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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?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/5018/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