Sunday, January 25, 2015

Trade Ubuntu for Linux Mint

I realized during the recent programming activities that my linux workstations are getting too old and out of date. One laptop was Ultimate Edition 2.6 based on Ubuntu 10.4 and the other was Ubuntu 12.10. I couldn't find software to install that matched the systems. And Ubuntu has obsoleted the 12.10 because it was not a 'long term support' (LTS) revision.

I have been becoming more disillusioned with Ubuntu with each revision. Being an old unix traditionalist has its disadvantage! And I don't want it to look/work like Windoz!

Checking around, I was recommended Linux Mint Mate and KDE. Both looked much better. They have some of the sys-admin changes from older Ubuntu that I didn't agree with, but at least not the newest ones.

BUT, the prospect of downloading the install DVD, all the updates and replacing all my favorite packages through my cell phone data link was daunting.

I found OSDisc.com and had the solution. They make a business of copying software to DVDs then mailing them out to people like me that have low network bandwidth. So I ordered the latest 'long term support (LTS)' Mint 17.1. I got the live install disc for the Mate desk top and the KDE desktop in 64bit. Also I got the entire 17.1 64 bit repository, 10 DVDs and about 76GB.




Shipping to the Philippines is almost as slow as the cell phone data connection! It took about 4 weeks for them to show up. When it did, I realized that I should have been backing both systems up so I could install immediately. Oh well, another day of coping and sorting 2 years worth of data on a 500GB and 5 years of data on a 320GB drive.

After backing up and deleting lots of useless  junk, I found I was able to completely clear one partition on my primary laptop. I proceeded to install Mate on this. This time I made /home and /Data separate mountable partitions so I will not have this level of backup problem next time. But since I saved the old system I will have to eventually finish coping the good stuff and delete the rest of the old system partition.

The next step was to create a local repository of the 10 DVDs. Instructions came on the first disk. Basically, copy all the DVDs to /data/repo/ with the provided script. Four hours later, I then had a repo that looks very much like the Ubuntu 14.4 64bit repo. Then install Apache2 and accept the default config so apt-get can access the repo files

Next change /etc/apt/sources.list to use this repo instead of the network:

deb [arch=amd64] file:///Data/repo/linuxmint rebecca main upstream import
deb [arch=amd64] file:///Data/repo/ubuntu trusty main restricted universe multiverse
deb [arch=amd64] file:///Data/repo/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb [arch=amd64] file:///Data/repo/ubuntu trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse
#deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 17.1 _Rebecca_ - Release amd64 20141126]/ trusty contrib main non-free


Then I updated and installed most of my applications. Over one hundred packages. Next I needed to access the repo from both laptops, so figure out how to access a local repo with apt-get. I found these guides:

http://www.unixmen.com/setup-local-repository-ubuntu-14-0413-1013-04-server/
https://www.packtpub.com/books/content/create-local-ubuntu-repository-using-apt-mirror-and-apt-cacher



But the first problem was that it has been so long that I forgot how to network the two laptops without wire or hubs etc. Since I connect my cell phone directly to my primary system, and "Never" connect the navigation computer to the INTERNET I didn't think I had any way. I had purchased a TP-Link 702N WiFi Router to try to hack with linux (with openwrt). I did have a way. It turns out I got the wrong model, it should have been the 703N. So I didn't hack it and it still works as an access point (AP mode). So picking out IP4 addresses and setting /etc/hosts up everywhere, I finally got there. Lots of sneaker-net till I had ssh and hosts and all working.

Then I converted the /etc/apt/sources.list on the second laptop to access the first repo, and then it was just install, update, and add the required packages.


deb [arch=amd64] http://Nav/Data/repo/linuxmint rebecca main upstream import
deb [arch=amd64] http://Nav/Data/repo/ubuntu trusty main restricted universe multiverse
deb [arch=amd64] http://Nav/Data/repo/ubuntu trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb [arch=amd64] http://Nav/Data/repo/ubuntu trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse
#deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 17.1 _Rebecca_ - Release amd64 20141126]/ trusty contrib main non-free


It is a little slow installing over wifi compared to the local repository, but much better than the Internet here.

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