[PLUG] Reinstall, yet save everything

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:26:13 -0700 (PDT)
Paul Heinlein <heinlein at madboa.com> dijo:

> On Fri, 23 Oct 2009, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> 
> > Then there's the issue of user configurations. Sure, config files 
> > for applications are in ~/, but what about the configurations for 
> > the desktop and for Ubuntu itself? And do those application config 
> > files include all the plugins, add-ons and extensions? Will Firefox 
> > remember the theme and plugins I have installed? Will Openoffice.org 
> > find my Zotero library so I can add a reference to a term paper?
> 
> The easiest way I've found to check this sort of thing is to create a 
> new user account on the machine, log into it, and see what works and 
> doesn't work.
> 
> It's amazing what problems will disappear once you have a clean home 
> directory. :-) It's also amazing what things don't work...
> 
> That doesn't fix all your problems, of course, but it'll give you a 
> good idea of what is functional and/or dysfunctional with your current 
> user-specific configurations and workarounds.

This was a good suggestion. Actually, I already had another user set
up, with just a standard Ubuntu desktop and nothing extra. I had
created this user years ago so I would have a way to log in just in
case something happened to my normal account.

I logged in to my alter ego and then went to set up the bluetooth
mouse. Amazingly, it connected and worked fine. Therefore, I must
conclude that my problems are with something in my normal account. 

The strange thing is that after logging out and back in as my real
self, the bluetooth mouse continues to work. Of course it would - the
bluetooth stuff is not a user thing. But previously as my real self it
was not working and I could not get it to connect. It was always
paired, and an hcitool cc command worked without error, but it just
failed to work. 

> > Of course, I will do a full backup beforehand. In fact, I will do it 
> > several times - to a hard disk, to DVDs, and again to the hard disk 
> > using a different backup strategy.
> 
> Perhaps $$ is really tight for you these days, but if it's not you can
> 
> a) buy an external enclosure for your current hard drive, and
> 
> b) buy a new hard drive to install your new OS.
> 
> Once you've got the new OS installed, then mount your old hard drive 
> and copy what you need to your new /etc, /home, or whatever.

I like this idea. One can always use a bigger hard drive.

I may do this, but first I have to shop for a hard drive compatible
with a Lenovo T61 - not just any 2.5 inch SATA drive will do; Lenovo
put some stuff in the BIOS that creates errors if non-Lenovo drives are
used. Yet there are some non-Lenovo drives that do work. I'll ask
around on the Thinkpad e-list.

I have a week before Karmic goes final, so there is time to think about
things and do some shopping.

I'm also considering going to straight Debian instead of Karmic. Other
than an occasional live CD I have never used any distro other than
Ubuntu 64-bit. Maybe it's time to expand my horizons. It would be
interesting to work with it for, say, a full week, installing all my
apps and configuring everything the way I want it. As long as I have no
pressing projects, this is as good a time as any.