upgrading from Debian testing to LMDE

[brian.in.maine]

I was running Mint 9 GNOME when the time came to think about upgrading again. The idea of a rolling distro sounded appealing, but I tend to shy away from testing versions of software, so I switched from Mint 9 to plain old Debian Squeeze. I then found out I didn't much care for the new versions of either GNOME or KDE, so I ended up with XFCE.

Now as most of you probably know, but I didn't, Debian seems to lag a long way behind, at least in its stable incarnations, with regards to libraries. I quickly found I would have to regress two releases with FreePascal and Lazarus if I wanted to continue with Squeeze, and that wasn't the only problem. So, I ended up with an upgrade to Wheezy anyway, and of course I'm now regretting not having switched to LMDE in the first place.

So, if I wanted to change back to Mint again and install LMDE, is there any shortcut to that rather than downloading a DVD and doing yet another installation? Can I just change the repositories that Synaptic is checking? Not that I like jumping between distros all the time, but Debian's rather puritan attitude to software licences is a bit of a pain, I've had to install as much stuff from sources in a few months of running Debian as I did in a few years of running Mandriva and then Mint.

Thanks for any info.

Brian.

[whirly]

you 'should' be able to
what's so hard about the reinstall?
back up your home folder. but try this
sources for lmde
## Linuxmint standard
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

just plug 'em in then;
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
don't not do all three.first one updates sources, second one updates cache, third one updates to distribution
you would be wise to backup everything or you might have to reinstall anyway
i've never tried it this way, but i did update all the way to sid from it
i expect there would be conflicts between mint packs and debian packs for some things. conflicts
are you familiar with aptitude's talents? it would work for specific package suites better than the whole upgrade
good luck

[brian.in.maine]

you 'should' be able to
what's so hard about the reinstall?

I'm on a satellite internet connection, it's all I can get out here in the wilds. The only time I can download the installer is in the unmetered period between 0200 and 0700, the daily bandwidth allowance isn't sufficient to do otherwise. An upgrade via the repos I can do piecemeal at a civilised hour, even if it takes 2-3 days. And yes, I'm reasonably familiar with apt-get. I have a large backup drive available, so I'll do a backup of everything important and give it a whirl. It will take me a few days to report back...

[squeezy]

... so I switched from Mint 9 to plain old Debian Squeeze. I then found out I didn't much care for the new versions of either GNOME or KDE, so I ended up with XFCE.

This doesn't make much sense. The version of GNOME in Squeeze isn't much different than the version in Mint 9.

You could go ahead and change your repos to what whirly suggests but you'd end up with the same GNOME (minor point change) that's in Squeeze. XFCE jumps up to version 4.8 but has been a problematic upgrade for some.

It'll all be moot anyway in a few weeks when Incoming moves to Latest and you essentially wind up with Debian Wheezy, another close to 1 GB upgrade, with GNOME 3 and its vastly different Shell and Classic environments. XFCE stays at v4.8 with minor point changes again. I'd bite the bullet and change to the Incoming repos so you only have to do the major upgrade once.

You're in a tough spot now. Good luck.

BTW, have you tried using a download manager that you can start/stop/resume so you can download a new DVD image during your open periods?

[brian.in.maine]

... so I switched from Mint 9 to plain old Debian Squeeze. I then found out I didn't much care for the new versions of either GNOME or KDE, so I ended up with XFCE.

This doesn't make much sense. The version of GNOME in Squeeze isn't much different than the version in Mint 9.

I'm at a loss to explain it, then, and obviously I can't go back to give you specific examples of what I thought was different. In any case, I'm sticking with XFCE, I like it far more than GNOME.

You could go ahead and change your repos to what whirly suggests but you'd end up with the same GNOME (minor point change) that's in Squeeze. XFCE jumps up to version 4.8 but has been a problematic upgrade for some.

It'll all be moot anyway in a few weeks when Incoming moves to Latest and you essentially wind up with Debian Wheezy, another close to 1 GB upgrade, with GNOME 3 and its vastly different Shell and Classic environments. XFCE stays at v4.8 with minor point changes again. I'd bite the bullet and change to the Incoming repos so you only have to do the major upgrade once.

You're in a tough spot now. Good luck.

I can give it a try. I'm certainly sticking with XFCE, as above, and if all else fails I still have the plain Debian DVD I installed from.

BTW, have you tried using a download manager that you can start/stop/resume so you can download a new DVD image during your open periods?

The one that Hughes says will work with their system is Windows only, and it won't run via WINE, I tried it.

If I can find one that can run totally automated so that I can just schedule it to kick off at around 2:05, as the Hughes one will, that would be very useful.

[squeezy]

If I can find one that can run totally automated so that I can just schedule it to kick off at around 2:05, as the Hughes one will, that would be very useful.

You already have one installed. You can run wget from a cron job to start/resume a download.

http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/

http://freshtutorial.com/wget-command-tutorial-linux/

[brian.in.maine]

If I can find one that can run totally automated so that I can just schedule it to kick off at around 2:05, as the Hughes one will, that would be very useful.

You already have one installed. You can run wget from a cron job to start/resume a download.

http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/

http://freshtutorial.com/wget-command-tutorial-linux/

OK, thanks. I'll take a look.

[sdibaja]

It'll all be moot anyway in a few weeks when Incoming moves to Latest and you essentially wind up with Debian Wheezy, another close to 1 GB upgrade, with GNOME 3 and its vastly different Shell and Classic environments.

I want to avoid the move to Gnome 3. I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. How do I do that?
I am running LMDE Gnome now.
Thanks

PS: Yes, I am familiar with Gnome 3 and XFCE and Unity and KDE... I do not like them at all.

[diazepan11]

I want to avoid the move to Gnome 3. I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. How do I do that?
I am running LMDE Gnome now.
Thanks

PS: Yes, I am familiar with Gnome 3 and XFCE and Unity and KDE... I do not like them at all.

Install MATE.

[sdibaja]

I want to avoid the move to Gnome 3. I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. How do I do that?
I am running LMDE Gnome now.
Thanks

PS: Yes, I am familiar with Gnome 3 and XFCE and Unity and KDE... I do not like them at all.

Install MATE.

Thanks for the idea.
Mate does not have the functionality I now have with Gnome 2.
Perhaps Mate or Cinnamon or Gnome 3 will mature into something that I consider usable in my working environment, I would rather wait.

I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. Is that possible with LMDE?

Thanks

[squeezy]

I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. Is that possible with LMDE?

Just don't update at all

Or, go with the LMDE-Squeeze setup.

[sdibaja]

I prefer to stay with Gnome 2. Is that possible with LMDE?

Just don't update at all

Or, go with the LMDE-Squeeze setup.

Thanks! I was not aware of the LMDE-Squeeze option.
I will go that way till the dust settles.

thanks again, Peter