Before you make the jump to Intrepid…

Since I’ve been helping get Mac4Lin version 1.0 ready to ship I’ve been holding off from upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 so I could make sure things were ready on that end, including helping with updating the docs. Unfortunately we’ve had some issues crop up with Intrepid that once of us will have to make the upgrade so we can try to check them out. Crazy penguin that I am, I’ve volunteered to make the jump since I had been wanting to do it anyway.

Of course with any major upgrade like this the first thing I’m doing is to make some backups. I knew I had linked to a page with things you need to make sure you to before upgrading Ubuntu, and it turns out it was Caspar Clemens Mierau, someone who I’ve linked to on several occasions in the last few months, wrote the post I was trying to remember. Even though it was a list of things to do before upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron,  the information in that page hasn’t lost a bid of validity with in the last six months.

Before you run update-manager -d, any even before you run update-manager –devel-release check the Intrepid release notes one more time to make sure of the known issues in the new version, then pop on over to Casper’s site and read Having a Hardy day – Ten steps helping you not to have a hard time upgrading. You may even want to print out a hard copy of it so you can have a copy to refer to while you’re getting ready for the upgrade.

Peng’s links for Wednesday, 22 October

I do have some other links I want to share with y’all today.

• Ubuntu Productivity: Re: Switch to Ubuntu Linux not Apple Mac OS. A Kubuntu user asked why people are going from Windows to the Mac OS but not to Ubuntu, and the Ubuntu Productivity blogmaster brings the not so great news: Ubuntu, and Linux distros in general, simply have a way to go before they’re as ready for Windows users than OSX is right now. Case in point from my own experiences: My local library will let you download eBooks, but they require either Mobipocket or Adobe’s Digital Editions version of their Reader software. Adobe’s app is different from their Acrobat Reader software, and is a Windows based program that has been ported to the Mac but they haven’t released a Linux version yet. The Windows version can run under WINE, but I’ll be damned if I could find a way to get the sucker so I could try it with a little software vino. Bottom line? Too many firms simply haven’t started supporting Linux yet, and that’s not even counting the game developers.
• Frank Taylor/Google Earth Blog: Links: Planet Search, Interactive KML, FlightSim, iPhone GPS. First there was the Sky layer, now you can fly through Our Solar System. Plus a new goody for fans of FlightSim in Google Earth, which reminds me I wanted to check out the openGL version of YS Flight Simulator.
• Beyond the Forecast: Human Biometeorology. Mish Michaels over in the WBZ Weather Center wrote a great piece on why our body can let us know when weather changes are coming. There was a nice piece she did for the five o’clock news yesterday but I can’t find it online yet. Hopefully I’ll have an update for you with a link before too long.

Ubuntu Tutorials help you get ready for Intrepid

as of the day the post was written

Christer Edwards over at the Ubuntu Tutorials website has started doing a series of posts on getting you ready to upgrade or install Ubuntu Intrepid, especially since the Release Candidate is due out tomorrow.

Yesterday’s first installment looked at network upgrades, first checking to make sure your desktop system is as up to date as possible under Hardy and then starting the move to Ubuntu 8.10.

Today’s post hasn’t gone online as of this writing, but now’s the time to subscribe to Christer’s RSS or ATOM feed so you can get the updates automatically. Just remember, this gets you software currently undergoing development testing. While the big bugs should be squashed by now there’s no guarantee that you won’t have an issue. Before you apply any of the upgrades to Intrepid make sure you read the release notes so you can see if any of the known issues will apply to you, as well as any workarounds you may need to perform. The hair you save may come from your own head.