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Software Manager problem

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:06 am
by notwatson
Hi,

I've had a look around and I think there may be a problem outside of my system, but thought I'd ask anyway.

I've been trying to install some software using the Software Manager for about a week now (that's when I noticed the problem).

This happens whatever software I try to install - so it is definitely not one package causing the problem.

I click the green "install" button - I enter my root password - it waits about 5 seconds and the green "install" button disappears. The progress bar at the bottom says "0 ongoing actions". The application is not installed.

This happens with my desktop and my laptop - both running Mint 10.

I have tried to change the software source and ran the "find best mirror" scan. I selected the suggested mirror site and clicked "close". I was then asked to reload.

This is the output I receive after reloading (or at least trying):

Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.200 80]
Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.200 80]
Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.200 80]
Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.200 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... ackages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.92.156 80]
Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Nothing changes and I am back at square one.

Perhaps one of you uber-gurus knows what my problem is ?

Thanks,

Jon

Re: Software Manager problem

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:47 am
by xenopeek
Hi, this may be unfortunate news for you but Linux Mint 10 and Ubuntu 10.10 on which it is based have both reached end of life and have been obsoleted as of April 2012. Ubuntu is removing the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) repositories from its servers; so you won't be able to get security updates or install new software. This was announced in the blog last year around that time; http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1974.

Recommend you install Linux Mint 13 (the long term support release, with support till April 2017) or Linux Mint 14 (our latest release, with the newest software; support till April 2014). You can download either from here: http://www.linuxmint.com/oldreleases.php. If you were using the main edition of Linux Mint 10, you will probably like the current MATE edition. That is a continuation of the old main edition with GNOME 2. But you might also enjoy Cinnamon, which uses modern technology but has the same approach with a panel and a menu with categories. There are lots of themes and applet developers active for Cinnamon (http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/).

If you have 2 GiB RAM or less, I'd recommend you use the 32-bit edition. If you have 4 GiB RAM or more, I'd recommend the 64-bit edition. Inbetween, depends a bit on what you do with your computer but either will work fine. 64-bit uses somewhat more memory. but is faster for certain tasks. 32-bit uses less memory and so is a better fit for computers with a smaller amount of RAM.

Re: Software Manager problem

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:43 am
by notwatson
Thanks - I suspected this was the case - in fact I downloaded the Mint 13 ISO yesterday in anticipation of this.

Long-shot question - is there a way of preserving my HOME partition whilst installing MINT 13 ? (I guess that the simplest way forward is to copy things I want to keep [Thunderbird folders/profile and Firefox profile etc....] to a USB stick and replace them once the new install is complete, but if I can avoid this, then I'm all ears !!).

Thanks again for your response,

Jon

Re: Software Manager problem

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:26 am
by xenopeek
I wouldn't recommend you keep the home partition, as its from quite older software and all your preferences files and such there may likely cause problems. You can keep it if you had it as a separate partition, then you have to in the "installation type" step of the installer select to do "something else". Then you would change each of your current partitions, select how to use them (pick the file system), where to mount them (/ for root partition, /home for home partition), and select to format only the root partition. Swap partition you only need to select to use as swap, nothing else. But again, this may cause problems after installation so I'd do a clean install as per: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2