I am a recovering Window user planning to be a Linux fan. But current specs for installed Mate are confusing when compared to latest avail software. Installed specs shown = Ubuntu = 20.04.6 (LTS) and Mate = 1.24.0 (desktop version ??). Plz advise how to EASILY UPGRADE to latest & greatest versions. Thanx.
Bewildered Bob
I fear this will only make you more confused, if so I apologize, but I'll give my thoughts anyway.
Ubuntu releases are year.month in format; so 20.04 means you have the 2020-April release. You just add 2000 to the year component.
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS had two upgrade paths
Your upgrade path is to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Please note: I consider Ubuntu-MATE a Ubuntu system, we just have a different desktop/GUI on top of our Ubuntu base system, so when I refer to Ubuntu - that includes Ubuntu-MATE.
Before I upgrade, I always read the release notes of the system I want to upgrade. As I'm involved with Ubuntu News, I publish many announcements, and a common link in the 22.04 announcement pages was to
That's a page I'd read as well.
For Ubuntu-MATE I'll suggest reading
where you'll find the following section most useful "Upgrading from Ubuntu MATE 20.04 LTS and 21.10"
I also quickly scan/read the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release notes too; ie. Jammy Jellyfish Release Notes - Release - Ubuntu Community Hub as if there are specific issues relating to specific hardware, those types of issues are generally noted in these notes (as they'll impact all flavors, Ubuntu-MATE's notes are mostly specific to Ubuntu-MATE only). These notes can be more technical, so don't expect to understand it all (why I added the word 'scan' before 'read), but they apply to all Ubuntu products including flavors like Ubuntu-MATE.
The newest release is Ubuntu 23.04; it has one fully QA-tested & supported upgrade path; which was from the prior release being Ubuntu 22.10. Ubuntu intends for users to choose one of two paths, either use LTS only (upgrading from LTS to LTS), or upgrade using every release (ie. upgrading every 6-9 months; when on LTS you can decide if you'll continue to do this, or stay on LTS & use LTS upgrades in future). I have simplified facts here, with one upgrade option missed intentionally.
The MATE version (1.24.0) is the desktop version as you appear to have guess from your comment in brackets. A quick CLI (command line) enquiry can show the package versions for various releases, which is a quick method I'd use to check some details, ie.
guiverc@d7050-next:~$ rmadison mate-desktop
mate-desktop | 1.6.2-1 | trusty/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el
mate-desktop | 1.12.1-1 | xenial/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x
mate-desktop | 1.20.1-2ubuntu1 | bionic/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x
mate-desktop | 1.24.0-2 | focal/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x
mate-desktop | 1.26.0-1 | jammy/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x
mate-desktop | 1.26.0-1 | kinetic/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x
mate-desktop | 1.26.0-1ubuntu1 | lunar/universe | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x
ie. from that as you're using 20.04, which is focal using the codename, 1.24 matches the table. When you upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy being the codename), your MATE desktop version will increased to 1.26. The CLI command I used shows package versions which may not always align with what's inside the packages, but they usually do. I use it as it's easy.
Hopefully this has answered some of your question, if I haven't, sorry I missed it. Key is hopefully I didn't confuse you more.
I have tried both fresh installs and upgrades. Both work well. I do prefer a fresh install and starting from a clean install. But if you are concerned upgrading from 20.04 to 22.04, you shouldn't have any issues. All your data will be maintained. Nothing should break. You may need to re-enable a few third party PPAs if you have any.
Thanx for the helpful suggestions. The upgrade to 22.04 was EZ even for a "newbie" like me (beginner's luck ??).
Not-so-Bewildered Bob