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For some reason over the last week or two, nothing new is appearing in my update manager.
In Preferences, Levels, i have ticked the boxes for minimal, normal, and large, same as they've always been.
Updates are supposed to refresh ever day.
Update policy is ticked at Let Me Review Sensitive Updates.
According to the Mint page https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3457, Sylvia reached EOL in 2021. Probably it is not being updated any more. You need to upgrade to the next release.
They are maybe of fixing bugs don't get too speedy about it you will know when a proper update
released and caught it ,,, keep in touch with community in case
This seems extremely unlikely considering post #2.
'scuse my ignorance, but what does EOL mean? Also how do i upgrade?
Thank you.
EOL stands for End Of Life. A release has a certain lifetime which usually overlaps to some degree with the following release. During this lifetime, the developers undertake to fix bugs and security flaws. When the release reaches EOL, no further updates occur. The idea is that during the overlap period, people are supposed to switch to the new release at a time of their choosing.
The simplest way to upgrade is to install the new version from a fresh installation image. Before doing this, of course, you must save all your personal files so that they don't get overwritten. That's why most people keep those files on a separate home partition that won't be affected by updates. For Debian distros like Mint,it's often possible to upgrade using the package manager. Your distro's website should contain detailed upgrade instructions.
I've just spent the last hour trying to work out how to upgrade, it seems very daunting and confusing to me! Anything to do with using the Terminal always does. As you can tell, i'm more or less computer illiterate!
1/ If i don't upgrade does that mean, without updates anymore for 18.3, then my pc is at risk of getting viruses, etc?
2/ If i upgrade do i get 19, or the very latest version which i think is 20.3?
3/ I've read that it's probably easier to do a fresh install of whichever version i'm after, is that correct? Is that easier?
4/ Regarding backing up my existing stuff on 18.3. Does that mean transferring all the music and pics i currently have on to a usb stick? Or is it more involved?
1/ If i don't upgrade does that mean, without updates anymore for 18.3, then my pc is at risk of getting viruses, etc?
You won't get viruses because Linux doesn't host those, but security flaws may be discovered in various pieces of software and you won't get the fixes.
Quote:
2/ If i upgrade do i get 19, or the very latest version which i think is 20.3?
Depends how you do it. Most people don't advocate upgrading by more than one major release step if you do it with the package manager. With a reinstall, you can just install the latest version.
Quote:
3/ I've read that it's probably easier to do a fresh install of whichever version i'm after, is that correct? Is that easier?
For someone with your degree of nervousness, the answer is probably yes. I would find the other way easier as it doesn't require starting over again.
Quote:
4/ Regarding backing up my existing stuff on 18.3. Does that mean transferring all the music and pics i currently have on to a usb stick? Or is it more involved?
A memory stick should do fine. Certainly copy across all your music, pics and other user data. You should get into the habit of doing that regularly anyway in case you get a disk failure. The hidden files in your home directory are worth copying too as they incorporate all the customisation you've done on your programs over the years. If you're really afraid of "completely buggering up any update/upgrade", then copy the whole image so you can copy it back if necessary.
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