12.04 LTS works well but should I upgrade to 14.01

[urdrwho5]

For over 16 months I've had 12.04 LTS with KDE 4 running just fine. I am writing this on the old HP Pavillion ZV5000 with Nvidia. Nvidia drivers are always a problem but since getting the correct driver installed, it has been good.

It is always tempting to upgrade and I have been thinking of going to 14.01. I did have 15 on at one time but there were Nvidia problems.

I am not sure if an upgrade has more efficient coding or anything that would benefit this computer.

The problem with running a live CD is that the Nvidia drivers don't get installed and I can't get a real feel for positive or negative graphics.

[Snowhog]

In truth, there are only two reasons to upgrade.

First Reason: Because the Jones' next door upgraded (subjective reason).

Second Reason: Because required functionality of systems, services, applications has ceased (objective reason).

So, if 12.04 LTS is still doing everything you are asking of it, then the only reason to upgrade would be a subjective one -- because you want to. If however, 12.04 LTS is not doing everything you are asking of it, and it cannot be made to do so, then upgrading would be an objective one -- because you need to.

Just my .

[TWPonKubuntu]

This is strictly my opinion, so YMMV...

I would backup your system and then do an install of 14.04, which is the stable LTS release (NOT 14.10).

I DO NOT recommend trying the 16.04 LTS release, at this time. It is still being debugged and there are and will be problems.

I am running 14.04 on a Dell Latitude D820, with the Nouveau video drivers. This is working for me... NVidia is a problem child...

I am also running 16.04 LTS (on a separate hard drive) on the same machine, just to watch the progress in that latest release. Again still using the Nouveau video drivers. The NVidia drivers are available, but I've not tried them.

[GreyGeek]

I ran 14.04 LTS from its Alpha release till January of this year. Two years, never had a problem (that I didn't cause myself ) It is an EXCELLENT release and features KDE4. You won't be disappointed. As far as 16.04 ... When I first tried Plasma5 as a guest OS I hated it. Flat, pastel, ugly, no differentiation between the background and active pixels. But, I had to face the facts of life which is that KDE4 is going away, regardless of how much I loved it. I thought I'd move to Mint 17.3 KDE4 (based on 14.04) but after a couple months decided I missed Kubuntu & Btrfs as implemented by Ubuntu, so I installed 16.04. I sweetened it up a a bit with a nice wallpaper to get rid of the pastel look. Then I noticed, that while the bottom panel is featureless many of the icons carry the same color and 3D look they did in KDE4. AND, all of the apps look the same as they did in KDE4. Same blue, 3D borders, etc.... Now, I don't mind it at all. It's faster than 14.04, Steam games like Universe Sandbox^2 play several times faster. There are hiccups, most in the background. Crash msgs when nothing appears to have crashed. Lines in dmesg and KSystemLog about errors and fails that don't affect behavior or performance. All around, it's working good for me.

[urdrwho5]

Good points.

I would say that the reason I am thinking of doing it is just because I want to. This isn't my main work computer but it is kind of my play computer. Mostly it streams radio stations and some web surfing. It does a good job of it. The computer in the kitchen, the Acer 3680 is there to look up recipes, surf the web and some document keeping. It is running 14 or 15-ish versions (can't remember) and the thing I do notice is that the eye candy is nicer. But it runs well.

It is rather impressive at how well these old machines run on Kubuntu.

Someday I may put a flavor on my main work computer that I built and has a nice amount of memory. A nice amount for me but to my computer son the amount of memory I have is child's play. I have no idea how many computers are in his room but the electric company loves him.

[urdrwho5]

What back-up program do you use?

Do you just back-up files or the entire mirrored iso system?

I worked with Nouveau on this computer and didn't like it. IMHO the Nvidia works better for me.

This is strictly my opinion, so YMMV...

I would backup your system and then do an install of 14.04, which is the stable LTS release (NOT 14.10).

I DO NOT recommend trying the 16.04 LTS release, at this time. It is still being debugged and there are and will be problems.

I am running 14.04 on a Dell Latitude D820, with the Nouveau video drivers. This is working for me... NVidia is a problem child...

I am also running 16.04 LTS (on a separate hard drive) on the same machine, just to watch the progress in that latest release. Again still using the Nouveau video drivers. The NVidia drivers are available, but I've not tried them.

[TWPonKubuntu]

I just backup my /home partition to a USB drive, but a full system backup needs more space than I have available.

I don't have any problem with doing a complete re-install of the OS and then applying my USB data to restore to original (or near enough) state. This takes only 30 minutes or so, on my system, but your speeds may vary.

I can't recommend any particular backup system/software, but someone else here will offer their suggestions on backup.

[urdrwho5]

You backup the folder or a hard drive partition? I'm guessing that it is just the /home folder thread.

I just backup my /home partition to a USB drive, but a full system backup needs more space than I have available.

I don't have any problem with doing a complete re-install of the OS and then applying my USB data to restore to original (or near enough) state. This takes only 30 minutes or so, on my system, but your speeds may vary.

I can't recommend any particular backup system/software, but someone else here will offer their suggestions on backup.

[TWPonKubuntu]

I backup (copy) the folder /home to the USB drive.

When (if) I have to do an OS reinstall, then the folder is simply not formatted during the install process and if anything is corrupted on /home, I have the backup on USB.

If I changed OS version (say from 14.04 to 16.04, then I have to be more selective on what I restore from the USB backup...

Not rocket science, but it does require some knowledge of what is being done to my data.