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14.04 LTS Has been giving me one headache after another, it is pretty much a project to get very small things to work, also it is just overall slower and less responsive than any other Ubuntu version I have used before.

Therefore, is there any downside of using an older LTS that is still in it's support period? 12.04 LTS is supported until 2017 I believe, so is there any drawback of using 12.04 instead of 14.04? Granted, I know the updated look and feel of the OS itself will be mildly different, but as far as performance/compatibility/security/driver updates/etc. will there be a big, if any, difference?

Thank you.

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  • The downside is a shorter time to EOL. If you do not like Unity, I would try k/l/xubuntu before falling back to 12.04. YMMV.
    – Panther
    Oct 7, 2014 at 3:18

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It depends on the software you use. In general, packages in a given Ubuntu release only get updates to fix severe bugs, which severely impact the functionality of a program or render it insecure. However, new features are typically not included as updates. Hence, if a program you use had a new version which introduced many new features, including performance or compatibility improvements, you will not get them (at least not as part of the normal package upgrade process).

So my advice if you think 14.04 is really too much of a problem, is to try 12.04 and see if it works for you. If it does, great. If some programs are too old and lack features you need, however, you might have to decide between upgrading those programs yourself (from source or from a PPA, for example), or reverting to 14.04 and deal with the problems you have with it.

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  • So what you are saying is there is no official support and updates for older releases? For example, Libre Office is version 3 in 12.04.05 LTS, but it is version 4.3 in 14.04 LTS. What you are saying is that there will never be an update for Libre Office 4.3 in the 12.04 LTS repositories?
    – Mike Uresti
    Oct 7, 2014 at 4:08
  • In principle, that's how it works, yes. There are exceptions for popular software with a fast release cycle (e.g., Firefox), but apparently LibreOffice is not one. Note that this is not limited to "older releases": if LibreOffice 4.4 were released today, it would not be included in 14.04 (or even in 14.10).
    – fkraiem
    Oct 7, 2014 at 6:11

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