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I’m going to post some really easy steps to slightly nicefy the standard ubuntu boot manager (grub for friends); please note the following steps are very easy and, most importantly, they are not disruptive of your currently working setup: you just have to add stuff to your already working system. The advantage of doing so lies on the fact that you’ll not break your standard repository tree, resulting on an apt-updatable-friendly system.

Said that, let’s move:

sudo apt-get install grub-splashimages startupmanager

Ok, now let’s open SUM:

sudo startupmanager

…now, from the "Aspect" tab, let’s choose a splashimage that fits and let’s close the program. After that, reboot the system and see if it worked.

If everything is OK, the next boot will sport a nice 14 colors (!) grub spashimage. Frankly, is not that great, but it’s better than the ugly default black/white (or the other usable two-color combinations) curses mode.

If you wish more, you should try the better multicolor grub-gfxboot, but this will have to wait for another post ;)

I’m going to upgrade my _old_ Ubuntu Hardy Heron X86_64 laptop to the fresh _new_ (autumnal) Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex X86_64, the CLI way (it should apply perfectly for the 32 bit version too). Open a new virtual terminal and type:

cd
dpkg −−get−selections > ~/my-installed-programs

…this way you’ll make a backup copy of the synaptic choices you already made [about your already installed programs].

It would also be a good idea to keep a backup copy of your third party repository sources (don’t forget to keep their respective keys! – I keep them as inline comments inside my files), so:

mkdir 3rdparties

cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* 3rdparties/

Save your /etc (just in case):

tar cvf etc.tar /etc

Now it would be safe to make a backup copy of your important stuff; here I suggest you a simple tbz2 backup archive of your important stuff:

cd 

tar cvjf $(whoami)-backup.tbz2 ~

After some time (depending by the amount of your data and your CPU’s juice), move the resulting backup file somewhere (use your imagination and DIY…flash keys, ext HDDs, other PCs….). OK, now we may proceed for the distribution upgrade, so:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

then type:

sudo do-release-upgrade

Respond to the first one or two basic questions, wait for the process to be finished, reboot when asked, and (hopefully) you should end up with a new (hopefully…) working version of your open source os of choice to play with!

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have an almost standard system, the process should be easy and mandatory. BUT if you have applied strong modifications to your /etc, probably you’ll be asked many questions regarding your config files. In this case take your time and review your settings before just pressing "ENTER".

If bad stuff happens (well, sometimes it just happens!), install a clean (upgraded) system with the ubuntu official CD image and uncompress your home backup on your new system’s home, restore your third parties sources.list and use the following commands to restore your synaptic selections:

cd 

sudo dpkg --set-selections < my-installed-programs
sudo apt-get update

then apply your changes with the follwing command:

sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade

ADDENDUM: In case you wish to live on the edge and track developer's releases, when switching the distribution, alternatively type:

sudo do-release-upgrade --devel-release

Once you're at it, create a launchpad account and submit bug reports to Canonical developers by clicking the "Send"-button when an app crashes.