Guidelines for Upgrading from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04

The transition from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04, also known as Precise Pangolin, can be a smooth process, but it involves a few adjustments. This guide outlines common issues and tips you should consider during the upgrade.

Problems Encountered During Upgrade

During the upgrade from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04, several issues and compatibility problems may arise. Here are some of the challenges I faced and their solutions:

Disabling Gnome Screensaver

One initial issue was the need to re-disable the Gnome screensaver. To resolve this, I uninstalled and then reinstalled xscreensaver, a volunteer-driven collection of screen savers and lock screen programs. The process was straightforward:

Uninstall Gnome screensaver: Install xscreensaver: Activate xscreensaver.

Issues with Twidge CLI Twitter Client

The CLI Twitter client Twidge encountered issues due to the absence of gnome-keyring. This keyring utility was crucial for managing credentials securely. The problem was resolved by replacing Twidge with an alternative or ensuring gnome-keyring packages were installed correctly.

Resource Usage by Dropbox and rdiff-backup

Another challenge was the significant increase in processor usage by both Dropbox and rdiff-backup. While Dropbox was fixed temporarily through a restart, rdiff-backup continued to use excessive resources. However, upgrading to a newer version of these tools might resolve the issue.

Transparency and xcompmgr

A noticeable change was the disappearance of shadows created by xcompmgr. Although there were no shadows, real transparency was unaffected. To enable shadows, I run the command:

codexcompmgr -cCfF/code

Additional Issues

While upgrading, I encountered a few other minor issues:

SSL Issues: There were problems related to SSL, specifically with `libssl`, impacting TLS negotiation. This issue has affected programs linked to `libssl`. However, workarounds are available, including forcing TLS1.0.

Finding New Features and Improvements

Although I didn't use Openbox and prefer Unity Gnome on Ubuntu 12.04, the upgrade was worth it for the new features:

HUD (Head-Up Display): A powerful feature that allows you to perform actions like opening apps, viewing system information, and managing windows. New Lenses: These provide convenient access to information from different sources within the Unity environment.

Overall, upgrading to 12.04 offered a sleeker and more feature-rich experience, reinforcing Canonical's commitment to promoting Unity as the default desktop environment.