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This is a general question about the changes that occurs in the development of Ubuntu. I want to know if Ubuntu, let's say 12.04, is working fine on my laptop. Why when I upgrade it to a newer version 12.10, sometimes it will not work?

For example, a black screen, boot hang ups, etc. Isn't 12.10 an exact copy of 12.04 but with added support to some new hardwares and new cool stuff like amazon lens?

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  • In your case is a good idea to do an upgrade from LTS to LTS... an like all the changes always will have pros and cons.
    – maniat1k
    Oct 24, 2012 at 17:53

3 Answers 3

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No, it is not 12.04 with just added hardware support and some cool new stuff. Ubuntu LTS versions are designed to be very stable, and long lasting. LTS versions have a Complete Polish, and are the least likely to have any problems or difficulties running.

The versions between LTS are like "testing" versions. The developers are trying out different software, and Ubuntu 12.10 has changed software a lot. For example 12.10 comes with Python 3 instead of Python 2.7. This has a large impact on the programs that may or may not run. The Ubuntu versions between LTS are like the Ubuntu playground- they try out different things, and do a lot of testing, so that when the next time for an LTS comes (Ubuntu 14.04), then hopefully they will have something that works great again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29

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The only things that might not work is Unity and AMD/ATI or nVidia drivers.

Use this command to find if Unity will work:

$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

Unity-2D has been discontinued. So, you'll have to remove nVidia & ATI drivers before you install.

To remove ATI GPU drivers:

$ sudo apt-get purge fglrx

To remove nVidia drivers:

$ sudo apt-get purge nvidia-current

After you install (or upgrade to) 12.10, install nVidia drivers again if you use a nVidia card. Don't install ATI drivers.

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  • thanks for the info. However, I wanted to know more about Ubuntu development. I wanted to know what are the things getting changed in Ubuntu that would cause problems ? Isn't Ubuntu 12.04 the same as 12.10 but with new features being added ? Did Ubuntu 12.10 got redesigned or rebuilt from scratch ?
    – Suhaib
    Oct 24, 2012 at 18:34
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    No, it's 12.04 with added features. But, 12.04 is a LTS edition, i.e it has support for 5yrs while 12.10 has support for 2yrs. There are 2 new versions every year, xx.04 in April & xx.10 in Oct, where xx are the last 2 digits of that year. So, next updates would be 13.04, 13.10, 14.04(LTS), 14.10, etc. A LTS version comes every 2yrs. Last was 10.04, current is 12.04 and next will be 14.04. The only things that might cause problems are posted in my answer with solutions to it.
    – TomKat
    Oct 24, 2012 at 18:40
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The upgrading process is a kind of a personal matter : It can be great and good for some and it can be disastrous for others.

For instance :

The upgrading process can be a failure depending on how you master ubuntu and how much changes you have done to your actual linux.

In features it can also be both good and bad. For letting you having your own judgment you can read those articles : http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=search&q=Ubuntu+12.10

It will give you performances and feature list.

The fact that it's a personal matter is because Linux itself is designed itself to be owned by each user but at the same time sharing experiences with a common ground.

Depending on your use you'll like or dislike the new ubuntu, you'll have a successful upgrade or not. No one can give you the warranty that'll be 100% ok.

Do what TomKat has said for the upgrading process. But before : try it with the live dvd witch will show you if your pc is still supported and work correctly.

Best regards,

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  • thank you for sharing the link. let me be specific here. I had Ubuntu 10.10 on my laptop. Was working fine. then I upgraded to 11.04 and I ended up with a black screen. so I Went back to 10.10. When 11.10 was released I did an upgrade and voala. ubuntu is working perfectly. So what was the major change in 11.04 that caused the blackscrren ??
    – Suhaib
    Oct 25, 2012 at 20:31
  • driver changes. in 10.10 your graphic card was likely not supported so it had worked with mesa driver or proprietary driver. When you upgraded to 11.04 your graphic card was maybe "supported" by an open source driver but badly so you would have added the infamous "nomodeset" setting as grub option and it would have worked. If proprietary driver then it's simple : you changed from kernel driver to userland driver and changed the kernel so both changes had broke your graphic drivers. When you have changed to 11.10 then the open source driver worked correctly and so your computer. Oct 25, 2012 at 20:49

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