raymac46 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 (edited) The Linux world seems to thrive on updating and installing your distro of choice. In this respect it seems totally unlike XP or Windows 7 where personally I’ve repaired or added service packs but never reinstalled the whole shebang. The Windows licensing issue scares me frankly. I don’t want to end up with having to call Microsoft to reinstate my system licence. That might not happen but so far I just prefer to let Windows muddle along and update whenever it wants. So here are a few thoughts on updating to the next release. I know the Arch-ers here do this on the fly so probably this rant won’t apply to them. First, don’t be in a hurry. I’ve had recent problems where I tried to install Linux Mint 13 RC and the installer is buggy. It crashed and I had to go back and reinstall Linux Mint 12. Now I’m going to wait a while until the final release is out a month or two. Second, backup,backup,backup. I’ve been able to completely reformat and reinstall my data a couple of times because I’ve got a backup on an external hard drive. I always have a separate /home partition and usually a clean install on / works but you never know. Third, try to get an LTS version if you can. Your support is there far longer and the need to reinstall lessens. Fourth, an install from USB is far faster and less of a hassle than trying it from a DVD or CD. If you haven’t tried Unetbootin or Mandriva-seed or even a CLI data dump to get your iso on a thumbdrive I would really encourage you to give it a whirl. With some netbooks you don’t have any other option unless you can boot from an external optical drive. Fifth, there are times when you just have to upgrade. Some of the older editions of Mandriva / Mint/Ubuntu don’t support the latest flash plugins and I’ve seen problems turn up with video and audio in the browser as a result. Also I needed the latest version of Xubuntu because the kernel it uses supports my Intel GMA 500 video card better than anything else. Fedora 17 will support it too. Sixth, if you can use an alternate install disc or a ncurses installer and stay away from the graphical installers in the Live CD, do so. These old style installers have always worked best for me. Seventh, check your iso and burn it slowly and carefully if you plan on a CD/DVD install. Clean and inspect the media before use. It doesn’t hurt if you can use the same optical drive to burn and play the install disc. I’ve had more issues with bad optical equipment than anything else. After all this a rolling release distro like Arch is beginning to have appeal for me, although I know you can also run into problems when you’re living on the edge with the latest software. Just some ideas. I know your mileage will vary. Edited May 23, 2012 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Excellent info, Raymac. All very good reasons to choose "Rolling Release" distros. No need to re-install, ever. Arch, Chakra, Mepis, Anti X, Aptosid, Siduction, Semplice, Linux Mint Debian Edition, Fuduntu, Gentoo, Sabayon, Chromium OS, Foresight, OpenSUSE. There may be others but those will get you started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Good tips RayMac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 BTW I think most of my issues with Linux Mint 13 have to do with this mysterious piece of hardware I have in the basement - an AMD X2 4600+, ASUS M2A-VM mobo, LG DVD-RAM, 2 GB memory, 320 GB SATA drive, Nvidia 8400GS video card. I had problems installing Linux Mint 13 either from a DVD or thumbdrive (installer crashes) but I used the same DVD to install Mint 13 in VBox on a quad core laptop under Windows 7. This AMD clone machine is fast and powerful when it works, but it can be a bear to get a decent installation. Might as well resign yourself to the fact that you are going to wipe the drive clean, install a fresh system and then restore your backed up data and reinstall your apps. Takes a while but that is the best way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Good stuff, Ray. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 What an outstanding post. My parents are both interested trying out Linux Mint or Ubuntu on a trial basis. I am going to make them each a flashdrive and send it to them. Their goal is to move away from Windows to a platform that is more supportive of equipment that is not cutting-edge new. However, my father is so computer illiterate he cannot even spell GUI, and my mother is not too far behind. I believe that the Gnome and Unity desktops are easy enough to use and navigate that they will not have any trouble, but if they do, I am 1100 miles away. I am a little afraid of the far-reaching repercussions if they have a catastrophic data issue. Are there any tips i should sent to accompany their usb drives? They are pretty adamant about giving this a shot before I can get back there to walk them through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Well I would suggest letting them run the livecd/liveusb for awhile before doing the full install. Then they will know if everything is working correctly on their machine: sound, flash, video, etc. That way you will have most of the bases covered for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 You can set up the LiveUSB with persistance. If you are running Mint (or any other Ubuntu based distro) try this link. http://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-a-larger-than-4gb-casper-partition/ Also, make one for yourself. Then when there is an issue or just a question, you can boot yours and walk them through it. Mounting the internal hard drive as a data storage partition would also be advisable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Cookie, my husband is fairly computer illiterate. He is very adept at using WordPerfect for documents and Office/Excel for any database work but anything else is outside his comfort zone. He gets weak in the knees when I start pulling all the connectors off a computer to open it up and clean it out. From day 1, I got him to store all his data off the computer. (two copies) When he started, floppies were the storage media of choice. I told him, when his computer crashed, he could just take his floppy, put it in another computer (one of mine or the one they dumped in his office) and continue working. He taught math at two local universities, aside from his day job as a high school math teacher. If he needed to reference students' grades or tests and quizzes he was writing, he didn't miss a beat using a different computer. I have gotten him to use USB sticks but he is not completely weaned off his floppies. At least he has two copies or more of everything. He has gotten into the habit of emailing other members of associations he is involved in as keeper of membership info, copies of his membership databases so if something happens to us, others will not have to start back at square one and rebuild the databases. Get your parents into the habit of storing important data off the computer (two copies) so they never have catastrophic data loss. At minimum, tell them to store one copy of everything they do not want to lose on an external hard drive. Since neither of us downloads email, we've never lost any important emails. He also sends important emails as a CC to one of his other email addresses so he has two copies of those on different email servers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 (edited) I have two main "production" desktops and each one of them has an external USB drive where I back up my data. You can get a 500 GB Passport minidrive for less than $100 so it's well worth it. I have at least 5 backups of my digital photos on various drives and machines around here. If you have less than say 16 GB just get a couple of thumbdrives and use them to backup. The USB data backup was essential when I was having so many problems getting Mint 13 installed on my desktop here in the basement office. I really like the idea of making a persistent USB install for Mint. As far as being computer illiterate and using Linux, that is a great idea if you know somebody who can set it up for you. You have little chance of getting malware with Linux and unless you're a hard core gamer there's not much you can't do with it. Edited June 6, 2012 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookie Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Thanks for the replies. My Dad is the prime offender. He indiscriminately opens any email he gets, regardless of the sender. He will open the "Canadian Viagra" email and click the attachment with no thought as to the consequences of his actions. My uncle has to do a wipe and reinstall of Windows on my Dad's laptop 2-3 times a year. That is the main reason I am wanting to get him set up with Mint or something robust like it. It is exactly what he needs. Something full-featured and functional with little to no risk on the malware front. Amenditman, I am going to send him a persistent USB with mint 12 on it. Just so he can play around with it. But, for the installation, I am actually going to have to do it for him. Even though the install is simplicity itself, he will never figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Cookie My point is to use the persistant LiveUsb AS the operating system. No install required at his end. You do the work and send it to them. All they need to do is boot from USB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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