LMDE install and updates

[RayT]

Hi all,

Just installed LMDE(Xfce) on a dell Latitude D505
1.3Ghz 512Ram Installed with no problems, found all hardware. so all in all very good.

Did get the Login screen thing on the Live-DVD which made me laugh...
but after a bit of searching found, username "mint" with no password works.

One small non'ish-issue,, as it first starts the install there was a quote that it would take roughly 10 minutes to install.. it actually took over 40 minutes!
Then after the install i thought i better see if there are any updates. 1118 updates (880MB) , I have been watching it update for over 2 hours now and it's still going.
Is this normal ? i only ask as i have in the past few weeks converted a few friends to try Xubuntu(which i also run) and the install was over and updated easy within an hour.

Dont get me wrong i'm not complaining, it takes as long as it takes! but maybe best to remove the 10 minute statement, as had i have known it was going to take over 3 hours i most likely would have left it for the weekend.

Anyways thanks to the Dev team for this edition, i look foward to seeing how she runs, once shes finished !!

[viking777]

@RayT.

I don't have a Mint DVD of any sort at the moment, so I can't try it out, but I never remember seeing a login prompt on any of the ones I have used over the years so I don't know how that happened.

As for the number of updates then yes, this is normal. LMDE is a rolling release and therefore collects far more updates than the point release of Mint Main. Also the latest iso is now 7 months old, so that number of updates is not at all unusual.

BTW I moved your post into the LMDE section as that is what it relates to.

Hope it works when you finally finish those updates!

[RayT]

@RayT.

I don't have a Mint DVD of any sort at the moment, so I can't try it out, but I never remember seeing a login prompt on any of the ones I have used over the years so I don't know how that happened.

As for the number of updates then yes, this is normal. LMDE is a rolling release and therefore collects far more updates than the point release of Mint Main. Also the latest iso is now 7 months old, so that number of updates is not at all unusual.

BTW I moved your post into the LMDE section as that is what it relates to.

Hope it works when you finally finish those updates!

Hi viking777,

Seems the login thing is a bug, read the answer on one of the intro pages on here

7 Months of updates Eh!! that would makes sense why there was 1118 of them!

Sorry about posting in the wrong forum!! thought it was in the right one, my bad

Chuffed as nuts with the system as a whole !! looks good, boots quick and does exactly what i want !!
There is a few things i want to change/bug fix, but customization and playing is what its all about..

One quick question, if i install LMDE on my other machine, can i transfer the updates over? save me downloading them again?

Anyways Thanks for the Info, looking forward to playing some more !!
Till Ron Ray!

[viking777]

One quick question, if i install LMDE on my other machine, can i transfer the updates over? save me downloading them again?

Yes of course, they will be in /var/cache/apt/archives. You can either copy them from within the folder or just copy over the whole folder to the other machine.

The two machines must be the same architecture though (ie both 32bit or both 64bit).

[RayT]

Cheers Viking777

Yep there both old 32bit machines so all's good!!

Thank you!!

[lewyssmith]

Might as well use this live thread to air some installation issues.
* That enigmatic login screen from the live CD was a pain. Someone said it was a bug. BTAIM The need to dig around in the forums for the answer is silly, and would certainly make many newbies throw the DVD and try something else.

* A bad experience with the latest updates, which killed my existing installation, led me to have to re-install; with a decision to mount /var on a spare partition on a *different* disc. The installation confines itself to *one chosen disc only*, so I could not achieve the /var idea. (It is a real pain to crack subsequently). Clearly install needs to offer all available discs & their partitions.

* I need to specifiy the UID of the declared user, because of sharing data between several Linux's. No opportunty to do so - it should be possible; and not evident how to do so subsequently.
FWIW you have to log in as root which takes the normal user password(!) to be able to usermod the user.

Yes, the installation takes *hours*, and appears to hang forever on 'localising Firefox & Thunderbird' of all things, making you think it has crashed. You need to leave it, leave it, go & mend the car or whatever. I also do not complain, but this enormous time should be pre-warned.

Linux Mint Debian/XFCE quickly became my favourite (desktop niggles apart). But experience with many Linux's has taught me that huge updates nearly always trash the system, never mind taking hours & hours. Don't do them all at once. Will there be a re-issue of the base sytem one day? I infer from other threads: when the current Debian 'Testing' branch is frozen.

Lewis Smith

[seppalta]

One quick question, if i install LMDE on my other machine, can i transfer the updates over? save me downloading them again?

An alternative is to make a remastersys .iso of your installed system and then burn it to a disk. The disk can be then used to install the system (already updated) to any computer any time in the future. See section 12 in http://lxlinux.com/debian.html for setting up remastersys.

[RayT]

An alternative is to make a remastersys .iso of your installed system and then burn it to a disk. The disk can be then used to install the system (already updated) to any computer any time in the future. See section 12 in http://lxlinux.com/debian.html for setting up remastersys.

You STAR !!

that sounds very very good idea !! the iso image is only 1.2 gig on a DVD anyway, so i have loads of room to add the updates.

Thank you very much for the suggestion and link!