[Bradford] Linux Help Please!

Sun Jan 5 23:30:37 UTC 2014

If you are able to install it, you could use 'Synaptic Package Manager'.
That is what we all had to use in the earlier days before Ubuntu created
the 'Software Centre', I still use it sometimes when I'm doing something
that's not so straight forward. Synaptic, being a GUI,  does give you a
good idea what packages are available and you can do 'reinstalls' as well
as adding & removing software and repairing broken packages. The name of
'Synaptic' is 'synaptic-pkexec' and, once installed, resides in /usr/bin/.

Mint does use the Ubuntu repositories, as well as its own, but, as you say,
there is the Mint Debian edition. I think that is an insurance policy lest
they find it difficult to use Ubuntu at some time in the future. Atm
Canonical aren't happy about them using Ubuntu binaries for things like the
'Mint Box'.

Just remember, next time you do an install,  not go for the easy install,
but to put your Home directory, at least, on a separate partition - this
can all be taken care of during the install. Also, a swap partition at
least the size of RAM on your machine. If you do that you won't have all
this backing up to do as you'll just keep your home directory when you do
an reinstall.

I don't know how much you know about the configuration files etc. but there
are what I call 'dot' directories in your home directory. You can see them
in the terminal by typing 'ls -la' or by typing 'Ctrl H' in the Mint's Nemo
file manager (fork of Nautilus). The directory names are preceded by a '.'
.If you backup these files you can return them to a new install and have
all your application preferences restored.

Hopefully, that gives you a bit to go on with.

Brian

On 5 January 2014 23:05, David Bolton <david at nucleon.co.uk> wrote:

>  Many thanks Brian,
>
> This is v14.1 - which is still mainly based on Ubuntu repos, I think (they
> seem to be gradually moving towards vanilla Debian)
>
> But it does have apt too. I've tried using apt to install a new apt-get
> but that failed. I'll have another go when I've got time. Purging may well
> be necessary first - the command seems to be part of the "apt" collection
> too.
>
> But I need to do some more backing up before I do anything more
> drastic....  ;-)
>
> Dave
>
>
> On 05/01/14 21:27, Brian A wrote:
>
> Afaik the Ubuntu Software Centre uses apt-get. I would expect the Mint one
> to be similar - though I know that the GUI interface on Mint is different.
> Hence it will hang if, as you say, apt-get is not working.
> Sometimes it is best to uninstall packages and start again. In this case
> you need to 'apt-get purge' to get rid of the settings, as well as apt-get
> remove. If apt get has been corrupted that I'm not sure what you can do to
> get it back.
> While I am typing this there are probably others doing the same. You could
> see if 'aptitude' is there and try using that to do an install, but I think
> that was left out of the Ubuntu repos so it probably isn't in Mint either -
> but worth a try.
> You can also try 'dpkg PACKAGENAME' to reconfigure packages.
>
>  I don't know how you do your installs but it is wise to put your home
> folder on a separate partition. That way it is not much bother at all to
> reinstall and you still have all your settings. I tend to try stuff out on
> my working system instead of using VirtualBox - occasionally I've trashed
> the system and I just do a reinstall - it is hardly any trouble at all.
>
>
> On 5 January 2014 21:25, Brian A <bradlug at techchico.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Afaik the Ubuntu Software Centre uses apt-get. I would expect the Mint
>> one to be similar - though I know that the GUI interface on Mint is
>> different. Hence it will hang if, as you say, apt-get is not working.
>> Sometimes it is best to uninstall packages and start again. In this case
>> you need to 'apt-get purge' to get rid of the settings, as well as apt-get
>> remove. If apt get has been corrupted that I'm not sure what you can do to
>> get it back.
>> While I am typing this there are probably others doing the same. You
>> could see if 'aptitude' is there and try using that to do an install, but I
>> think that was left out of the Ubuntu repos so it probably isn't in Mint
>> either - but worth a try.
>> You can also try 'dpkg PACKAGENAME' to reconfigure packages.
>>
>>  I don't know how you do your installs but it is wise to put your home
>> folder on a separate partition. That way it is not much bother at all to
>> reinstall and you still have all your settings. I tend to try stuff out on
>> my working system instead of using VirtualBox - occasionally I've trashed
>> the system and I just do a reinstall - it is hardly any trouble at all.
>>
>>  Brian
>>
>>
>> On 5 January 2014 21:10, David Bolton <david at nucleon.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Folks,
>>>
>>> Hoping that you will be able to point me in the right direction ;-)
>>>
>>> I appear to have borked my Software Manager utility in Mint
>>> (mintinstall.py)
>>>
>>> I was trying to uninstall GnuPG - and during the process the program
>>> hung.  After cancelling, and restarting, it now always hangs when I select
>>> a package in order to see details/reviews.
>>>
>>> I have tried reinstalling mintinstall by using "sudo apt-get install
>>> mintinstall" - but I got the message:
>>>
>>> > sudo: apt-get: command not found
>>>
>>> Then I just typed: "apt-get" and got the bizarre message:
>>>
>>> > The program 'apt-get' is currently not installed. You can install it
>>> by typing:
>>> > sudo apt-get install apt
>>>
>>> So I type: "sudo apt-get install apt" - and get the message:
>>>
>>> > sudo: apt-get: command not found
>>>
>>> Searching my hard disc, I see that the apt-get script is still there...
>>>
>>> Before I keep going in ever decreasing circles, and disappear up my own
>>> backside, I'd like to know if there is a way out of this without
>>> reinstalling the complete OS from scratch.
>>>
>>> (ps. please don't just say "Mint? You don't want to use that! You should
>>> use <insert fave distro> instead! ;-)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Bradford mailing list
>>> Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk
>>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bradford
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
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