how high can I upgrade my linux version?

Question

I now have Release 9.04 (Jaunty)
Kernel Linux 2.6.31-2-686
GNOME 2.26.1
Hardware
Memory 2.0 GiB
Processor 0: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @1.60GHz
Processor 1: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @1.60GHz
System Status
Available Disc Space 270.7 GiB

Answer 1

If you are referring to the ubuntu releases you are running a very old release 9.04 that is no longer supported. As you can see from the first link support stopped Oct 2010.

If you want to use the newest stable release of ubuntu you have 2 choices:

1. a fresh install of ubuntu 12.10 (13.04 has just been released but might still be buggy).

2. do a step by step upgrade 9.04 -> 9.10 -> 10.04 LTS -> 12.04 LTS -> 12.10, which will take much longer and has a chance of failing leaving you with a broken system. Always wise to do a backup before attempting an upgrade.

You hardware would not have any problem with any version of ubuntu. 2.0 GB ram is more than enough and you have plenty of Disk space.

Your problem would be the many hundreds of MBs that you would have to download to perform all 4 upgrades and the amount of time to let the install take place. Then hopefully the upgrade would be accomplished without any serious problems which could happen because the older releases are not supported and some software has been removed from ubuntu.

It would be easier to do a new install side by side with your old version and then copy anything from your /home directory to the new /home. All of your personal files and additions (except ubuntu software) is located in /home. You would have to reinstall any ubuntu software and then when all is to your liking you can delete the old ubuntu.

Another factor is that the look and feel of gnome has changed a great deal since 2010 and many people do not like it. You can use the live cd to take a look and the new version to see if you want to use it before you install it.

You can email me for followup.

Good luck

Answer 2

Look up editing your /etc/apt/sources.list file. You can change the repositories to any version -- such as the latest version, and then use your software manager to install anything you want. You might be better off reinstalling (or switching to Linux Mint, frankly which is in some ways more like Jaunty Jackelope than recent Ubuntus are) but you can upgrade.



EDIT: I just read JE2012's post. HAH!. I'm running the latest Linux kernel:



bash-4.2$ uname -a

Linux darkstar 3.9.0-rc3 #1 SMP Sun Mar 17 22:50:06 EDT 2013 x86_64 AMD E-300 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux



I run Slackware so I can. I strongly advise you to use only kernels and other software which are opitimzed for Ubuntu or any other distro you are using. Distros like Slackware and Gentoo are optimized for compiling your own, but even here it can be MURDER. Edit your sources.list file and upgrade to a later version. You can probably use the latest version actually.

Answer 3

My suggestion would be a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04, too many things can go wrong with 'in-place upgrades', especially moving from 9.10 to 12.04; Ubuntu has undergone two significant changes since 09: the adoption of Unity as it's default desktop and the move from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3 and the GTK3 toolkit.



If you're determined on upgrading rather than doing a fresh install, the recommended upgrade path is:



9.04->9.10, 9.10->10.04LTS, 10.04LTS->12.04LTS



Ubuntu does not suggest jumping version numbers, with the exception of LTS-to-LTS upgrades, which can be attempted without the intermediary steps.



With either method, back up all your data before proceeding.



How to manually configure APT's sources list: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/CommandLine

Answer 4

You can updated to the latest version; however and not to often in Linux, the last release has been said to be unstable (Kernel: 3.9-rc3). It was just released a couple of days ago, but already bad reviews. The last stable version was (Kernel: 3.8.3). Good Luck.



jplatt39: How's it working for you? Seems they came out with a quick patch. They just release an update sometime around the 13th or 14th. Let us know before this question is resolved if you would. :)

Answer 5

A step by step upgrade may not work. I would backup what you wan't to save and jump right to 12.04, or the mint equivalent with the MATE desktop (basically gnome 2 with updates)