Expectations

Some of the software I mentioned being installed via PPA is software that I do not use.  It’s there just for the sake of this article.  What I’ve essentially done is ‘moved in’ to a few applications to see how those settings and accounts transition to the precise world of 12.04.  I’ve import all of my Gmail data to Thunderbird.  Almost 22,ooo unread emails no reside on this hard drive.  Will it all work after upgrade?  I’ve added my Facebook and Twitter accounts to Gwibber, which I’ve also never used at length.  Empathy is setup for Facebook chat and Google Talk.

I’ve also setup Firefox sync between Firefox 12 and the Firefox for Android application.  Chrome has already been setup for sync.  It’s my main browser, though the official Google PPA seems to have abandoned Lucid with version 18.

My desktop layout is pretty typical, using the standard 2 panel setup that Gnome is known for.  I’m using the wonderful Faenza icon set, delivered from PPA and the Equinox theme for Gnome that requires it’s own engine.  On my desktop is a shortcut to a WINE installation of Heroes Of Might And Magic, an amazing turn-based strategy game from the mid-90s (damn I’m getting old).

Software

My expectations for a successful upgrade is simple.  All of the software installed on my system right now will be available in Ubuntu 12.04, regardless of its origin.  Launchpad requires all software in PPA channels to be later versions that what is currently available in the official repositories.  It also requires that they be packaged and named in such a way that later versions in the official repositories can supersede them, essentially ignoring the channel.

Personal Information

I expect that no accounts will be lost.  I expect the Empathy, Thunderbird, Firefox and Chrome, will be functional with all of my personal information intact.

Look & Feel

I expect that my Faenza iconset will break the default Unity theme.  The set currently installed is for Gnome 2.x, so I expect that Unity will look for Faenza, not find it where it needs to be or something along those lines, and I’ll be left with the default Tango iconset.  Also I don’t expect my Equinox theme or the engine to make a working appearance.  This should be broken and that’s OK.  Bonus points for Canonical if the upgrade decides to just apply the default Ambiance theme and the default iconset.  Also I have the font Telex, the same font used on this website applied system wide.  I fully expect for it to be applied system wide when I boot into the new system.

Performance

My expectations here are set pretty low.  I’ve seen both Vista and Windows 7 performance on this machine at various points in time.  Windows 7 performs amicably for a system of this age.  Granted, Windows 7 is a 3 year old operating system and should be expected to perform well on a mid-high-end machine from the Vista era.  Ubuntu 12.04.  Ubuntu does not compete with other Linux distributions.  It competes with Mac OS X and Windows 7.  Ubuntu, and specifically this latest release, is known for it’s great performance so it should be expected that it will outperform it’s competition regardless of it’s age.  I’ll be honest, I don’t think it will.  I fully expect that this upgraded software will perform so poorly that I will no longer be able to consider this system usable.  Only time will tell!

The Little Things

Even if everything is broken, I still want to be able to play my Heroes Of Might & Magic.  Will WINE be broken?  Will the upgrade make my handy-dandy shortcut disappear from my desktop?  Well, I guess I don’t really care that much, as long as it doesn’t find a way to destroy my save file, which I don’t count on happening.