28 Jun 07 Getting Gutsy

I like to live on the edge. I can’t resist it, even though I sometimes regret it. There’s an old saying, I know, “If it ain’t broke, don’t’ fix it”

However, I thought I’d give this upgrade a go. This isn’t my main production machine – yet. However, once I find a few more applications that can replace the last of the Windows ones I’m using, then I will totally switch to a Linux based network, and Ubuntu at that.

Anyway, I have upgraded from Fiesty Fawn, which is the 7.04 release, to the Alpha of Gutsy Gibbon, which is due for final release in October 2007, and will therefore be version 7.10. For those of you who don’t know, Ubuntu is updated completely every six months.

If you’re looking to install Ubuntu on a computer, it’s straightforward. You go to the Ubuntu Web Site – http://ubuntu.com

Download the CD image of your choice, and burn the image to a CD. You can run a “live” version from the CD, to see if your system is compatible. If it is, and you like what you see, you can go ahead and install it to the hard drive. It comes with an email client (Evolution) and a web browser (Firefox) built in, and also with OpenOffice, which is a fine replacement for those of you who currently use MS Office. The whole process of downloading, burning to a CD, and installing Ubuntu took me under a half hour. The actual install time was around 15 mins, which is much quicker than a typical Windows install.

If you’ve already got Feisty on your machine, like I had, and want to upgrade here’s what to do. The whole process took about 30 mins, and is mostly done by opening a terminal window, and entering a few commands. You can cut and paste from this web page if you wish, so you get the syntax correct.

Check you have your correct Linux meta-package installed. For most, this will be called “linux-generic,” but for others, it will be something along the lines of “linux-386″ or “linux-k7,” depending on what kernel you have installed.

Check that any new programs which were added between Feisty Fawn and Gutsy Gibbon are installed. To do this, type the following command into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-minimal ubuntu-standard ubuntu-desktop

Edit the software sources list. You want your system to update from the new Gusty repositories, and not the Feisty ones.

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

In KDE: substitute

kate for gedit

Once opened, you’ll see a number of lines that look similar to this:

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main

Do a find and replace: replace feisty with gutsy all the way through the file, and save it on top of itself. You may wish to back up the original first, in case it screws up, but it’s unlikely.

Then you need to update the software repositories. Do this with:

sudo apt-get update
Then upgrade all the packages already on your system with:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Some packages will require new libraries, so type this:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
That’s it! Reboot the machine, and you should be good to go with Gutsy Gibbon. Remember though, it is an alpha release, so don’t write me, if it breaks something now or in three months time! I’m not a Ubuntu developer, I’ve just posted this, as a log of what I did, and perhaps to help others, who are as curious, impatient or foolhardy as I.