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There are many similar questions to mine on this site. However, over the last few hours of trying to sort through this matter, I have arrived exactly nowhere. At this time, I think that my system might be so poor that the best thing might be to restore an image. Before I take this drastic measure, I want to try my best to explain my situation.

  1. Running Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS linux-image-5.4.0-70-generic install

  2. Whenever I reboot, I get a message about low memory.

  3. I have read someplace that if I can update/upgrade that some of this memory problem might be solved

  4. When I type "sudo apt-get upgrade," the response is, "Need to get 270 MB of archives. After this operation, 10.3 MB of additional disk space will be used. E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/."

  5. I have searched this cite for the string, "You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/," and found many questions and answers on the matter. Yet, here I am with no forward pr0gress.

Can you please help me? Please keep jargon to a minimum and be as clear as possible. thanks

EDIT: My situation was so bad that I could no longer boot my computer. I had to start from an image that was on my hard drive.

Michael Levy
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    Your error messages don't relate to lack of memory (RAM), but lack of disk space. You haven't said if you're using a 18.04 desktop or 18.04 server system? but did you allocate the minimum required space? If you use less space than recommended (or utilize additional apps) you need to allocate more space. A fully upgraded system will report itself at 18.04.6 (so you are behind on upgrades), but removing files to create space in / is your best bet. – guiverc Oct 10 '21 at 04:19
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    Does this answer your question? Not enough space in /var/cache/apt/archives/ FYI: if your free space is too low; some fixes need to be done manually before auto commands can be used to create more space. – guiverc Oct 10 '21 at 04:20
  • Run command df -H and paste the result – pasman pasmański Oct 10 '21 at 05:47
  • @guiverc When I go to details > info, it just says "Running Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS" There is no mention of desktop or server. When I type, "dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image | grep -v deinstall," the response is, "dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image | grep -v deinstall." This likely indicates that this is the desktop version – Michael Levy Oct 10 '21 at 12:50
  • @guiverc, You write, "A fully upgraded system will report itself at 18.04.6 (so you are behind on upgrades)." Is there a way to set my computer to autoupdate? Separately, you write, "removing files to create space in / is your best bet." Do you mean to delete files (like photos), or do you mean to delete programs (like MATLAB), or either? – Michael Levy Oct 10 '21 at 12:52
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    Try the commands sudo apt autoremove -y and sudo apt clean. They might free up some momory. – Archisman Panigrahi Oct 10 '21 at 13:08
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    If you have "details > info", then you are using Ubuntu Desktop. If so, then you already have the tool you need. Open Disk Usage Analyzer. Let it analyze your disk. When complete, explore the result to see that you should delete. Paste the result in your question if you still need more help. – user535733 Oct 10 '21 at 13:23

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