Upgrading PC hardware and preserving an Ubuntu installation

[Seeyou]

Hi guys

I'm wanting to upgrade my PC hardware. This will likely involve a change to the MB, CPU and RAM. I'm still running a generic kernel, and really the only specific driver I have for hardware is the ATI one for the GPU.

I know a hardware upgrade like this would pretty much force me to reinstall Windows - but I've never done it with Ubuntu. If I'm still on the generic kernel, would I have to make any changes or reinstall to run my current setup on the new hardware?

Thanks!

 

[ponder]

... would I have to make any changes or reinstall to run my current setup on the new hardware?

I doubt it from reading other peoples past experiences. You should be fine as you can pretty much take a hdd out of your machine, install it in another and boot up your linux install.

 

[Seeyou]

Aah, that's awesome news. Ubuntu is pretty much my day to day OS and development environment - if I can just install the new hardware with no downtime for reinstalls that would be excellent. Thanks!

 

[MickZA]

Just upgraded MBoard/CPU/RAM on a dual boot Fedora 14/FREEDOS with no problems, just power down, upgrade and power up. If your Ubuntu version is current you shouldn't have a problem.

Just remember to keep your SATA devices on the same channels.

 

[walter_l]

I've also done this before and, for the most part, hardware changes are detected and handled automagically, since the generic kernel includes most of the drivers you need. The exceptions to this (in my experience) are graphics cards (different vendors) and HDD connections (as MickZA mentioned), although I've never seen (or done) that with SATA drives.

Of these two only connecting the HDD differently will result in an unbootable system - it will complain about not being able to find hd0 or somesuch. You can either reconnect the HDD on another channel or boot with a Ubuntu installation CD and update your configuration manually. The odds are, though, that there won't be any problem.

Suddenly using a graphics card from a different vendor (ie. a card that requires a different, unavailable driver) will probably still boot into the GUI, but with very low resolution. Then you can just install the driver you need and be on your way. Worst case scenario (assuming that the card was installed correctly) is that the GUI doesn't start and you can still install the required driver from the command-line. Again, seeing as you're using the same card, there really shouldn't be a problem.

 

[BigAl-sa]

I've done it going from a P2 with a TNT1 graphics card to a P4 with onboard Intel graphics with no problems (IDE drives) with Kubuntu somewhere around 7.04. That same P4 is still running with the same install, still booting off the same IDE drive, just upgraded every six months up to Ubuntu 10.04 (it now has 4 IDE drives and one SATA drive).

 

[Seeyou]

Sweet - the graphics card is staying the same, so no problems there. I'll make sure to connect the drives on the same channel and hopefully Bob will still be your uncle

Thanks guys - even considering re-installing was giving me grey hairs