TechnologyCrowd

Now that I have updated Ubuntu Server to the latest version, it’s time to update my desktop to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.  The reviews I have seen have been very positive and I am hoping to be able to devote more of my PC time to using Ubuntu rather than Windows.  Although the Server upgrade was pretty simple, the desktop upgrade is even easier since it can all be done through the GUI rather than using the command prompt.

The first thing you need to do is click on System -> Administration -> Update Manager

You will want to run a check to make sure that everything on the existing distribution is up to date.  Once you are sure that there are no additional updates you can click on the button for Upgrade.

After clicking Upgrade, a box will pop up asking for the administrator password, once that is entered you will see the release notes for the new distribution.

Click the Upgrade box at the bottom, after the system review your system a box will pop up with some applications that will no longer be supported in the new distribution.

Next, the Distribution Upgrade box will open up to show the progress of the steps required for the Upgrade.

Once this box opens up, find something else to do for a while.  Before clicking to start the system informed me that it would take approximately 2 hours, but you can see in the picture that the time changed based on the download speed.  I am assuming that the speed is impacted by many people upgrading so soon after the launch, but there is nothing you can do until the download is complete which will take a few hours.  Overall the process took me about 6 hours of which about five and a half were downloading.  I needed to confirm a couple times during the install but didn’t need to do anything when it was downloading.  If I were to do it again, I would start the download before going to bed so it would be ready for me in the morning.

After the restart, the system rebooted with an old version of Xubuntu that I had forgotten about.  I was able to find an easy solution at the psychocats.net website to go back to a Pure Gnome desktop.

To remove Xubuntu enter all of the information below at a command prompt:

sudo apt-get remove a2ps abiword abiword-common abiword-help abiword-plugin-grammar abiword-plugin-mathview abiword-plugins app-install-data-commercial catfish exaile exo-utils feh fortune-mod fortunes-min giblib1 gigolo gnome-app-install gnumeric gnumeric-common gnumeric-doc gtk2-engines-xfce imagemagick libaiksaurus-1.2-0c2a libaiksaurus-1.2-data libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a libexo-0.3-0 libgdome2-0 libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprint2.2-data libgnomeprintui2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-common libgoffice-0-8 libgoffice-0-8-common libgtkmathview0c2a libid3tag0 libimlib2 liblink-grammar4 libotr2 libots0 libpolkit-dbus2 libpolkit-gnome0 libpolkit-grant2 libpolkit2 librecode0 libscim8c2a
libt1-5 libtagc0 libthunar-vfs-1-2 libwv-1.2-3 libxcb-keysyms1 libxfce4menu-0.1-0 libxfce4util4 libxfcegui4-4 libxfconf-0-2 libxmlrpc-core-c3 link-grammar-dictionaries-en mousepad orage pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr policykit policykit-gnome psutils python-cddb python-mmkeys python-mutagen ristretto scim scim-bridge-agent scim-bridge-client-gtk scim-gtk2-immodule scim-modules-socket scim-modules-table scim-tables-additional tango-icon-theme tango-icon-theme-common tcl thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-data thunar-media-tags-plugin thunar-thumbnailers thunar-volman thunderbird ttf-arphic-uming ttf-liberation usb-creator usplash-theme-xubuntu vim-runtime wdiff xchat xchat-common xfce4-appfinder xfce4-battery-plugin xfce4-clipman-plugin xfce4-cpugraph-plugin xfce4-dict xfce4-fsguard-plugin xfce4-mailwatch-plugin xfce4-mixer xfce4-mount-plugin xfce4-netload-plugin xfce4-notes-plugin xfce4-panel xfce4-places-plugin xfce4-power-manager xfce4-power-manager-data xfce4-quicklauncher-plugin xfce4-screenshooter xfce4-session xfce4-settings xfce4-smartbookmark-plugin xfce4-systemload-plugin xfce4-terminal xfce4-utils xfce4-verve-plugin xfce4-volumed xfce4-weather-plugin xfce4-xkb-plugin xfconf xfdesktop4 xfdesktop4-data xfprint4 xfswitch-plugin xfwm4 xfwm4-themes xubuntu-artwork xubuntu-artwork-usplash xubuntu-default-settings xubuntu-desktop xubuntu-docs xubuntu-gdm-theme xubuntu-wallpapers && sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Once I did that I restarted and had my normal Ubuntu Gnome desktop that I was familiar with.

The process took longer than I expected, but it should be worth it when I get to use the new features.  There was nothing difficult in the process and I can’t complain too much about getting an upgraded OS for free with all the latest features.  Look for future posts as I start to learn about the new features and post any comments regarding your upgrades and experience with the new features.