Pre-upgrade preparation question

[Snowhog]

I have Edgy Eft (Kubuntu) properly installed on my Sony Vaio laptop. I've been 'learning' how things work - slowly - and have spent many hours on this Forum, reading and answering others questions - those that I could answer, or for which I could offer advise.

I would like some assistance from those 'in the know' that will reduce, if not eliminate entirely, any issues that could be avoided when upgrading to Feisty Fawn. Specifically, I'd like to know what files to look at (on my existing installation) so I can get the information concerning my CD/DVD drive, ethernet card (PCMCIA), sound and video. I would also appreciate any qualified advise on what I should watch out for or be aware of when upgrading. Having read of some others 'less than pleasent experience' when upgrading, I'd like to be able to do so with success the first go around.

Thank you.

[govert]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

too bad nobody has answered this yet. It has the potential of becoming the most useful and time-saving thread in the entire forum. Come on guys, don't be shy. If ANYone thinks of SOMETHING that would be useful to know in advance in order to ease the migration troubles, post it here.

I'll start:
* Make sure that you know how to reset your x-configuration from the command line.
(don't remember exactly... is it dpkg xorg --reconfigure ??)

* i've read that there are problems with SATA drives. So, make sure that you know if you have one or not.

* save the info from "cat /proc/cpuinfo", "lspci -v", and why not backup the enrtire /etc directory, just in case :-)

* uninstall any SAMBA drives https://wiki.kubuntu.org/KubuntuFeis...ownProblems%29

[jjkurtz]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

I don't want to be a party pooper but what I do anytime there's a new release is wait for at least a month until most of the worst bugs are worked out before I upgrade.

If you have to do an upgrade right now then make sure you have everything backed up. Remember the 'dpkg xorg --reconfigure' command but also try to back up your existing grub, xorg, .kde, and any other configuration files you may want to refer back to.

[Snowhog]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

Thank you govert, and jjkurtz. I've saved the outputs of cat /proc/cpuinfo and lspci -v to separate text files for transfer to my other laptop (off-line storage). I've saved the output of cat ./etc/X11/xorg.conf also.

jjkurtz - I believe I will take your advise and wait for awhile. I don't have any pressing need to upgrade - as stated, my Edgy Eft is fully functional and I have no problems with it.

[Marlin]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

"It has the potential of becoming the most useful and time-saving thread in the entire forum."

I really believe this to be true. I have used 3 versions of Kubuntu and have ended up reloading from scratch with each upgrade. From Dapper to Fiesty I have lost all of my saved email. I no longer use Kmail due to not being able to find where it kept my personal folders. Yes I did look in .kde/shared/apps/kmail and found my inbox, outbox, drafts, ect. but never did find my personal folders.

Upgrading has been a painful and unsuccessful endevour for me. Congradulations to those who have had the good fortune of having successful upgrades. Oh well, at least I saved my mp3s.

[lowey23]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

One thing that is a really, really, really good idea is to have a separate home partition. Very simple and easy to follow instructions are found on aysiu's excellent site:-

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/separatehome

Very easy to reinstall, then, and keep all your stuff.

My 2c.

[gregwalton]

Re: Pre-upgrade preparation question

I'd heartily agree with Lowey: a separate home partition has saved me a lot of hassle.

I got duped into upgrading from a stable Edgy by the "an upgrade is available" nag and, as always, it all fell in a heap. So I did a reinstall from CD using my existing partitions and electing to only reformat the root, not home. Apart from a few minor issues (placement of panel on screen etc.) it came up almost as configured before but with Feisty improvements.

The only sizeable issue was that automatix thought I still had all the things it had installed for me in Edgy. All I had to do was tell automatix to uninstall them all and then reinstall them. In all it took maybe an evening to get it all to work - and much of that was the abortive upgrade attempt.

Not sure how your email will work out, though. I use IMAP so I can pick up my mail on any number of PCs - the mails stay on the server and are only (optionally) copied to your PC, unlike POP which moves them from the server to your PC. So for me there was never going to be an issue.

Good luck when you upgrade, Feisty seems really stable and trouble-free already for me after only a few months testing. Pity Vista can't say the same after a few years testing...