One of the great things about using open source software is the frequency with which bugs are fixed, security holes are patched, and new features are added. Ubuntu includes a very convenient update manager but constantly upgrading your system can be a burden. This guide will explain howto customize the manager to run less often, or automatically install updates.

Hi, my name is Chris. I am Ubuntu update-manager addict. I began innocently enough, sometime back in Febuary, I ran ‘update-manager -d‘ to get a peek at Unbuntu Hardy Heron. Since that time I have been unable to resist the little orange “Updates Available” icon. Checking two or three times a day for improved progams, bug fixes, and new features.

Aptitude is a terminal-based package manager that can be used instead of apt-get. Aptitude marks packages that are automatically installed and removes them when no packages depend on them.

Have you been thinking about upgrading your computer to Ubuntu 10.04? I recently made the leap, at the prompting of my Update Manager. The process went fairly smoothly, but I did have to deal with a couple of minor annoyances. Here are a few tips.

Every six months, a new edition of Ubuntu is released and the Update Manager that pops every now and then offers you the choice of upgrading your current version to a newer one. Every six months, Ubuntu users worldwide face a tough choice. Should they keep running their current version or should they upgrade?

On the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx desktop you may notice the Ubuntu Update Manager pops up on the bottom panel. This indicates software and security updates are available for your Ubuntu desktop.

I finally experienced my first "phantom" update notification in Ubuntu 9.04. In previous versions of the system, a little icon on the upper panel would notify me that updates were available. I could either click the icon and open the Update Manager, then do the update. But in this new system (I've been running 9.04 about a week), the icon is gone.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '9.04' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

Mandriva 2011, the latest desktop edition of the popular Linux distribution, was released yesterday. If you have just installed it, you would have noticed, if you mouseover the update manager icon, this message: “No medium found.