quantal (12.10) ubuntu repos

Question

I'm trying to install HTSeq (bioinformatics tool) on a server running Ubuntu quantal (12.10) and for that I need to install some packages so I use the following command:

sudo apt-get install python-numpy python-matplotlib

However when I try this, I get lots of 404 Error messages (see below). Is it possible that the quantal ubuntu repository is no longer available?

If so, how can I add an archived version of some kind (and where can I find it)?
If not, what else may cause these 404 messages.

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  libatk1.0-data libatk1.0-0 libgtk2.0-common libgtk2.0-0 libglade2-0 blt fonts-lyx libgtk2.0-bin python-cairo python-dateutil python-gi python-gobject-2
  python-gtk2 python-glade2 python-gobject python-matplotlib-data python-pyparsing python-tz python-numpy python-support python-matplotlib python-tk
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libatk1.0-data all 2.6.0-0ubuntu1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libatk1.0-0 amd64 2.6.0-0ubuntu1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libgtk2.0-common all 2.24.13-0ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libgtk2.0-0 amd64 2.24.13-0ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libglade2-0 amd64 1:2.6.4-1ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main blt amd64 2.4z-4.2ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe fonts-lyx all 2.0.3-3
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libgtk2.0-bin amd64 2.24.13-0ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main python-gi amd64 3.4.0-1ubuntu0.1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-gobject-2 amd64 2.28.6-10ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-gtk2 amd64 2.24.0-3build1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-glade2 amd64 2.24.0-3build1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main python-gobject all 3.4.0-1ubuntu0.1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe python-matplotlib-data all 1.1.1-1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-pyparsing all 1.5.6+dfsg1-2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-tz all 2011k-0ubuntu6
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-numpy amd64 1:1.6.2-1ubuntu1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/universe python-matplotlib amd64 1.1.1-1
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Err http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main python-tk amd64 2.7.3-1ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/a/atk1.0/libatk1.0-data_2.6.0-0ubuntu1_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/a/atk1.0/libatk1.0-0_2.6.0-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gtk+2.0/libgtk2.0-common_2.24.13-0ubuntu2_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gtk+2.0/libgtk2.0-0_2.24.13-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/libg/libglade2/libglade2-0_2.6.4-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/blt/blt_2.4z-4.2ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/l/lyx/fonts-lyx_2.0.3-3_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gtk+2.0/libgtk2.0-bin_2.24.13-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pygobject/python-gi_3.4.0-1ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pygobject-2/python-gobject-2_2.28.6-10ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pygtk/python-gtk2_2.24.0-3build1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pygtk/python-glade2_2.24.0-3build1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pygobject/python-gobject_3.4.0-1ubuntu0.1_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/m/matplotlib/python-matplotlib-data_1.1.1-1_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/pyparsing/python-pyparsing_1.5.6+dfsg1-2_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python-tz/python-tz_2011k-0ubuntu6_all.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python-numpy/python-numpy_1.6.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/m/matplotlib/python-matplotlib_1.1.1-1_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
Failed to fetch http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python-stdlib-extensions/python-tk_2.7.3-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 91.189.91.13 80]
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

Answer 1

If you really need to use a no longer supported version, old releases can still be found at http://old-releases.ubuntu.com

To use that repository, replace every instance of be.archive.ubuntu.com with old-releases.ubuntu.com in your /etc/apt/sources.list, for example by using this command:

sudo sed -i 's/be\.archive\.ubuntu\.com/old-releases.ubuntu.com/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

After an apt-get update it should work again.

Answer 2

As mata said, that did the trick, but in our case, we had to change it to:

sudo sed -i 's/es\.archive\.ubuntu\.com/old-releases.ubuntu.com/g' /etc/apt/sources.list

Because it was an spanish (es) installation. We were trying to install s3cmd, and python-support was failing on ubuntu 11 (currently unsupported).

Awesome! Thanks a lot