading your OS every 6 months, Let's remember the one thing Microsoft did right.....people including myself still love XP, Why?.... because it's been stable, solid and current for many years not months.

I realize that 8.04 is an LTS version but if history teaches us anything the previous LTS (6.06) was WAAAAY out of date other than security patches at the end of it's lifespan.

I agree with bagrol that it isn't that time consuming to do a vanilla fresh install of any distro, but if you've installed a lot of development libs, compiled some of your own apps and tweaked the system for specialized uses, it is a whole different ball of wax and the "Upgrade" button is probably going to do more harm than good.

[freebird73717]

Hey Gmaq!

Good hearing from ya. Yeah when I want most programs I just compile from source and create my own debs.

I really do think I'll just stick with 7.10 for the time being. I have things the way I like them now. I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it applies here.

I was just curious. When I eventually do get around to upgrading I guess I'll just go the fresh install route.

Oh well... If anything I've stired the pot here in the linux forum today.

hmm... mabey I should resurrect that old poll.....

All the best guys!

[GMaq]

freebird,

Sorry if I was a little ranty in my previous post, I've had a frustrating time lately with updated programs screwing up other ones. I like the mental challenge but sometimes enough is enough!

I really agree that "Ain't broke don't fix it" is a wise course of action

[freebird73717]

Don't worry man. You weren' t "ranty".

I can understand being frustrated. I have spent most of the day trying to set up a stubborn wireless router. Started at noon and finally fixed it at 6:00. I kept saying "this shouldn't be this hard. I should be able to do this." and getting more aggravated by the minute. Turns out it was a security issue I didn't set. One of those Homer Simpson "DOH" moments.

As always man good talking to ya! Take care.

[GMaq]

Well......

I took the plunge on my laptop, being my first upgrade as opposed to a fresh install it has gone quite smoothly. I attribute much of this to the Hardy 8.04.1 revision, Ubuntu isn't stupid they knew it wasn't quite right out of the gate. Here are some things I would suggest to increase your chances of success:

-Be patient.... my upgrade took 6hrs! and I had to reconnect once.

-If you have space back up your data ( not rocket science, common sense of course) While I was waiting I sent everything important to my external drive just in case.

-If you have third party repos in your "Software Sources" prior to upgrading Ubuntu is going to disable them for you during the upgrade and you will have to either manually refer them to Hardy (instead of Gutsy) or re-install them after Hardy is installed anyway.

-Bookmark your 3rd party repos so they are quick and easy to update once you boot into Hardy.

Some repos of interest:

www.medibuntu.org - All the non-free multimedia stuff - ffmpeg, libdvdcss, Adobe Stuff, Google Stuff etc.
http://www.ematech.fr/archive/ - All the latest apps for Linux Audio nuts, Ardour, JACK, Synths etc. etc.
http://www.akiradproject.net/ - Cinelerra, QDVDAuthor, DVD Styler, and many other Video related apps
www.virtualbox.org - The latest versions of Virtualbox VM, Version 2.02 is mindblowing!
www.winehq.org - The latest versions of WINE Windows emulator

-While you are waiting, if you have the bandwidth head to www.getdeb.net and get the latest packages for Hardy, most of the latest A/V goodies are there.


Anyway that was my experience, I'm glad I did it because now that Hardy has some of the early wrinkles worked out they have a lot more current packages even in the regular Ubuntu repos than they did when Hardy was released.

[mats.hogberg]

Isn't this a bit late? 8.10 is just a month and a half away! (Yes, I upgraded to 8.04 as soon as it was out, and has yet to let me down. Run it on both desktop & laptop.)

/Mats

[freebird73717]

Isn't this a bit late? 8.10 is just a month and a half away!

Yeah but I've never been on time for anything in my life!

Yes, I upgraded to 8.04 as soon as it was out, and has yet to let me down. Run it on both desktop & laptop

your profile still says 7.10



PS
I'm doing the upgrade right now as I type!

[GMaq]

@Mats

Well... it's not difficult to be late for the Rabbit-buntu 6mo. release cycle! Plus although I'm glad you had no issues this was a bit of a rougher release for Ubuntu generally speaking. Being an LTS I'm sure I won't hang in there till 2011 but it'll be a relief to sit out a couple of versions and actually be able to use the damned thing while this one is still supported.

BTW You have me intrigued with LXDE, Will it still run Gnome (GTK2+) applications?

@Freebird,

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

[freebird73717]

Just finished the upgrade. I torrented the alternate CD then ran the upgrade from it. Worked like a champ. At first I had a problem with "Couldn't Calculate Upgrade" error but once I updated libc6 it worked without a hitch. All in all a good upgrade.

So far the only thing that doesn't seem to be working is the graphical interface to software sources. Not hard to edit the sources.list manually though.

[mats.hogberg]

You have me intrigued with LXDE, Will it still run Gnome (GTK2+) applications?

My base install is Xubuntu. To that, I added the LXDE desktop. And it runs GTK2+ apps very nice. I can even use Gnome applets in the panel, like nm-applet, bluetooth-applet & cetera. Only think I haven't used is KDE apps, but then I never do, no matter what!
Don't know if I've mentioned it here, but from graphic login to usable desktop, the XFCE desktop env takes 10 seconds, LXDE takes less than 2. I imagine Gnome desktop takes even more than XFCE.

your profile still says 7.10 whistle.gif

Oopps! Gotta fix that!

/Mats