Upgrade from 12.04 to 14.04

12.04 isn't obsolete. It is supported as much as the very latest Ubuntu release until April 2017

You can upgrade directly to 14.04 using the command:

sudo do-release-upgrade

Where did you hear that 12.04 is "obsolete"?

When I went to Update Manager and clicked on Upgrade to 12.10 it said it was not supported

My machine is slow, which I am attributing to an old version.

I read this forum which has a lot of posts saying they have trouble with the new 14.04 LTS version, thats why I am asking. Maybe I should upgrade to an older version.

From another website called Ubuntu.com, it said every version below 14 was obsolete.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes

dustbindiva
The site below, is a clearer picture of obsolete Ubuntu releases. I am on 12.04 now, and it is about the same speed as my 14.04. I find that the machine has more to do with speed than the release does. Checked the site you gave in #3. Found it to be somewhat confusing. Probably be good idea to run Mem Test, to make sure memory is OK.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Meminfo total: 1015812 kB DMI total: 1024000 kB Accuracy: 99.00

This is the result of the memory test.

What is the output of:

cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

Thanks

cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

I cant paste the output but it just says check for a new release etc. When I tried to upgrade using Upgrade Manager, it said the 12.10 was obsolete. Thats why I posted my question here. Should I go to 14.4 or 12.10 or something else?

Swipe the text with the mouse cursor, just like you would select text in any application in any operating system. Right click the text and click "copy". This, again, is the same as any graphically based operating system.

You can then paste the text as an update on:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/277032

It just wont work. When I swipe the text, and right click and go to Edit>Copy, I lose the highlighted text, and it wont Paste. I have tried it over and over.

Run:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Do a search and replace and replace all instances of 'precise' with the word 'trusty' save the new file and run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Some folks do it this way.

If you can hang on til April next year then you can wipe Precise off the system and do a clean install of Xenial from CD / USB. Xenial is LTS and supported til April 2021

Please proceed as follows:

Open a terminal windows (e.g. by simultaneously pressing ctrl-alt-t)
issues the command

cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

use the terminal window's menu entries "edit - select all" and "edit - copy" to copy all output and then paste everything into this question document.

ACTIONPARSNIP, I managed to do it.

accrc@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
# Default behavior for the release upgrader.

[DEFAULT]
# Default prompting behavior, valid options:
#
# never - Never check for a new release.
# normal - Check to see if a new release is available. If more than one new
# release is found, the release upgrader will attempt to upgrade to
# the release that immediately succeeds the currently-running
# release.
# lts - Check to see if a new LTS release is available. The upgrader
# will attempt to upgrade to the first LTS release available after
# the currently-running one. Note that this option should not be
# used if the currently-running release is not itself an LTS
# release, since in that case the upgrader won't be able to
# determine if a newer release is available.
prompt=normal

OK then run:

gksudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

Change:
prompt=normal

To:
prompt=lts

Save the new file, close gedit and run:

sudo do-release-upgrade

accrc@ubuntu:~$ gksudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
accrc@ubuntu:~$ sudo do-release-upgrade
Checking for a new Ubuntu release
Err Upgrade tool signature
  404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Err Upgrade tool
  404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.14 80]
Fetched 0 B in 0s (0 B/s)
WARNING:root:file 'quantal.tar.gz.gpg' missing
Failed to fetch
Fetching the upgrade failed. There may be a network problem.
accrc@ubuntu:~$

If you now repeat the command

cat /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

what output do you get now?

What is the output of:

grep -i proxy /etc/apt/apt.conf; cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list

Thanks

      It wont copy and paste. What did I do when I changed the "precise" to "trusty" ?

accrc@ubuntu:~$ grep -i proxy / etc/apt/apt.conf; cat -n /etc/apt/sources.list
grep: etc/apt/apt.conf: No such file or directory
     1 # deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid main restricted
     2 # deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-updates main restricted
     3 # deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted
     4 # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
     5 # newer versions of the distribution.
     6
     7 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main restricted multiverse
     8 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
     9
    10 ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
    11 ## distribution.
    12 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted multiverse
    13 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates main
    14
    15 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
    16 ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
    17 ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
    18 ## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
    19 ## team.
    20 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty universe
    21 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty universe
    22 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates universe
    23 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-updates universe
    24
    25 ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
    26 ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
    27 ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
    28 ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
    29 ## security team.
    30
    31
    32 ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
    33 ## repository.
    34 ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
    35 ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
    36 ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
    37 ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
    38 ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
    39 # deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    40 # deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    41
    42 ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
    43 ## 'partner' repository. This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is
    44 ## offered by Canonical and the respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu
    45 ## users.
    46 # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner
    47 # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner
    48
    49 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main restricted multiverse
    50 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main
    51 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security universe
    52 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security universe
accrc@ubuntu:~$ ^C
accrc@ubuntu:~$ ^C
accrc@ubuntu:~$

A general remark:
In a terminal window on Ubuntu you cannot use ctrl-c and ctrl-v to copy and paste, you have to use ctrl-shift-c and ctrl-shift-v or use the terminal window's menu entries or use the right mouse button and select copy resp. paste from the popup.

The recommended way to initiate a release upgrade is by using the package management programs as provided. The trick to replace the release name in the sources.list is a dirty workaround that has the potential of breaking the package management settings. I would not recommend this unless everything else fails.

You sources.list configuration file has got some cruft from older releases in it, I recommend that you replace the contents by the standard settings for your current release. I can provide the text if you want.