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I am trying to upgrade Xubuntu from 18.04.2 to 20.04.1 - I have tried several methods but I do not want to re-install from CD because that will wipe my stuff. The upgrade keeps telling me that there is no upgrade available for i386 which I understand to mean that support of 32bit has been discontinued. This is an old (of course) Lenovo desktop but it has a dual core E6550 CPU, which is 64 bit NOT 32!

KenF
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  • Also note that upgrades don't always get you the latest. A fresh install of Ubuntu 18 gets you kernal 5.4, but the upgrade path leaves you at 4.15 or 4.18 – rtaft Dec 09 '20 at 19:59
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    Does this answer your question? Is it possible to "upgrade" from a 32bit to a 64bit installation? – guiverc Dec 09 '20 at 21:57
  • The error message isn't talking about your CPU, but about the OS installed (ie. you have installed the i386 version of 18.04). If you use the command arch I believe you won't get the "x86_64" result you need for the upgrade to occur; but when you installed your system, you installed the i386 architecture (what Debian and Ubuntu call all x86 32-bit; strictly it's i686 now) – guiverc Dec 09 '20 at 21:59
  • Also note, if your system is reporting 18.04.2, upgrade won't occur anyway, as your system hasn't been fully-upgraded. A fully upgraded 18.04 system will report itself as 18.04.5, with the 18.04.2 implying you're missing upgrade after 2019-08-08 (https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2019/08/08/ubuntu-18-04-3-lts-released/). You don't need to re-install to bump from 18.04.2 to 18.04.3, .. 18.04.5, just apply normal upgrades during the life of the product. – guiverc Dec 09 '20 at 22:01

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OKAY! Well, I looked at all that and decided that I don't have that much "Stuff" and I will reinstall from a DVD. This system is a download server so not that much to reinstall really and I already reinstalled on my Media Player system so I know that worked just fine. I started this because my Media Player was having difficulty playing some video files. Otherwise I didn't know the 20.04.1 was out there. I guess it didn't tell me because I was on the 32bit version? OBTW 20.04.1 solved my video problem and does seem to be faster. Also ARCH returns i686 NOT i386!!!! No idea what that is about!

KenF
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  • Intel/AMD, your CPU & the linux kernel distinguish between i386, i486, i586 & i686; however Debian/Ubuntu do not. Debian & Ubuntu call all i386 for historical reasons, however if you try booting a current i386 release (eg. Lubuntu 18.04.5 LTS) on a i386 or i486 box you'll get errors only saying CPU doesn't meet requirements. You can re-install a desktop release without loosing files or configs (ie. easily upgrade via re-install a i386 system to amd64) but that wasn't your question. Only system directories get erased via upgrade meaning server apps lose configs, but again not what you asked – guiverc Dec 10 '20 at 23:49
  • Actually that was part of what I needed to know even if I didn't ask it!! I was under the impression that it would delete all my files. But it does delete standard folders like "downloads" - VERY strange though, it does not delete "Trash"!! ARCH now returns x86-64 – KenF Dec 11 '20 at 01:59
  • If you use any option with format, files will be erased. Using something-else, existing partition(s) and ensuring format is not selected causes a flag to be set that take note of installed packages, erases system directories (thus as server apps store conf files there, they'll get wiped), installs, then adds back your additional software (noted earlier) if available in Ubuntu repos & new release.. it allows you to upgrade via re-install skip or change releases, as well as re-install same release (go backwards too). It's very handy & a strength of ubiquity or Ubuntu's installer. – guiverc Dec 11 '20 at 02:33
  • I am guessing that wouldn't work too well going from 32bit to 64bit but useful to know. I'm afraid I don't spend enough time trying to learn Ubuntu so I REALLY appreciate the help. In the late 70's I counted up how many opsys's I had worked on; got to 16 and that was before UNIX and VMS!!! So I don't have the appetite for another:) which makes your help all the more valuable to me. Thanks again. – KenF Dec 11 '20 at 03:13
  • I had no issues with it, having used it many times. It's how I switched from i386 to amd64 (an 10.10 i386 install for example now runs 20.04 amd64). The difference in i386 (x86) & amd64 (x86_64) is in the program code itself, ie. system directories that get wiped/erased. No user files are touched, and they are identical with i386/amd64 as program specific [not cpu]. I have the advantage of having used unix back before windows existed; it's what I like about it. vi I learnt because it worked on dumb-terminals before arrow-keys existed, still works today (usually it's vim or vi-improved – guiverc Dec 11 '20 at 03:30
  • If you didn't realize it; GNU means GNU's not unix, but it's just a unix like system (the like mostly for legal reasons). Ubuntu is a GNU/Linux, meaning to me it is unix. It no longer uses system V init for any supported release (it got replaced by systemd), so if you ever used UNIX, jump to terminal & feel at home. The GUI (which is replaceable anyway; switch out Ubuntu's GNOME and put in LXQt and it's Lubuntu, use XFCE and it's Xubuntu etc. or the Ubuntu flavors) is different, but the base to me is just unix (though officially GNU; and GNU's not unix for legal reasons) – guiverc Dec 11 '20 at 03:35
  • Thanks again for that info. I didn't do a lot with UNIX because at that time is was SCO UNIX and not priced in a way that we could re-sell. Didn't get into vi but used EDT+ (copy of DEC EDT). Your comments have prodded me into trying VIM; I think I have forgotten enough other baggage by now:) – KenF Dec 12 '20 at 18:35