Update && upgrade
I’m new to Linux. I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop computer with an Intel Celeron CPU N2840 with 4GB of memory. This computer came with Windows 8.1 installed. After realising that I didn’t like Windows 8.1, I bought your Ubuntu 15.04 issue and installed the same on my laptop using the disc that came with your magazine. I have been quite pleased with Ubuntu thus far. After reading further in your magazine, I realised that I could download Ubuntu Studio 15.04. (I’m a videographer and I thought that Ubuntu Studio might have more of what I need for what I do.) Having downloaded UbuntuStudio 15.04 and burned the ISO to DVD, I was wondering, should I install Ubuntu Studio to another partition or is there a way to install it so it simply merges into my Ubuntu already installed? Michael Tomasso, Brooklyn Neil says: Congratulations first of all on getting Ubuntu safely up and running on a Windows 8.1 machine, this can be a hurdle for many people. Also, well done for getting to grips with Ubuntu itself too. The first thing to consider is
whether you need to install Ubuntu Studio at all. It will install a host of additional audio/visual software for you, but nothing that you couldn’t install yourself on your existing version of Ubuntu. As you’ve probably seen
https://ubuntustudio.org/tour offers a list of the additional packages which you could install by hand with the Software Centre.
If you still want the full install you can dual-boot two versions of Ubuntu, but you will have to maintain two versions with separate updates. When installing Ubuntu Studio the install should offer an upgrade option, but not having tried it, I can’t guarantee that’ll happen.
It’s possible to share the home directory between two versions of Ubuntu, but you still need to use two different user names, so that’s not very helpful.
It’d be easier to invest a small amount of time to back up your existing Ubuntu home and do a fresh install of Ubuntu Studio and restore your previous settings. The easiest method is using rsync, as this makes backups to another drive or over the internet with:
sudo rsync -azvv /home/path/ folder1/ /home/path/folder2
or over the network with: sudo rsync --dry-run --delete -azvv -e ssh /home/path/folder1/ remoteuser@remotehost.remotedomain:/home/path/ folder2 very straightforward.