How to upgrade from LMDE2 Mate to LMDE3 Mate

[tlcmd]

Assistance, please.
I am currently running LMDE2 Mate on a quad core Athlon Chip in an HP computer with 12 Gigs of RAM and a 2 TB HDD partitioned with 500 Gigs to Windows 10 and the rest to Linux which I use 99+% of the time.
I have searched this forum and the LMDE2 forum and not found the way to upgrade from LMDE2 Mate to LMDE3 Mate. If it is there, I missed it, even using the search function.
Would someone either refer me to the correct upgrade site or give me the Mickey Mouse tiny step by step instructions to achieve this?

Yes, I have been running a Linus Mint distro for years, but still feel like a nooby with 5 thumbs on each hand despite my having completed 4 years of college and med school, served in the USN and ran my own medical practice for 30 years. Now you know why I went into internal medicine and not surgery: the thumbs.

In advance, Thank you greatly!!

tlcmd
Greensboro, N.C.

[zorzi]

Since there's no LMDE3 Mate but only LMDE3 Cinnamon, upgrade will be hard and risky.

The best thing to do would be a LMDE3 clean install, and then install Mate on the side of Cinnamon.

[tlcmd]

Zorzi, Thanks, but what is the best way to do this (LMDE2 Mate to LMDE3 Cinnamon) without loosing my data and programs from LMDE2 Mate?

I do have enough space on my HDD to install LMDE3 Cinnamon so should I burn the LMDE3 disc and install it using the partition manager to add it alongside LMDE2 Mate and then copy the contents of LMDE2 Mate into Cinnamon followed by a deletion of LMDE2 and a scan and deletion of where LMDE2 was after I make certain LMDE3 works?

I also have a 2 TB external HDD backup which I am using for files, not programs.

Appreciate the advise and would appreciate the instructions including amount of space to allow for the LMDE3 Cinnamon individual partitions (swap, home, etc)?

But will wait until Michael has completely cleared our area as power is out in parts of our city (Greensboro, N.C.) and has flickered here.

Have a good evening.

tlcmd

[zorzi]

Zorzi, Thanks, but what is the best way to do this (LMDE2 Mate to LMDE3 Cinnamon) without loosing my data and programs from LMDE2 Mate?

I do have enough space on my HDD to install LMDE3 Cinnamon so should I burn the LMDE3 disc and install it using the partition manager to add it alongside LMDE2 Mate and then copy the contents of LMDE2 Mate into Cinnamon followed by a deletion of LMDE2 and a scan and deletion of where LMDE2 was after I make certain LMDE3 works?

I also have a 2 TB external HDD backup which I am using for files, not programs.

Appreciate the advise and would appreciate the instructions including amount of space to allow for the LMDE3 Cinnamon individual partitions (swap, home, etc)?

But will wait until Michael has completely cleared our area as power is out in parts of our city (Greensboro, N.C.) and has flickered here.

Have a good evening.

tlcmd

Whatever you do, I suggest you make a backup of your personal datas/documents on an external HD. You can not transfer programs from LMDE2 to LMDE3. For a LMDE3 install, I suggest you create a 20GB root partition. For swap, you can check your current swap size. Maybe LMDE2 and LMDE3 can share the same home (and swap?), but it may alter configuration files and it's not recommended.

You may test LMDE3 with a live-usb session first. The main question is: Is Cinnamon working well with your harware ?

IMO, it will be harsh to install LMDE3, transfer data from LMDE2, then removing LMDE2, then resizing LMDE3 partitions... If LMDE3 test is successful, you should then make a (second) clean install, deleting LMDE2.

If I were you, I would make a clean install of LMDE3 directly.

[tlcmd]

Thanks. I was essentially planning to do that. I do have an old crossover program which I use for one program install. Hopefully I can salvage that. Otherwise all my stuff will back up on my HDD or I can move it to my Windows 10 and retreive it after the install of LMDE3.

ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS OR COMMENTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED>

THANK YOU VERY MUCH
TLCMD

[srq2625]

I would do a clean install. This is the process I would use (this assumes you have a separate /home partition):

1. Backup all your precious data to a seperate device
2. Make a list of all the programs you would like to have on the new system
3. Document all (to the best of your ability) all the important configuration changes and customizations you've made in your LMDE 2 install
4. Download the LMDE 3 .iso and burn it to either DVD or thumbdrive
5. Boot up the LMDE 3 Live
6. Mount the HDD, rename all the "home" folders. For example, if your user name was george, rename (mv) /home/george to /home/HoldGeorge
7. Install the LMDE 3 over top of the LMDE 2, using the /swap, /, and /home partitions. Your new user name can be the same as it was.
8. After the install completes, reboot the computer - removing the install media
9. Copy all user data (but not configurations) from /home/HoldGeorge to your new home folder
10. When you are sure you have all the data migrated to the new home folder, delete /home/HoldGeorge (rm -rf /home/HoldGeorge)
11. Using the notes made in step 2 and 3, install any programs and make any configuration/customization changes you would like
12. Enjoy your new LMDE 3 system

If you don't have a separate /home partition --- well, that's a whole different kettle of fish

[morgas]

I followed and took a shot at moving mate support into Cindy, well some of it worked good, but I didn't finish the test because I'm worried, What happens to Mate support after LMDE2 is shut down?

funny note, Ubuntu just included Mate into there family a few months ago, however the desktop is not really the same as our Mate so where to get support for it going forward?
Thanks.

[tdockery97]

Mate is not going away. It is just not in LMDE 3 by default. You can install the Mate desktop in LMDE 3 (because it is already available in Debian repositories), but it will be generic Mate from the Mate team and not Linux Mint Mate.