Need Help With Slightly Borked Debian Testing System

[Mark Phillips]

Brian,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I solved one problem - the messed up laptop keyboard. It seems the num lock
was engaged, but the light was not on to indicate that num lock was set.
Once I turned off num lock, the laptop keyboard works as it should.

apt-get -f install did nothing...it said all packages were uptodate.

Trying apt-get upgrade first.......

Mark
On Mar 4, 2014 10:36 AM, "Brian Cluff" <brian at snaptek.com> wrote:

> It sounds like your upgrade didn't finish and has left your computer
> broken.  I believe all you need to do is get your system to complete it's
> upgrade and all will be well again.
>
> I would definitely try using apt-get... try "apt-get -f install" to start
> and see if it will fix any of the missing packages.  Then follow that with
> and "apt-get dist-upgrade" to hopefully finish the upgrade.
>
> You might find that the dependencies are in a state that you will have to
> hand install and/or downgrade certain packages using dpkg to get the system
> back into a place where apt can pick up and finish the install. If you
> haven't done an apt-get clean or aptitude clean recently then you will
> likely find older and newer versions of packages in
> /var/cache/apt/archives/ have can be fed to dpkg.
>
> I also recommend ditching aptitude.  Years ago it looked like it was going
> to take over for apt but it never did.  In fact many of the utilities that
> switched to aptitude switched back to apt.  I've found that I tended to
> break systems quite often when I used aptitude but apt remained solid and
> has since picked up the majority of extra features that aptitude used to
> has.
>
> Brian
>
> On 03/03/2014 07:24 PM, Mark Phillips wrote:
>
>> I am running Debian testing on my laptop. I use my laptop in two
>> configurations - stand alone and with an external monitor and bluetooth
>> keyboard and mouse. Everything was working in that I could switch back
>> and forth as needed.
>>
>> I then had a need to write a bunch of documents/emails in German so I
>> tried to add a German keyboard mapping and dictionary to the system. I
>> was successful and could switch back and forth between German and
>> English in LibreOffice and Gmail using the external keyboard.
>>
>> I then ran an aptitude update and then an upgrade and the world collapsed.
>> * I no longer have gnome 3, but a fall back version of gnome 2.
>>
>> * I can type correctly with the external keyboard, but the keyboard on
>> the laptop is all messed up. The keys do not type what is printed on the
>> keys.
>>
>> * I don't have a German keyboard mapping any more.
>>
>> I googled for some solutions, ran some dpkg-reconfigures but I just
>> cannot get the laptop keyboard to work properly, nor get back to gnome
>> 3. When I run an aptitude update and then upgrade now, I get this
>>
>> # aptitude upgrade
>> Resolving dependencies...
>> open: 8922; closed: 14679; defer: 68; conflict: 194
>>
>> and the conflicts are never resolved - the numbers just keep changing
>> and the cpus are pegged at 100%.
>>
>> apt-get upgrade shows many packages to be upgraded, and does not report
>> any dependency issues.
>>
>> Should I try apt-get upgrade to see if it fixes the problem? How do I go
>> about fixing the keyboard and gnome 3 issues?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>
>>  ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.phxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-discuss/attachments/20140305/9bbc490c/attachment.html>