summary: My old laptop is up-to-date on LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), with many add-on APT packages. I'm now qualifying a new laptop, from a different vendor, on which I have installed LMDE from live USB. How best/easiest to transfer the packages from the first laptop to the second, without causing (e.g.) driver problems? (And please lemme know soonest, since I have much acceptance testing to do but can't return for refund after 2 Dec 2011.)
details: I have a 2-year-old laptop (call it "laptop_0") from one vendor. It has served me well, but the battery is shot, the HD makes ominous intermittent clicking noises, it's no longer SOTA, and in any case I could use a backup laptop. This week my university put some quite high-powered laptops on clearance for a good price, so I'm evaluating one (call it "laptop_1"). I can return it by Friday (2 Dec) for full refund. I regularly backup my packages on laptop_0 using a script that * copies /etc/apt/sources.list to a designated backup directory * copies /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ to the backup directory * redirects `dpkg --get-selections` to a file in the backup directory I have in the past restored my packages from laptop_0 to laptop_0 (e.g., after ubuntu upgrades) with a script that reverses the above process: * restores /etc/apt/sources.list from the backup directory * restores /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ from the backup directory * redirects the backed-up package list to `dpkg --set-selections` * apt-get install -y dselect * dselect update * apt-get dselect-upgrade * aptitude update I installed 64bit LMDE 201109 Gnome http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php from live USB (using unetbootin) on laptop_1 without difficulty. laptop_1 has some problems with LMDE, e.g., - it hangs if I try to suspend with a USB drive attached (but it sleeps/restores normally otherwise - hibernation fails, i.e., instead of restoring it just reboots (but so does laptop_0) Other than that :-) it seems worth the price, but I've done relatively little testing (e.g., power management, DVD and stream playing). To do more a more substantial comparison I need to get roughly the same packages installed on both boxes. (Particularly I want to benchmark building and running a scientific model I help develop.) Unfortunately there are important differences between the two (though both are 64bit Intel with NVIDIA). I noticed this the hard way when I attempted to "restore" (using the second procedure above) the packages from laptop_0 onto laptop_1: laptop_1 booted, but then put up a crippled GINA (the graphical login screen) into which I could not type (the keyboard was not working, though the mouse was). Fortunately I just rebooted and reinstalled LMDE (which took all of 10 minutes--one suspects Windows will never install that quickly :-) and laptop_1 is again functional. So obviously my current package-restore procedure only works to restore onto on the same device from which the packages were backed up. I'm wondering, how best to do package-transfer? E.g., can I script a procedure that is smart enough to not transfer inappropriate packages (e.g., those causing driver conflicts)? Alternatively, I need to know (more-or-less) or determine what not to transfer, so I can edit my package list by hand (before running the package-restore script), or otherwise human-run the process (hopefully with some tool automation). Or is it time for Something Completely Different? What do you believe is the best way to transfer packages between non-identical devices? Please lemme know soonest--I can't return laptop_1 for full refund after 2 Dec 2011. TIA, Tom Roche <tom_ro...@pobox.com> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/87ehwpbulu....@pobox.com
