Kubuntu Complaint (sarcasm!) on New Install

[David]

Hi Ray,

I'm afraid I didn't realise that you were on a 32 bit version of Kubuntu,
and unfortunately 18.04 is the end of the road for the 32 bit platform.

Nils rightly pointed out that you can still get updates for 18.04 from
Ubuntu Pro.

However, my view is that upgrading to a newer version would give you better
performance and much better support with timeshift.

My recommendation now is for you to do a fresh install.  Your current
options are either to a fresh install 24.04 which is the latest LTS
version, or 25.10, which is the most recent point release.

My experience with Linux installers is that they are pretty good with
managing dual/multi boot situations with grub.

Given the age of your computer, I would also encourage you to check the
health of your system disk. Here are the instructions:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can check the health of your system disk using SMART, via the smartctl
tool.

First, install the required package:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install smartmontools

Identify which device is your system drive:

lsblk -o NAME,TYPE,SIZE,MODEL,SERIAL,MOUNTPOINTS

For a typical SATA SSD or hard drive, run:

sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

For an NVMe drive, run:

sudo smartctl -H /dev/nvme0
sudo smartctl -a /dev/nvme0

To run a short self-test:

SATA:

sudo smartctl -t short /dev/sda
sleep 180
sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda

NVMe:

sudo smartctl -t short /dev/nvme0
sleep 120
sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/nvme0

In the output, the most useful indicators are:

   -

   Overall SMART health status.
   -

   Reallocated or pending sectors on HDDs.
   -

   Wear indicators and total writes on SSDs.
   -

   For NVMe drives, the "Percentage Used" and any media or data integrity
   errors.

If you want, you can reply the with the smartctl -a output and I can help
interpret it, or ask your preferred LLM.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best wishes,
David

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 at 22:57, Raymond J Burke <rayburke30 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I read what you mailed to me and noted it all, and are wondering about the
> comment below-
>
>
> "A conservative path forward would be:
> Take a full disk image or sector-level clone of the Kubuntu disk. Do not
> rely on Timeshift alone.
> Disconnect all other OS drives before upgrading to avoid GRUB and UUID
> conflicts.
> Upgrade one LTS step at a time, from 18.04 to 20.04, then to 22.04, or do
> a clean install of 22.04 or 24.04".
>
> Because I want to keep my dual boot could I Upgrade one LTS step at a
> time, from 18.04 to 20.04, then to 22.04, or do a clean install of 22.04 or
> 24.04,
> that way I keep my dual boot parameters of the Grub2
>
> Ray
>
> On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 at 08:20, Nils Kassube <kassube at gmx.net> wrote:
>
>> David wrote:
>> > > Furthermore, if it isn't really urgent, I would even suggest to wait
>> > until April next year and then install 26.04 LTS.
>> >
>> > I'm afraid I disagree with you.
>>
>> That's OK :)
>>
>> > Most importantly, 24.04 is actively
>> > maintained with ongoing security and bug fixes, while 18.04 is frozen
>> and
>> > no longer supported.
>>
>> Hmm, I thought 18.04 is still supported with Ubuntu Pro which is free for
>> private use on up to five machines.
>>
>> > Secondly, if he is an LTS user, he may wish to wait until August when
>> > 26.04.1 will be released, and that is when LTS users are typically
>> prompted
>> > for upgrade.
>>
>> Good point, I didn't think of that.
>>
>>
>> Nils
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David

Email   |  david at hackbinary.com

I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising
than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is
not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.
 - J.B.S. Haldane
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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