[PLUG] Is it wise to add other DEs once Ubuntu 12.04 is installed?

[Word Wizard]

On 11/24/2012 02:06 PM, Dale Snell wrote:
> On Sat, 24 Nov 2012 13:39:27 -0800
> C W <elcaseti at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Is it wise to add other DEs once Ubuntu 12.04 is installed?
>>
>> Hey Everybody,
>>
>> I have a friend who installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on his work desktop PC.
>> He's spent the last month or more getting his PC set up the way he
>> likes it.  The problem is, he's having problems with Firefox that I'm
>> not having on KDE Mint 13 LTS.  Also, he's not liking Unity, in
>> general.  He'd like to add Kubuntu desktop, or another DE.  He's
>> concerned that this might make things more likely to break in the
>> long run.  He might be right about that.  He & I both like to err on
>> the side of caution & stability, using only LTS releases, & sticking
>> with an install for years, putting a lot of time & effort into
>> setting up the computer just the way each one of us likes it.  In
>> other words, not the popular GNU/Linux geek bleeding edge approach.
>> What do you all think?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Elcaset
>
If you're going to experiment with adding additional desktops or window 
managers (or even new applications that require extensive libs or other 
changes to your existing system) I find it helpful to back up my 
existing system first. On a regular basis, even if I make no significant 
changes to my installation. I use the command line utility dd to make an 
image file of the disk partition containing the system I want to back 
up, along with that hard drive's partition table. Thus:

dd if=/dev/sda of=Ubuntu.boot.mbr bs=512 count=1  #(for the partition table)

dd if=/dev/sda1 of=Ubuntu.img  #(for the partition containing my main 
system)

I keep my HOME directory on a separate partition of that first hard 
drive as well as reserving two other partitions of equal size to the 
first partition on that drive (a WD 120 gig Sata). That way I have two 
extra partitions to use to test new distros as they come along. All 
three installations can use the same HOME directory and files. If I need 
to remove either a distro being tested or restore the main system after 
I screwed something up, I have a known working copy of my everyday 
working system ready to reinstall simply by reversing the dd command thus:

dd if=Ubuntu.img of=/dev/sda1

Keeping the backed up image on a separate physical drive (in my case a 
250 gig WD Sata) also keeps it safe if and when that first hard drive 
goes poof. The above dd commands are predicated on my using a USB or DVD 
live system to log onto that 250 gig WD, which contains the image files.

Hope some or this helps.