The DF Lab

Note: While this will update all of one’s packages to the latest release, as pointed out by Marcos in the comments, this method makes you miss out on all added/removed packages, among a few other things. So this is probably not the way anyone really wants to go!

This should be a quickie…

While my distro of choice is Gentoo, I use Ubuntu at work ever since I was told any compiling of packages would be on my own time. In any case, since version 9.10 (Karmic Koala) came out last week, I figured I’d give it a shot. Well, since I’m in a business environment behind a proxy, it wasn’t so straightforward, and the built-in “Update Manager” utility just hung forever, trying to make a connection. I was only able to figure out exactly what the problem was by strace on it, and sitting on one call. Anyway, onto the fix!

Seems simple, because it is. Just open up your /etc/apt/sources.list, and change all instances of “jaunty” to “karmic”, or use a little sed-fu:

# sed -i 's/jaunty/karmic/' /etc/apt/sources.list

Then run your usual apt-get update/upgrade.

I don’t think this is a recommended way of upgrading, but since the update program was broken and the CD didn’t work for me (froze when clicking any of the menu options) I didn’t have much choice. In any case, I’ve been using my system all day now with no issues, so this method worked out for me.

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I just wrote a short article on the above topic, and then, not long before hitting “Publish,” I find this article that has the answer in short, simple terms. So if you’re having any issues having the “Suspend” dialog work on your GNOME desktop, give the above link a try. I figure I should spare everyone from my often verbose ramblings when someone’s already got the answer.

linux desktop, gentoo, gnome

So, for the few people that have read my musings thusfar, there may (or may not) have been note that I’ve had a rather prolonged lull, particularly given the Mid-Atlantic CCDC round that intended to write about, but probably can’t now because my memory’s fading.

In any case, the reason for this lull has been, aside from my laziness and Team Fortress 2, my schoolwork. In particular, my Senior Design project, Shallow Frost, has finally been “finished.” It’s finished in the sense that I’ve turned in everything and I’m done presenting on it, but I’d say it’s far from finished as a software project.

In any case, in lieu of describing it here, I’ve posted my final, public presentation on YouTube (in two parts):

Part 1
Part 2

If any of you actually watch to the end of part 2, you’ll notice my demo… well… it didn’t exactly work. How embarrassing! And I had done a final test on that very podium 10 minutes prior. *sigh* Well, in any case, it’s over now. I swear, that was the first time it just up and broke (without me prodding it) in months. Oh well, what’s done is done, and no one seemed all that upset other than me.

If I actually decide to do anything more with this (unlikely, because of how it’s built, it won’t ever really go into the kernel), I’ll surely post updates and such. Thanks for reading/watching!

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