Affraid to Upgrade from FC9 to FC12

[Roger]

<rant>
> This is the part I hate most about these upgrades. All options result 
> in downtime.
> * Bite the bullet and upgrade "production" system. Do a backup first, 
> in case new system doesn't work too well.
>   Problem: if I run the new system for a month and then decide it's 
> not ready for me yet, all the work I've done in that month will need 
> to be migrated back into the old install.
> * Install on 2nd HD/computer to see how it handles/etc. In this case, 
> I have to take time to boot into 2nd environment and play around, then 
> boot back to prod to do my work. Too much time wasted in "new" 
> environment.
> </rant>
The question really comes down to how important the constant upgrades 
really are to each of us.
Does every flavour of Linux upgrade every few days or are some possibly 
like ubuntu and have a stable kernel and don't upgrade so often. (My 
opinion from what I've read on list)

There's nothing that says that Fedora has to be cutting edge on every 
machine.
Golly I have difficulty with upgrades because the kmod-nvidia and kernel 
upgrades have a time difference and Blender stops working. I could never 
get akmod-nvidia working successfully.

  Your first * problem is solved with a spare hard drive which lets you 
experiment. What if you spent 10 percent of your time every week on the 
new op system, a couple of weeks and it's done.

Time, to me, is never wasted in a new environment rather it is my safety 
precaution.
 From what you wrote in the first email, it's not the upgrade but the 
tweeking that will take your time as it did for your current operating 
system and if you made notes of successful alterations you have a good 
starting point for the tweeks.

Roger