[DC LoCo] Fw: ubuntu

[Kevin Cole]

> Happy New Year!  I've recently tried again to familiarize myself with
> the Ubuntu 8.04 OS that you provided me with.  I found that there were
> so many updates pending (hundreds) taking so long to install, I figured
> it might be easier to install the next available version of Ubuntu, 8.1.
> I've downloaded Ubuntu 8.1 and am ready to make an installation disc for
> it.  Now I wonder about the next steps.  I figure I'd need to uninstall
> the 8.04 version from the partition I created for it.  Do you have any
> insights as to the best process?  Thanks for any advice.

Hi and Happy Pre-Inauguration ;-)

So, some thoughts.  First, be aware that the file you've downloaded is what
is known as an ISO disk image.  Don't copy that file to a CD and try to
burn the CD.  Instead, using your CD burning software, look for a menu
choice like "Burn disk image" or "Create CD from ISO image" and then point
to the ISO file when asked where the image lives.

Next, boot from it.  There is an option that appears early on that allows
you to "check the install media" (I forget the exact wording) for errors. I
highly recommend that step.

If it passes the test and is deemed a good burn, boot again, and let it go
to the live desktop environment.  That's the first menu choice -- start
Ubuntu without installing.  The desktop should appear along with an icon to
do the installation.

You don't need to uninstall the older version, but if you haven't made much
use of it, then it's probably a good idea: Newer packages will clean out
older ones, but packages which have become obsolete and have no newer
version will not necessarily be removed from the system.  So they become
clutter.

There are six or seven questions in the install, all simple except one:
When it asks about partitioning, choose the manual partitioning method.  It
should show you a list of your current partitions.  You have the option of
editing those, and setting the "format" flag to force them to be
reformatted.  Just be careful to only do that to the partition(s) marked
Linux or ext3.  (If you have a "swap" partition there is no need to format
that.)  At some point it asks you if you're sure you want to proceed, since
it will wipe out all the data in the selected partitions.

The other option for wiping the old system is slightly more complex:
Instead of doing the install first, you could go to the "Places" menu and
choose the disk icon(s) whose size(s) correspond to your Linux partitions
sizes. Then choose to delete everything in them.  It will warn you that you
must be the administrative user (root, super-user) in order to do that, and
I think it will prompt you to enter a password.  (If not, I can offer a
command-line way of accomplishing the same thing.  I'm an old-school
command-line kind of guy.)

I hope that gives you enough of a lead to go forward.