Ubuntu on your laptop

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

I noticed that you're still running jaunty on your laptop.

One thing I do these days to make upgrading better/easier is to put the
operating system into its own partition and then have a "staging"
partition used during upgrades.  So, the hard disk layout is something
like this:

   partition   size   purpose
   ---------   ----   -------
   current_OS  15GB   current preferred version of Ubuntu
   next_OS     15GB   space reserved for the next version of Ubuntu
   home        >15GB  user home directory
   swap        1GB    the usual swap space

The idea is to boot into the "current" version of Ubuntu.  When you're
ready to upgrade, you install into the "next_OS" partition and then that
become your "current preferred" version.  The other partition then takes
on the role of "next_OS".  In other words, you switch back and forth
between the 2 partitions on each upgrade.

There are a couple of advantages:

  1) Ubuntu sometimes screws up the upgrade.  So, rather than
     struggling to get the computer working again, you instead give
     yourself time to deal with the new release.
  2) A clean install.  So, rather than Ubuntu trying to upgrade each and
     every package, you're starting out with a clean install which
     sometimes works better.

The main disadvantage is that, if you've modified any system configuration
files, you'll have to re-modify them in the upgrade, which can be
time-consuming.

You might be able to get away with less than 15GB for the OS install --
5GB might do.  So, you may want to spend some time to go with this scheme
on your laptop if you have some time to work on it.

Just FYI.