Ubuntu 7.1 to Mint

[cutiger95]

Is there a way to convert an Ubuntu box over to a Mint box without doing a complete install from the live cd's. I have looked on the Ubuntu site and on this forum but evidently am not bright enough to hit the right keywords for that task.

If there is please let me know. I don't like having two different boot distro's. I have tried geubuntu, xubuntu, and a couple other derivatives. But now I would like to convert my network workhorse over and don't won't to deal with locating all the printer drivers, scanner drivers, and other pains that will come with a totally fresh install.

Thanks for your help ahead of time, and I am already running Mint on my laptop. Now if I could just get shutterfly to cooperate my wife would run it on hers.

[bradodo]

Hello! Just to clarify.... are you hoping to do a sort of pseudo "update" of your Ubuntu box to change the system to Mint without losing all of your settings/drivers/etc... ?

[cutiger95]

Exactly I want to keep all the settings, emails, etc.

[bradodo]

Sorry, I cannot give you a definitive answer at the moment on how to do something like that, or if it is even possible without having to do some sort of tweaking post-install to get your setup back to how it was! - I'll try to do some research too and post back soon ..... Hopefully some other forum members may have a better idea how closely Mint 4 system/base is related to Ubuntu 7.1. I know you want to save time and heartburn but a clean install will probably be a lot more stable, and you may spend even longer trying to iron out problems with a meshed operating system!

[MagnusB]

I doubt this is possible. Your emails is easy to backup, the trouble being that Mint use Thunderbird while Ubuntu use evolution, so the best option is to store them as html or txt. Settings are most likely non transfreable. You could use FEBE to backup Firefox settings and extension..

[cutiger95]

Thanks guys, I will let you know if I figure it out.

My laptop is now totally Minty and awesome. The biggest thing that I have had to do with it is all the firefox tweaks and speeding it up. Making a few little boolean changes from false to true makes my system smoke. but it has taken me better than two days to get it to this point.

So in the end if there isn't a proven conversion I'll just stick with the tried and true and blow away the current install of ubuntu and create effectively a Minty server.

Mint just works and I love it.

[bradodo]

sorry cutiger, I haven't found a way to do what you were hoping but I'll keep my eyes peeled and post if I do. I totally agree with you, Mint is an awesome operating system - I tried it at the beginning of December (admist trying various other Linux distros) and time & time again it outshone the others - I love tweaking/trying stuff with linux but Mint is great because there are SO many things included & ready to go (mintinstall, mintupdate, in fact all minty apps/config tools, encrypted DVD playback, Firefox plug-ins/codecs, ENVY driver installer & the list goes on... You know, the bare essentials.. ).
All the best

[cmost]

To clarify guys, while Linux Mint 4.0 is Ubuntu 7.10 compatible it is NOT Ubuntu 7.10. There seems to be a misconception that Linux Mint is little more than Ubuntu with some different defaults and a few Minty tools thrown on top. Not so. Linux Mint more or less forked from Ubuntu at Edgy Eft (Ubuntu 6.10) on which all subsequent Mint editions have been based (albeit with heavy tweaking.) (Please, Mint devs, correct me if I'm mistaken.) Much is taken from each Ubuntu release since Edgy to update Mint and maintain compatibility with the current Ubuntu repositories. It's probably possible to "mintify" a stock Ubuntu Gutsy desktop by adding the Mint repositories and installing the correct themes, custom mint tools, etc. but doing so does not magically create Linux Mint 4.0. If you want Linux Mint, my advice would be to backup your home directory (Clem just released a tool, mintbackup for this very purpose) and install Linux Mint.

As for the comment by another user about Mint's Thunderbird posing some difficulty versus Ubuntu's Evolution...that's not an obstacle. Nothing prevents users from installing and using Evolution in Mint. (That's what I do!)

[cutiger95]

Thanks,

That is exactly what I wound up doing. I simply saved the home directory to a second harddrive and installed Mint on the sytsem. It is working spectacularly by the way. I have also Macified my laptop with the Mint engine effectively behind it. Mint simply works most places that Ubuntu does not.

Thanks to Clem for all of the work, I love it and am truly glad that I found it.