Ubuntu For Free

I have admittedly put it off for way too long. The recent OpenSSL Vulnerability with weak keys prompted me to change that on one of my systems. I was forced to use dist-upgrade when OpenSSL would not update, leaving me to continuously recreating weak keys. While I normally update packages using the command line, I was hesitant of using the GUI for Adept Manager. My previous attempts with dist-upgrade have all been failures (From Edgy to Feisty to Gutsy…) so I was not really expecting a smoothe transition.  I used the GUI Adept Manager because it was the recommended method per the Kubuntu Hardy Heron upgrade documentation. Adept immediately gave me an error and closed the first time I tried. I rebooted and tried again with the same error. I kept trying, and it finally decided it would do it…and it did it well. I rebooted and I was almost unable to tell any difference. I did notice I had the new wallpaper available, but otherwise, OpenSSL let me create new, uncompromised keys… and that was what was important to me. It was so painless, I felt brave and tried it on another server. This time, no error message, and it upgraded just as easily. I still have one workstation remaining on Gutsy, a laptop that I don’t have any pressing need to update. The slow server took about two hours to update, and the faster one took about one hour.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written, mostly because I’ve moved to a new apartment. It’s a huge relief to get off the third floor, but it sure has slowed down my postings.

I’ve kind of gotten settled into the new apartment now, and have been spending some time getting Gutsy back the way I had Feisty. I’ve gotten transKode installed, but Media Tag Tools has been a thorn in my side. Fortunately I’ve found that Amarok does it, and does it better. At this point, I filed the bugs with Media Tag Tools on BerliOS and I think I’m washing my hands of it.

Something good had to have came from the crash, so here it is : It made me look into a backup system. I opted for keep, just because of the simplicity, and the fact that it was already there.