It typically helps....

[ssurgul]

...to RTFM.  Or in this case, the release notes. 

I tried to update my existing SuSE 9.0 Pro install up to the 9.1, by their upgrade in place tools.  This failed.  In a big way.  Well, at least it failed for a goofball, psuedo-Linux guy like me.  The kernel upgraded no problem, but X died, and many of the installed tools died too.  Not good, and I had no idea how to get them back.  So, having forseen these problems, I kept all the Linux stuff on its own partition, so it could be readily deleted and reinstalled.

The format and reinstall seemed to happen just fine, but I was trying to use XFS, since Reiser (the default FS) had given me no end of happy surprises when I upgraded the server last time.  But now, it killed XP and the boot partition.  This caused a great deal of rebuilding time when chkdsk ran automatically on an XP reinstall.  And, I STILL couldn't get the GRUB loader to do its magic of handling dual booting boxes.

Come to find out that there was a problem with XFS and the latest kernel that happened in 9.1.  This is what caused all the directory problems on drives other than C.  GREEEAAAAAT.  So now it's back to Reiser, and hope that now it's starting to develop a slightly better implementation.  Also, found out that GRUB has a new and exciting problem whereby it fails to configure the loader correctly when Windows resides on a partition/drive that exceeds 8GB.  At least there were fixes for both issues, once I'd read through all the read me stuff and the knowledge base on their website.

The moral of the story:  Don't assume any company has fixed and retained the correct fixes to known problems.  No matter how cool they were/are, there are always chances for fuckups that are highly unexpected.  And thus, it always, always pays to read the readme files before putzing with new, shiny code.

Comments

[hollud.livejournal.com]

If you're a goofball, then I'm a noob...

I have NO idea what you've just said.

Zero. Zilch. Ka-ching. Nada. Nothing. Nope. Empty tank. No (geek talk) 'ball' catched.

[foxxfire.livejournal.com]

Add another noob to that O.o

And the linux folk wonder why it's not as popular /:) Once you can just click 'install' and have it go, then talk to the populace :)

[hollud.livejournal.com]

Well, I tried installing Red Hat, but that was a long time ago. It went fairly well (considering I'm a Windows and Mac geek). I did install Mandrake onto my iMac and it ran susceptibly well, after a couple of reinstalls.

Ooo... Any ideas on what I should put in a Pentium 166 box with an 8 Gb hard disk with about 40+ megs of ram, Ssurgul? I need to resurrect my 7 year old box instead of letting it linger in the corner collecting dust bunnies as pets.

[ssurgul.livejournal.com]

Actually, any of the mainstream Linux distros will work. I still highly recommend SuSE, despite these little adventures with installs, because if you're doing a 'basic' install on your own, and not trying to piggyback anything else on the box, it will work flawlessly with the install the first time out, with the defaults and perhaps a few other installs for programs to enhance what you can and can't do.

What are you wanting to do with the second computer? A network filer/server/firewall? A development box? An excuse to not donate/toss it in the trash? :)

[hollud.livejournal.com]

Well... I still don't know. But I'm planning to turn it into a web box. You see, I'm doing a web site for my school and I hope they'll give me web space. If they don't, I'm going to see if I can suggest whether or not I can sort of donate my box to the school and ask them to hook it up into the main network and give it a little domain of its own.

I know 8GB is not a lot of space, and neither is the 48 megs of RAM, but it's a start. And even though its super basic, I think it should be able to pull it off.

Besides, the web site I'm doing is just REAL basic. Load photos, load text, no funky animations or Javascripts to turn the world upside-down.

[ssurgul.livejournal.com]

Well, if I'd been ready to just keep 9.0, it was actually incredibly stable, as most Linux is. The biggest difference is the amount of bloatcode you need to deal with, which has one very key enhancement over Linux: the registry, where it's MUCH easier to keep track of other code installs that might be dependencies for certain programs and such. Like putting in development tools that need a Java install somewhere to run. In Linux, it's a lot less convenient to install both. Once configured, it's all good to go, and such. But Windows is definitely all over being free, easy, and happy to go on direct installs.

[ssurgul.livejournal.com]

See my replies to Hollud, little housefoxx. :)

[ssurgul.livejournal.com]

Ummmmm, ok....

XFS and ReiserFS are file systems, that is, the format data is stored on the physical hard drives. XFS is a derivative of Sun's data storage format, and Reiser is one that has been under development for Linux specifically, for a variety of reasons that will likely be even more confusing. :)

GRUB is a boot loader, which means it is what the system loads first, before any operating systems are loaded. It's what tells the system where to look for the operating systems (Linux, Windows, etc.) and where to load them. It's the new default loader most Linux installs are using.