JD Austin wrote:
> Lynn David Newton wrote:
>
>> kg> If it were me, I would put something newer than
>> kg> redhat 8 (which has long since been end-of-lifed
>> kg> by redhat) on the machine.
>>
>> Of course that's the ideal solution, and probably the
>> source of many of my problems, but I'm not in a
>> position to do that. The system in question is my
>> *only* Linux system, and I use it all day every day to
>> make my living on. If I try to install a new version on
>> the system and it fails to come up properly I will
>> effectively instantly unemploy myself.
>>
>> QUESTION 1: What are the chances that installing *any*
>> Linux distro on this system will go as smooth
>> as glass and allow me to get right back to
>> work?
>>
>> ANSWER 1: 99.999% likely to fail.
>>
>>
>>
> It depends on what you're going from/to. I just upgraded from RH9 to
> Fedora Core2 on my development server, absolutely no hitches.
> My RH9 server was just a stock install with patches though. It just
> depends. I would recommend the following:
> Either -> go buy an external USB drive, make a complete backup of
> anything important (just back up the whole thing to an image).
> Or ->buy a new drive, make your existing drive a slave, and install
> the new distro on the fresh drive.
>
> In a pinch you can use chroot to run things from the old drive.
>
> Just an idea.
>
>> QUESTION 2: What are the chances that installing *any*
>> Linux distro on this system with the
>> assistance of people at an Installfest will go
>> as smooth as glass and allow me to get right
>> back to work?
>>
>> ANSWER 2: 99.991% likely to fail.
>>
>>
>>
> Wow, you're a pessimistic fellow :)
> I'd be willing to help you personally to get it done.
>
>> Those odds aren't good enough.
>>
>>
>>
> Your odds are based on speculation.
>
>> Nonetheless, it's been my hope to install a new version
>> as soon as possible, probably by means of an
>> Installfest. Regretably, I am unable to get to one this
>> weekend. I'm targeting the one next month, and hope by
>> that time I will have archived everything important,
>> and made a list of all the other stuff I need to
>> install and/or re-configure.
>>
>>
>>
> I've never been to an installfest.. my schedule is always too limited :(
> Im sure other people on this list would be as willing to help you
> through it as I am
> with or without the installfest.
>
>> Traditionally, whenever I do an OS upgrade, the pieces
>> don't stop rolling for a couple of weeks.
>>
>> kg> by the time you fiddle around with getting the
>> kg> correct libraries on that machine in rh8, you
>> kg> will have probably spent the same amount of time
>> kg> it will have taken to back up your data, install
>> kg> a newer linux, restore your data.
>>
>>
>>
> That happens. I typically install apt for redhat, set it up, and simply
> do apt-get install ... for
> whatever I left out.
>
>> Not to mention the tons of other stuff I have on this
>> system that has been installed over the last couple of
>> years.
>>
>> kg> you might look into one of the distros which
>> kg> don't require that type of update, like gentoo or
>> kg> debian. you will be much happier in the end, with
>> kg> an easier to maintain system.
>>
>>
>>
> Great argument for a second drive. Then you could leave it alone until
> you're done.
>
>> I was planning on Debian. Not real familiar with
>> GenToo, other than I've heard positive things about it
>> from technically savy people.
>>
>>
>>
> I love Debian, but the installer still sucks.
> If they could install the hardware detection from Knoppix/whatever I
> wouldn't hesitate to load Debian.
> I ended up loading my old laptop with fedora core2, and then installing
> apt for redhat on it.
>
>> >> >> Greetings,
>> >> >> I've been out of town and not watching the list, so
>> >> maybe this has been discussed recently, but ...
>> >> >> I just downloaded the FireFox 1.0PR bundle, unwrapped
>> >> it, tried to install it, and as it tried to unwind it
>> >> spit out the message:
>> >> >> Fatal error [-618]: Couldn't open xpistub library
>> >> >> In fact, I do have four different iterations of
>> >> libxpistub.so on my sytem:
>> >> >> /usr/lib/mozilla-1.0.1/libxpistub.so
>> >> /usr/local/mozilla/libxpistub.so
>> >> /usr/local/netscape/libxpistub.so
>> >> /usr/local/mozilla1.2.1/libxpistub.so
>> >> >> but not what the installer is looking for.
>> >> >> I'm trying to install this on a Red Hat 8.0 system,
>> >> which is getting increasingly difficult to maintain.
>> >> >> There's no readme, no instructions of any kind, etc.
>> >> >> Just like the old days. Here I thought the days of
>> >> supposedly high quality projects delivering things that
>> >> are broken from the get-go or missing important pieces
>> >> were mostly behind us. Apparently not.
>> >> >> So ... does someone have a clue what I should do next?
>>
>>
>>
> Definately time to upgrade :(
>
> JD
>
I was thinking too that a new HDD would make the migration possible. In
my case, I ended up getting a new IDE controller too, as my MB (PII) was
too old to use all of 40G, in addition to using the newer DMA modes.
I've got a couple brand new 40G drives collecting dust. Interested in one?
--
-Eric 'shubes'
"There is no such thing as the People;
it is a collectivist myth.
There are only individual citizens
with individual wills
and individual purposes."
-William E. Simon (1927-2000),
Secretary of the Treasury (1974-1977)
"A Time For Truth" (1978), pg. 237
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