If you’re a Windows user who occasionally (pretends to) dabble in Linux, and has forgotten how to upgrade, here it is for you in a concise and easy-to-follow manner.

Firstly, this article is only about how to upgrade from within Ubuntu, and it’s only for the DESKTOP (NOT Server!) version. If you have a version prior to 9.10; you will need to progressively upgrade to the next higher version before upgrading to 10.04. You really can’t jump versions here.

Example: Upgrade 8.10 > 9.04 > 9.10 > 10.04 (No jumps allowed!)
*(Note that 10 [in 10.04] means 2010 and 04 means month 4. Ubuntu has always been designed to be released on a 6-month development cycle).

If you have slow internet connection OR cannot free at least 1488MB of hard disk space and need to do an offline upgrade, there is a good article here on this subject.

Also, you should realize that this is Beta software, so only upgrade now if you know how to save yourself in case something go wrong. Otherwise, wait for the stable release in 3 weeks time.

Pre-Upgrade:
-Ensure that you have at least 1488MB of free space in your “File System” folder.
Clean up your system to free up some space especially if you don’t have much space available.
To remove old installation setup packages and dependencies, in a Terminal window (From the top menu, Applications > Accessories > Terminal), type in:
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get autoremove
-Empty the trash.
(If you can’t find the space and especially if yours is a Windows (WUBI) installation of Ubuntu, consider doing the Offline Upgrade mentioned above which requires only about 800 MB of space as you will be saving a 650MB chunk of ISO file elsewhere on your hard drive).

Update Manager

-Update your 9.10 to the latest available updates.
-Run Update Manager (From the top menu, System > Administration > Update Manager) and press “Check” to check for Updates, followed by “Install Updates” to get your system up-to-date.

Next, take a deep breath, cross your fingers, touch wood and proceed to:

Upgrading to Stable version (after April 29, 2010):
(At the time of writing this article, the Stable version is not out yet; it will only be out on April 29, 2010; so skip this and go to the Beta version below).

"New distribution release '10.04' is available"

Stay on Update Manager, press “Check” again and you should see “New distribution release ’10.04′ is available”. Click “Upgrade” and proceed according to instructions on the screen.
OR
Upgrading to Beta version:

Run Application pop-up

1. Press Alt + F2 to open the Run Application pop-up window.
2. Type “update-manager -d” (without the quotes) to enable Beta version upgrade.

3. Update Manager will now run and do some checking and then display: “New distribution release ’10.04′ is available”. Click “Upgrade” and follow the on-screen instructions.

So far so good ...

Aaaaaaargh!!!!!

4. If you don’t hit upon any show stopper, you should be able to upgrade easily.

Finally, pat yourself on the back. You’d just upgraded to the latest and greatest version of a very good OS and did not even have to go out and buy the (pirated?) CD.
Among other improvements, you should expect faster boot-up times and more exciting colors than brown. And some bugs too! Enjoy!

New desktop but same old boring brown

PS: I was forced to abort this and do the Offline Upgrade as I can only free about 1200 MB of space after trying out all sorts of things including removing Open Office files, and deleting foreign language files and fonts. This is because I only have about 3.5 GB of space on my hard disk for Ubuntu.
PPS: Upon the first boot-up, the first color I see is still brown.

I changed this to a much nicer and lighter shade of brown, IMMHO

A Chumby is a small little Linux computer built into a cushion. Yes, that’s what it looks like. Chumby is made to provide its users with Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. It is actually a small touch screen inside a bean bag. If it’s not for the screen, it might even look like a bean ball. It also functions as an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning. And it does look like an alarm clock.

The Chumby Alarm Clock

Chumby has a 3.5 inch touch screen. Even though it is small, the screen is bright enough for easy reading. And then at the back of the Chumby, you can find the USB ports, the power jack, earphone jack and the on/off button.

The main feature of Chumby (other than it is a cute and cuddly mini computer) is the widgets that you can program into the Chumby. These widgets are the little applications that you set into your Chumby to do the things that you want it to do. It is kind of like Facebook and it’s applications.

There are 3 ways you can get those widgets into your Chumby; you can either ‘chumby’ it off your friends, program it yourself or download from the 500++ in 29 categories Chumby widgets available on its official website.

To use it, you can just plug in your Chumby, connect to your wireless network and then choose from your list of widgets, what you would like to do with it. There are many kinds of fun and interesting widgets to choose for your Chumby, ranging from news to games, and from videos to stock quotes.

Rear a dog inside your Chumby !!!

You can even play your iPod with your Chumby. All you have to do is to connect your Chumby and your iPod using the iPod charge or sync cable and then choose the music player widget from the Chumby to play your music.

The Chumby is currently selling for about $180 on its website, in the US but I wonder if I can get it in Malaysia.

Chumby Specs:
• 3.5″ LCD color touchscreen
• Two external USB 2.0 full-speed ports
• 350 MHz ARM processor
• 64 MB SDRAM
• 64 MB NAND flash ROM
• Stereo 2W speakers
• Headphone output
• Squeeze sensor
• Accelerometer (motion sensor)
• Leather casing
• AC adapter included
• Wi-fi connectivity
• Access to the free Chumby Network
• Over-the-air software updates

From here

What it can do:

• Catch the latest news headlines, sports, weather, stock prices.
• Play iPod® mp3 and m4a files through built in speakers. Charge it too. (Not currently compatible with Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or 6th generation iPods.)
• Enjoy your Flickr and Facebook photos as a digital picture frame.
• Stay updated on new Netflix releases or view your movie queue.
• Make and share e-greetings, photo mash-ups, goofy animations.
• Wake up to the multi-tone alarm clock.
• Track any eBay auction or Craigslist items.
• Monitor incoming email on any POP3 account.

From here

The little Chumby in your life

As the Ubuntu community continues to grow rapidly, so does the resources available for the users. Some time ago, the community has come up an all new free e-magazine called Full Circle which carries a lot of useful information about Ubuntu, Open Source and Linux in general. Issue #0 is available for download in PDF format. You can download it in your chosen language here.

The languages available are English, Russian, Spanish, Galician, Dutch, and Indonesian. If you are interested to translate it into Bahasa Malaysia, then check out this page.

The first issue of this e-magazine is 17 pages long. It covers about Ubuntu history and some new features in Ubuntu 7.04 (the latest version). These include the Desktop Effects and the new games. Don’t ask me about those games because I haven’t tried Ubuntu 7.04 yet.

Linux certainly never looked so good, not in a million years! Hahaha…

Any idea where I can get this sexy linux shirt? Not that I want to wear it, but I know someone who will look very good in it!