Finding old Ubuntu ISOs

Just a quick note so I have a post this month. You know, I'm super busy, blah blah work, etc. etc.

For a course I'm doing this year I needed several older Ubuntu releases to test Linux's Kernel Virtual Machine. It was included into Linux for the 2.6.20 release just over three years ago. It just so happens that the first Ubuntu revision that had this kernel was Feisty Fawn or the more commonly used label 7.04. Because of Ubuntu's support policy (18 months per revision, except LTS which has 36 months) revisions 7.04 and 7.10 are no longer supported. That also means the isos (CD images) are hard to come by because most mirror servers delete unneeded files. Fortunately I quickly found a nearby mirror on the mirror server listing that still had some older versions so I am a bit happier!

Running unsupported versions is of course discouraged because critical imperfections are no longer being fixed for the abandoned distribution but for educational purposes there is no objection.

Another good tip I found is that although these older Ubuntu revisions are no longer supported with improvements to software packages, at least improvements since the release of the CD image are still available through the in-built package management system. There are a few tweaks needed for adjusting software package sources, namely renaming all software package servers from archive.ubuntu.com to old-releases.ubuntu.com.

A quick history of Ubuntu releases:

Ubuntu release	codename	date	kernel version
Ubuntu 4.10	Warty Warthog	2004-10-20	Linux 2.6.8
Ubuntu 5.04	Hoary Hedgehog	2005-04-08	Linux 2.6.10
Ubuntu 5.10	Breezy Badger	2005-10-13	Linux 2.6.12
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS	Dapper Drake	2006-06-01	Linux 2.6.15
Ubuntu 6.10	Edgy Eft	2006-10-26	Linux 2.6.17
Ubuntu 7.04	Feisty Fawn	2007-04-19	Linux 2.6.20
Ubuntu 7.10	Gutsy Gibbon	2007-10-18	Linux 2.6.22
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS	Hardy Heron	2008-04-24	Linux 2.6.24
Ubuntu 8.10	Intrepid Ibex	2008-10-30	Linux 2.6.27
Ubuntu 9.04	Jaunty Jacklope	2009-04-23	Linux 2.6.28
Ubuntu 9.10	Karmic Koala	2009-10-29	Linux 2.6.31

After I complete my report I might have to make a little series on KVM! :)