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I have questions (for one of my machines, running ~amd64) whether it |
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is worth it to update/upgrade or whether to reinstall from scratch. |
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Another machine that melted down three months ago is being rebuilt |
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with a new motherboard, and new technology; I am installing from |
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scratch for obvious reasons in this case; but I would like to solicit |
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comments about my proposal to use only a straight stable version. |
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I'll try to be brief, but I beg in advance the indulgence of the list |
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for an overlength posting. And I apologize for going over territory |
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once again that has been covered elsewhere. |
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My ~amd64 machine has an extremely large number of packages, many of |
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them for multimedia viewing, dvd burning, editing dvds, graphics, |
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latex---a large variety of applications many of them which can be used |
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simultaneously at any given time. The system is amazing, and I |
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suspect that any other distro would fall over under this diversity of |
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processes. In particular, I have had good success editing videos with |
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avidemux---but only with the most up to date overlay! The machine has |
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gotten tangled into a knot that seems to be almost impossible to get |
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all the way up to date at one time. At least for me. I received |
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amazingly clear and lucid advice on how to get up to date, upgrade the |
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compiler, and rebuild, revdep-rebuild, etc., etc.; but with my |
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unreliable connectivity over the summer, I was unable to get the |
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machine to the absolutely clean state to start that process. |
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It took a tremendous about of time to setup all of these packages; |
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maintainence of the system also demands not only a fast network |
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connection, but also a lot of time. It's not going to be easy to |
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reinstall this system in it's current form. Perhaps it's necessary, |
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however. The usual advice about updating is something like "it isn't |
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necessary; there is no such thing as versions with Gentoo". But with |
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at least three major upgrade bugs to overcome (xorg-x11 / |
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nvidia-drivers; compiler upgrades; revdep-rebuild failures; changes in |
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network administration, to name a few issues) I wonder whether it |
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isn't just as easy to install afresh. |
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Because my time is taken up with teaching and leftover time should be |
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spent on science, I don't have unlimited time for system maintainence |
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Because one of my machines melted down in June, I am preparing to |
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reinstall Gentoo. My connectivity has been sporadic over the summer; |
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maybe it's improving; we might get a DSL soon at home. My home |
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machine was installed and maintained almost exclusively over a dialup |
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connection. |
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-- |
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Alan Davis, Kagman High School, Saipan lngndvs@×××××.com 1-670-256-2043 |
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|
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I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I |
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must share it with other people who like it. |
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--------Richard Stallman |
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-- |
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gentoo-user@g.o mailing list |
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