[plug] I killed Woody :(

[James Bromberger]

On Sat, Jan 19, 2002 at 07:36:55PM +0800, Sol wrote:
> >So now I am looking for tips from those who may know -
> >1.  Is it possible to save my packages? 
> 
> I can't say for sure, but you *may* be able to save the whole lot. The 
> tool for the job is Tom's Tiny Linux:

Or.... disk 1 of the Debian install set is actually called the 
"rescue disk". Funny name, huh? ;)

Stick it in, boot off it, then give it the root disk (root.bin) which 
is the root virtual filesystem. It will ask to configure your colour 
preferences (colo(u)r, mono), and keyboard, and then give you a menu. 
Ignore the recommedned and alternate steps; skip straigh to mounting 
your *existing* filesystems (eg, /dev/hda1 as /, /dev/hda2 as /usr, 
or whatever you had), and then near the bottom of the main menu, 
is "Execute a Shell". 

You can now whiz through your FS and copy stuff to backups before 
attempting any recovery, if you're worried.

> >2.  Recommended partitioning for a desktop machine with 4.5Gb to play 
> >with. 
> 
> Well, it's a matter of preference largely. I'd try to keep it fairly 
> simple, say 25MB /boot partition on hda1; 4.3GB / partition on hda5; and 
> $MB (where $= size of RAM) swap on hda6. But it depends on what your 
> doing really. If you're going to do heaps of stuff with databases or 
> mail you might want a separate /var, or you might want a separate /home. 
> This isn't really necessary for regular home users I shouldn't think.

Didn't we discuss this last week?  I agree with Sol, you probably dont 
need to worry if its just a personal use system. For me on my home 
system, I have directory sizes of:
	263 MB /var
	2.2 GB /usr
	28  GB /home (includes debian and debian-non-us mirrors)

Now, this can vary wildly. I had process accounting turned on, and /var 
shot up to 3 GB. If you don't clean out your apt file cache, then 
thats more space used in /var. My /usr has lots of packages installed; 
these numbers just give you a rough guide of sizes. 

> >3.  Recommended upgrade path potato -> woody, ie a fully working 
> >potato with X, then upgrade vs a potato base and upgrade from there? 
> 
> I've done the upgrade all the way to Sid (just out of curiosity really) 
> and have gone back to Potato (for now ;-) ), and my advice FWIW, is to 
> decide where you want to end up first. So assuming you want to end up at 
> Woody, install Potato and then don't waste too much time with 
> configuration. Infact, if you haven't got a high speed connection (or a 
> lot of patience) install the bare minimum that you want on your system 
> before upgrading. This will decrease the size of the download. It's time 
> to hack you system into shape only once you've got to Woody.

Or, for a faster upgrade, lug the machine to the UCC meetings. Some 
kind soul will help you get connected. There is an offical Debian 
mirror at UWA. 100 MBit backbone too. Either that, or next meeting you 
come to, ask people in the room: some people carry mirrors around 
*with* them (not me). ;)

 James

-- 
 James Bromberger <james_AT_rcpt.to> www.james.rcpt.to
 Australian Debian Conference: http://www.linux.org.au/conf/debiancon.html
 Remainder moved to http://www.james.rcpt.to/james/sig.html
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