Problem upgrading pangolin v.12.04.3 to 12.04.4

[oldhack]

I have an old laptop (7 years) that works vey well with 'Vista' and dual boots with (64bit) Kubuntu 12.04.3. This is partitioned with an mbr (Pre UEFI)
and with GRUB booting 12.04.3 1st. Having tried to upgrade to version 12.04.4 it still shows the Kernel as 3.2.0-59 not 3.11.
I then tried to load 12.04.4 from a downloaded iso which does not seem to work!
My question is if I decide NOT to upgrade to 12.04.4 will my existing version 12.04.03 continue to be supported? (Maybe this is a dumb question and I apologise if I'm wasting your time!!)

oldhack

[GreyGeek]

Kubuntu 12.04 is an LTS release, which will be supported until April 2017.

You may want to consider doing a fresh install of Kubuntu 14.04. I was running Precise. An upgrade of the kernel had a regression which didn't work well with my Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter. By experiementing with verious kernels, mainly from the liquorice repository, I found out that the 3.9 kernel restored support. So, I installed Kubuntu 14.04 from a recent daily ISO. Although it is still classified as Alpha I've found that it is rock solid stable and very fast. It also has KDE 4.12.1 and the kernel is currently "3.13.0-7-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Wed Feb 5 21:28:03 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux". My wireless now trucks at 300 Mb/s, which is about 20X faster than my RoadRunner cable connection! I also selected the btrfs filesystem and couldn't be happier.

[Rog132]

Kernels

Documents

Kubuntu 12.04 LTS: http://www.kubuntu.org/news/12.04-release
Kubuntu PP Release notes: https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PrecisePang...eNotes/Kubuntu
LTS Hardware Enablement Stack: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePango...ablement_Stack


The new kernel

The new kernel version is for new hardware - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePango...ablement_Stack

LTS Hardware Enablement Stack

In an effort to support a wider variety of hardware on an existing LTS release, the 12.04.4 point release will ship with an updated kernel and X stack by default. This newer hardware enablement stack will be comprised of the kernel and X stack from the Saucy 13.04 release...

Anyone wishing to opt into the hardware enablement stack for Precise may do so by running following command which will install the linux-generic-lts-saucy and xserver-xorg-lts-saucy packages:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-saucy xserver-xorg-lts-saucy

For anyone interested, the specifics regarding the exact policies and procedures regarding the support, maintenance, and upgrade paths for the hardware enablement stack has been documented at the following location:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

Support

All Precise kernel versions do get security updates if needed.

At here running with the original PP Kernel - looking logs:

Log of sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Sat Jan 4 17:31:56 2014

Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
linux-headers-3.2.0-58 linux-headers-3.2.0-58-generic
linux-image-3.2.0-58-generic
The following packages will be upgraded:
linux-generic linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic linux-libc-dev
4 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 52.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 217 MB of additional disk space will be used.

That security update was: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ub...ry/002355.html


Summa summarum

You don't to need to upgrade the kernel IF you don't want to and you don't have problems with your hardware.

[oldhack]

Thank you GreyGeek and Rog132 for your prompt responses.
I will probably (eventually) install Kubuntu 14.04 but at this time, even with your reassurance, I do not want to use an alpha version of anything.
I am going to try the the option of 'opting into the hardware enablement stack' even though my hardware may be questionable in use.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

oldhack

[Rog132]

More of the Kernel support...

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

...
8. The original 12.04 stack in Precise will remain supported for the usual 5yr life cycle of the LTS release.
...
11. The 12.10 enablement stack will only be supported in Precise from the time it appears in the 12.04.2 point release until the 14.04.1 time frame.

12. When the 12.10 enablement stack reaches its EOL, 12.10 enablement stack users will NOT be automatically upgraded to the 14.04 enablement stack in Precise. Users will need to manually upgrade to the 14.04 enablement stack in order to continue receiving official support (ie security updates and bug fixes). We will aggressively message (ie MOTD, USN, update-manager, etc.) when the 12.10 enablement stack is reaching its EOL and provide instructions on updating to the 14.04 enablement stack.
...

[claydoh]

One thing to note is that if you have a 12.04 system, and it is kept up-to-date (as most people do) you will always have the "latest" version automatically. These 12.04.x releases are mainly to provide an up-to-date install image on a regular basis, so there is nothing existing users need to do.

[oldhack]

Thanks for the further information - I have seen some of these and yes I have installed the v. 13.10 enablement stack. The result (-so far) is that it is working OK, even though I have an
Atheros (AR5418) wireless card in this machine.

oldhack

[jglen490]

I have an old laptop (7 years) that works vey well with 'Vista' and dual boots with (64bit) Kubuntu 12.04.3. This is partitioned with an mbr (Pre UEFI)
and with GRUB booting 12.04.3 1st. Having tried to upgrade to version 12.04.4 it still shows the Kernel as 3.2.0-59 not 3.11.
I then tried to load 12.04.4 from a downloaded iso which does not seem to work!
My question is if I decide NOT to upgrade to 12.04.4 will my existing version 12.04.03 continue to be supported? (Maybe this is a dumb question and I apologise if I'm wasting your time!!)

oldhack

I'm at 12.04.4 and my platform looks like this:

john@john-Dimension-3000:/etc/apt$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise
john@john-Dimension-3000:/etc/apt$ uname -a
Linux john-Dimension-3000 3.2.0-58-generic-pae #88-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 3 18:00:02 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

So I'm thinking that unless you have a specific issue that can only be addressed with another kernel, there's nothing abnormal about your upgrade. My platform is none too modern either and is solid as a rock with 12.04.4 and 3.2.0.

[oldhack]

I did not have a problem with 12.04.3 - unfortunately, I just get caught up in a 'what if' urge to improve ( - for this read 'screw up frequently'). I have also only little knowledge
and the maxim " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" is in my mind.
The good thing about this is that I am learning a lot with the help of guys like you in this forum.

Thank you,
oldhack

[SteveRiley]

john@john-Dimension-3000:/etc/apt$ uname -a
Linux john-Dimension-3000 3.2.0-58-generic-pae #88-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 3 18:00:02 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

By now, that's an old kernel. Many improvements have been added since then.

[jglen490]

Thank you, Steve. I'll keep that in mind, but for now I have no issues, my system is very stable, and it does what I need it to do, so I'll leave well enough alone.

[tlu]

One thing to note is that if you have a 12.04 system, and it is kept up-to-date (as most people do) you will always have the "latest" version automatically. These 12.04.x releases are mainly to provide an up-to-date install image on a regular basis, so there is nothing existing users need to do.

claydoh, I don't think that's quite correct. It's true that "there is nothing existing users need to do" if their computers are running flawlessly with 12.04. But there is no automatic update to the newest hardware enablement packages. As stated on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack , you have to explicitly execute

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-saucy xserver-xorg-lts-saucy libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-saucy

And that does make sense for some computers. My wife had several problems (e.g. graphical glitches) on her notebook. After installing the Saucy hardware enablement packages those problems are gone. Her notebook is running better than ever.

[claydoh]

I dunno, the hardware enablement makes it rather confusing, because if you are going to run Saucy kernel and Saucy xorg, why not take the Saucy software? (ie, updated network manager, etc?)Though I do guess it reduces the level of upgrading, perhaps?

[tlu]

I dunno, the hardware enablement makes it rather confusing, because if you are going to run Saucy kernel and Saucy xorg, why not take the Saucy software? (ie, updated network manager, etc?)Though I do guess it reduces the level of upgrading, perhaps?

Well, I think that an update to a newer hardware enablement stack is less problematic than a release upgrade where more things can go wrong ...