Trying to learn Linux
 

Howdy from Arizona. My name is Charles Gray. I am a 75-year old computer hobbiest. I do a little computer programming, mostly in Forth, and play duplicate bridge on the Internet at both OKBridge and BridgeBase Online as well as a little chess and backgammon. My bridge user name is Tcyk. Which is the phonetic spelling of Chuck in Loglan, an artificial language created by Dr. James Cooke Brown. Most of my working years were spent as an electronics technician, a technical writer, and finally a Logistics engineer. As far as computer skills are concerned, I am mostly self-taught. My college major was math with a physics minor.

I have tried to use Linux for several years It always gives me a struggle. I tried a few different versions before trying Ubuntu and liked it enough to buy a DVD of version 6.06. I've been having a few problems and a friend suggested that I should upgrade to a later version. That is how I ended up here. I had problems with the upgrade.

Charlie

Hello and welcome to LQ, hope your probs get fixed. Spose you've checked http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/

Darn!!! I thought I was the oldest one here...;)

Anyway, welcome to LQ. Post a specific question and the answers will flow.

upgrade
 

Historically Linux distros have had a problem with upgrades, allthough Ubuntu has a reputation for suffering less problems than most.
Most Linux users tend to go for a fresh install rather than an upgrade, which would of course wipe all your data. To avoid this most users create the /home directory under a sepperate partition ( eg hda2 ), then when they reinstall to their data (and firefox bookmarks etc) is untouched. If you haven't got a sepperate partion then just back it up to a cd/dvd not forgetting to include hidden files.
If Ubuntu still gives problems, try another distro, Ubuntu has a reputation for running on most hardware, but so do Fedora and OpenSUSE so they may just do the trick for you.

If I understand this correctly, I could store my /home directory on my external hard drive and reinstall Ubuntu, Then I could use the old /home directory. One reason I was unwilling to just install a new distro was that I had such a hard time figuring out how to use my printer and Java. I didn't want to go through that battle again. I also had difficulty setting up Evolution but this may be a problem for all AOL users. (Please don't tell me about AOL. I've been using it for about 15 years.)

I have a 500 GB Western Digital "Book" and have been thinking seriously of moving most of my Linux files to that disc. I was unsure as to the problems this might cause. If I had a few dollars, I'd just get a separate computer for Linux. Dual boot systems can be a drag.