On Curing Your Sick Koala

don — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:39:28 +0000

It’s been over a week since Ubuntu released the latest beta of Karmic Koala. Yes, I call it a beta because that’s what it is. A poll on ubuntuforums.org indicates that about a third of users attempting to upgrade or install encounter significant problems. Calling it an official release is a misnomer. If you are among the third who had problems and now have a “sick Koala” to deal with, you will want the information in this article. If you are among the lucky two-thirds who had no or only minor issues, your time will come, so you should read it too.

First, be aware that Ubuntu will advise you of non-critical package upgrades on a weekly basis. However, you can upgrade at any time by going to the Synaptic Package Manager and clicking on Installed (upgradeable). This will save you a few days wait but generally will not fix bugs in the OS itself. You should do this before going on.

Second, also be aware that next step involves some risk. It will actually fix bugs. It may introduce others. Your Koala might get a bit better but probably will not be completely cured for another few weeks. Proceed at your own risk! Go to the Update Manager (System>Administration>Update Manager). Click on the “Settings” button. You will see that “Pre-released updates (Karmic – proposed)” is not enabled. Enable it by checking the box. You can now install bug fixes. There are many. You will also notice that by installing the packages you will be upgrading to an early release candidate of version 9.10.1.

Good Luck!

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On Curing Your Sick Koala