Upgrading Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10
October 22nd, 2008
I upgraded my 13″ MacBook and 24″ iMac from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 (still in beta) this past week. My favorite part of Ubuntu 8.10: the tabbed file browser! The upgrade to 8.10 is remarkably simple 
just open your terminal and type:
update-manager -d
There should now be an “Upgrade” button in the Update Manager window. Press it and let it run…the process was long, but painless.
On my 13″ MacBook everything upgraded well and it works better than before. On my 24″ iMac I was pleasantly surprised to find its wireless internet now works (it never did in Ubuntu 8.04). But the sound is now off and I cannot figure out how to get it working again.
I like dark themes, so I tried the new dark theme that came with 8.10. It works well, but I am really liking the Intrepid Ibex theme based on Willwill’s mockup. Here is a screenshot of my 24″ iMac and 23″ Cinema Display running Ubuntu 8.10 and willwill’s dark theme.
Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex with willwill100's custom theme running on a dual-head 24" iMac and 23" Cinema Display
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 am
I’ll wait until the last RC to upgrade; but I’m really excited about the tabbed file browser too.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 am
[...] Productivity: Upgrading Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10. Here’s another user who took the early plunge to Ubuntu Intrepid and found it [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Glad to hear everything worked out well, I’m looking forward to upgrading too. But a word of warning to other newbies like me out there: Careful!
I’m fairly new to linux but after reading how simple upgrading to 8.10 beta was on another blog I’d figure I’d give it a try.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize my Nvidia card wasn’t supported in the beta. When I re-started my computer GNOME wouldn’t load and I was stuck in the shell. Eventually, I reverted back to 8.04.
Know I now, if you’re not a developer or an old pro, its probably best to just wait for the official release!
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I found with my desktop system that I had to make sure the Sound panel was configured to use analog output, rather than the digital output it chose by default for my SoundBlaster card, since I don’t have digital speakers hooked up. Admittedly, this was on a new install of 7.xx and immediate upgrade to 8.04, but you may be experiencing a similar problem.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I’ve upgraded and this worked great. Got the nVidia drivers offered to me, they installed fine so I now got the desktop effects too.
Ubuntu seems to be even faster now too for whatever reason, so this is pretty good. I like the tabs too - but nautilus keeps opening new windows, instead of new tabs by default… not sure how to change that.