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(no subject)
OK, I give up.
For now.
I discovered earlier in the week that there is a new version of Ubuntu available - 13.10. Now, I didn't know this, because the version I'm using (12.04 LTS) wasn't set up to tell me when new versions are available, unless they were also LTS versions. So anyway. I thought, "I want a go!" and I went on the Ubuntu website, and I read up about Stuff™
They said I could either do a fresh install, and lose all my personal data, or I could upgrade through the various versions, and keep the stuff I'd accrued. I figured that whatever I did, I should Back Shit Up™ first. Because remember the Vista Fiasco? Yeah, well, you might not, but I bloody well do.
So I did that.
Then yesterday, in the early evening, I sat me down, and followed the upgrade instructions. Long story short: I didn't get past 12.10 because it hates Toshiba computers (e.g. MINE), and it's a known bug (not that I saw it on the list of known bugs, but there we go). So it installed and everything, but then it would get to the splash screen and hang.
I tried a whole bunch of fixes, including reinstalling grub, but that did not work.
So eventually, after at least an hour of trying to fix, failing, and repeatedly headdesking, I decided I was going to sleep. And then I realised, why not just install 12.04 again, and repair from the backup? GENIUS! So I did. And I summarily downloaded 13.10, and burnt the .iso to a disc.
Do you think I can get it to run in Ubuntu now?
Nope.
I have all the updates downloaded, so it can't be that. I installed Synaptic Package Manager, because I think it has to do with one of the dependencies I might have installed when I was looking at weird desktops? IDK, to be honest. Um. Halp?
I mean, in the end, it's no biggie, because I can boot from DVD, and I'm doing a fresh install anyway, but you know when you want to check something works before you use it? Yeah. That.
Also while we're here, does anyone know if you can use a backup from a different version of Ubuntu in a later one? I'm assuming not, and my Google-Fu isn't amazing, so I couldn't find anything, but I just wondered if it was at all possible (not that I've got anything major to lose via a fresh install - I've copied important files like comics and playlists - it's just my open Firefox tabs I'm worried about (whose addresses I have written down. ON PAPER, NO LESS). So it's really not a problem if there isn't a solution to this. (Or to the other problem, either. I really just wanted to a) document it and b) get it off my chest).
ETA: I'm starting to wonder if it was a leftover from when I had WINE installed...I hadn't tried putting any software discs in because I hadn't needed to for whatever reason. Although the Ubuntu page for loading a distro from a disc assumes it will open anyway...so something must've gone a bit wonky somewhere maybe.
For now.
I discovered earlier in the week that there is a new version of Ubuntu available - 13.10. Now, I didn't know this, because the version I'm using (12.04 LTS) wasn't set up to tell me when new versions are available, unless they were also LTS versions. So anyway. I thought, "I want a go!" and I went on the Ubuntu website, and I read up about Stuff™
They said I could either do a fresh install, and lose all my personal data, or I could upgrade through the various versions, and keep the stuff I'd accrued. I figured that whatever I did, I should Back Shit Up™ first. Because remember the Vista Fiasco? Yeah, well, you might not, but I bloody well do.
So I did that.
Then yesterday, in the early evening, I sat me down, and followed the upgrade instructions. Long story short: I didn't get past 12.10 because it hates Toshiba computers (e.g. MINE), and it's a known bug (not that I saw it on the list of known bugs, but there we go). So it installed and everything, but then it would get to the splash screen and hang.
I tried a whole bunch of fixes, including reinstalling grub, but that did not work.
So eventually, after at least an hour of trying to fix, failing, and repeatedly headdesking, I decided I was going to sleep. And then I realised, why not just install 12.04 again, and repair from the backup? GENIUS! So I did. And I summarily downloaded 13.10, and burnt the .iso to a disc.
Do you think I can get it to run in Ubuntu now?
Nope.
I have all the updates downloaded, so it can't be that. I installed Synaptic Package Manager, because I think it has to do with one of the dependencies I might have installed when I was looking at weird desktops? IDK, to be honest. Um. Halp?
I mean, in the end, it's no biggie, because I can boot from DVD, and I'm doing a fresh install anyway, but you know when you want to check something works before you use it? Yeah. That.
Also while we're here, does anyone know if you can use a backup from a different version of Ubuntu in a later one? I'm assuming not, and my Google-Fu isn't amazing, so I couldn't find anything, but I just wondered if it was at all possible (not that I've got anything major to lose via a fresh install - I've copied important files like comics and playlists - it's just my open Firefox tabs I'm worried about (whose addresses I have written down. ON PAPER, NO LESS). So it's really not a problem if there isn't a solution to this. (Or to the other problem, either. I really just wanted to a) document it and b) get it off my chest).
ETA: I'm starting to wonder if it was a leftover from when I had WINE installed...I hadn't tried putting any software discs in because I hadn't needed to for whatever reason. Although the Ubuntu page for loading a distro from a disc assumes it will open anyway...so something must've gone a bit wonky somewhere maybe.
no subject
Not that I think I would have been much use to you anyway, but I could have offered moral support.
To be honest, while my overall impression of Ubuntu has been positive and I find it very stable, that's after you set it up and discover google whatever odd glitches have occurred on your particular machine, and I also haven't found the auto-updater to be particularly ace. Which is why I basically hop from LTS to LTS release just because I like the stability and ongoing support/patches. The interim releases are only supported for a year I think (since there's a new one every six months). And fuck it, I'm lazy, when I have my computer how I like it it can stay that way for a while...
One thing that I know people do (though I've always been too lazy to work out how to do it because I'd have to do a fresh install) is put their "home" folder on a separate partition. You can tell the machine you've done that during installation and then, basically, you can freshly reinstall as many times as you like, but your "home" folder (the one with your username) will always stay separate and unwiped. I think people also do it because then they can encrypt it but lol security what is that... ;)
no subject
I didn't know till recently (pretty much when I discovered about 13.10) how often the LTS's are released, and I discovered the next one in April will be an LTS (I think! I hope I'm remembering that right) (what I didn't realise until *much* later was that the version numbers are the year and month they're released in. D'oh!) So I could wait till April - as you said, it's only six months - but I like updating stuff? Like, I like to be on the most recent version if I can be? (What I don't like is the headaches it causes, lol).
I realised that something like was possible, because it gives the options on set-up for what you want each drive to be, although I'm still so new at this that I flail and go, "WHAT" every time. I had to look up that I needed my primary drive to be " / " because I couldn't remember. But I might have to remember to do that for next time, because I can repartition the main drive easily enough (though I might have the joy of attempting to fix grub again! THAT WAS FUN*).
*It wasn't. Though there is a guy on the internet who is my hero, and he doesn't even know it.