What happens after 18 months?

[The Eye In The Sky]

Ken G. wrote:
>
> Am I to assumed correctly that my present version of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty 
> Jackalope) will automatically be upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) 
> on 10/29/09 or do I have to reinstall the new version?
>   

There will be no automatic update without your consent in the 
background. That will be a really nightmare if it is happening like that :)
When the 9.10 is generally available, as long as you have a good 
Internet connection and your apt.conf is configured and working 
normally, then you will be presented with the option to upgrade to 9.10.
This may break if you add 3rd party repository that may prevent an upgrade.

Another upgrade method is of course by reinstall new version. If you 
choose this path, better always prepared to make a separate /home at 
independent partition, thus you will not loose your important files when 
you reinstall (ensure also that your /home is not formatted and the 
partition layout is not changed).

If you are new with Linux and only having one hardware, I suggest you 
delay your upgrade effort for at least one month after the new release 
generally available. Because no matter how stringent the QA process is, 
there is still a possibility that for some certain hardware combination, 
the new distribution breaks. Display driver for ATI for example. You may 
ends up with a console where you are not comfortable to work with. Thus 
better delay and look around whether somebody out there with the 
hardware combination as yours having the problem and somebody else 
offering the solution.


regards,

Siva.