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migrating from Debian (stable)

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:06 pm
by RJVB
Hello,

New here, registered to get some feedback about Linux Mint before pulling the plug and installing it (or not ;) )

I have a Debian stable system running under VirtualBox, and looking to migrate to either testing or experimental. Linux Mint sounds very interesting (and has an appealing colour scheme ... no blue in sight! ^^); how possible would it be to migrate my current system? The big question with updates is always how customisations and the like will come across, so if I could just install over my current system and preserve my accounts (or something similar) that’d be great. I've looked at the updating guide, should I just build the Mint Backup tool on my system and use that? (BTW, does that backup tool also back up 'non customisation' system settings like for internet?)

Also, is there any place here to get help installing proprietary drivers (in light of installing/cloning to a netbook with an AMD chipset)? If I need those, am I more or less obliged to give up on the idea of using the Debian Edition?

Thanks in advance,
René

Re: migrating from Debian (stable)

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:27 pm
by titetanium
Hi,

I had the same idea with Debian squeeze from another laptop to a new laptop. Ran Linux Mint 12 LXDE and loved it. Wanted to install it but didn't want ubuntu packages mucking up the works.... Trust me, it's not worth the headache doing that. Instead, I downloaded LMDE xfce version which was ok but it has debian testing which I wanted. Didn't quite strike my fancy the way Mint 12 LXDE did, and didn't want the hassle of ripping out xfce to install lxde in it's place. So I did this instead:
* Preparation step if u want to make it as close to Linux Mint 12 LXDE from Debian: Boot Mint 12 LXDE, and run dpkg --get-selections > apps.txt and copy/paste to a flashdrive...u'll need this with some edits.
1) Install debian squeeze using netinstall cd. - the installer from the testing version was broken when installing base packages...there's a bug report on that.
2) Change sources.list to point to debian wheezy or testing, I chose wheezy because I want to stabilize my system till all the bugs are worked out.
3) Aptitude update && Aptitude upgrade
4) Edit sources.list again and added Linux Mint and Mate repos
5) Aptitude update
6) Copy apps.txt to ur home folder and run dpkg --set-selections in ur console. If ur not familiar with working from the console, this how to is gonna be frustrating...
7) Some apps will not be available or broken, they can be fixed by removing them.. I use aptitude and remove them 1 by 1 till there are no broken packages left. Aptitude is perfect for this since u can see how everything links together if u know what ur doing.
8) Some of the packages that aren't available can be downloaded from the Mint website packages.linuxmint.com and installed manually. I've installed mint-artwork-lxde this way.
9) Log in and start tweaking, till everything looks Minty.

Whew! if I missed a step somewhere, let me know and I will add to this as I go. I left out some details only because I wanted to show what I did.

Re: migrating from Debian (stable)

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:05 pm
by RJVB
Heh, thanks, I can see how this is going to be a nice rainy sunday afternoon project :)
I've made preparations on my VM to follow this 'tutorial' - Mint Debian Latest sounds better than what I hear about testing (wheezy).
(I actually launched the update but cancelled when the duration estimation approached 5h)