What is the difference between upgrading from 11.10 and updating from 12.04 beta 2?

Question

i have ubuntu 11.10 installed and ubuntu 12.04 beta also installed in the same machine.

is there a difference between:

upgrading from ubuntu 11.10 to ubuntu 12.04

and

updating from ubuntu 12.04 beta to ubuntu 12.04?

i have ubuntu 12.04 beta and ubuntu 11.10 installed.

Answer 1

I wouldn't say so. The beta MAY be able to be updated to the Final release by simply updating some packages, whereas 11.10 may need an official upgrade, by neither would really be more difficult than the other. I'd upgrade the version that has the programs you use the most.

Answer 2

The difference is that upgrading from 11.10 will leave your previous settings intact, and it might lead to problems with settings that cannot be simply transferred from one version to the next, but these problems are usually minor.

What can also happen in this case is that you get a lot of obsolete packages, and may sometimes have problems with the upgrade of certain packages, especially if you have installed 3rd part apps.

Updating from a beta to the final version usually will not lead to these problems and is much smoother.