Salamandra Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Hi to everyone. I am currently using Mandrake 9.2 but recently I downloaded Mandrake10-RC1 from a ftp mirror and made an upgrade. BUT everything was a mess then. I got no sounds, all the audio software (Xmms, Totem, etc) just freezed when trying to listen to some mp3 files and I got a crash using OpenOffice too. I had to even install my PS/2 wheel mouse manually (using MouseDrake) as Mandrake 10 couldn't properly configure it. My winmodem (Intel HAM v.92) didn't work with this version neither. As I was experimenting I decided to start again but this time I chose "Install". This time I got the Mandrake sound when loading KDE. BUT when trying to listen some mp3 files all the audio software crashed again and I couldn't hear the KDE music anymore. The system recognized my mainboard sound card "ICH4 845G/GL Chipset AC'97 Audio Controller" but no sounds even when playing games... I must say the this version works faster than 9.2. For example the Windows partitions load faster, the file listings load faster and the icons look better. Probably because Mandrake 10 is still in beta stage all this is happening. I hope they fix it. Really. So, I have a question: Does the "upgrade" option really works? For "upgrade" I understand that will improve a system, keeping the settings and hardware that is currently perfectly working. I want to hear your comments please. Specially about the upgrade option when installing Mandrake. Thank you very much. Salamandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 In my opinion, upgrade only works if you have a stock install with no customizations and no rpm's not found on the Mandrake cd's. I always back up and do a fresh install, never overwriting my /home partition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salamandra Posted March 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Probably you are right. But my system just had a few changes in Kde and the winmodem driver. Besides that all software included were the ones included with the download distribution. When Mandrake 10 is released I will try to do an upgrade first and if everything is messed up again I will have to do a clean install. I will try not to overwrite my /home partition (but I don't know how to do that yet . I should do a research on that). And when Mandy 10 is released I hope the problems with the audio software are fixed (or it has to do with my hardware???). Thank you very much, Salamandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylotan Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 For what little it's worth, I found that even going from 9.0 to 9.2 broke things; Konsole has disappeared for instance! And the 'Mandrake Control Center' button on my menu has stopped working despite that having come as standard in 9.0. The main thing for me is that XFree86 stopped working, although I know this happened as of 9.1 rather than 9.2. To be honest, I think that an upgrade is probably a great idea if you're knowledgeable enough to be able to patch up the little inconsistencies that arise. In future I think I will stick to fresh installations, while preserving /home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 only upgrade if you want to test it to see if you're in the unknowing 5%, have lots of time to kill, and want to end up do a clean install. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salamandra Posted March 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Thanks to everyone for replying. After reading the posts I have to conclude that Mandrake "Update" should be called something else as it doesn't really work. Hope they improve it in Mandrake 10. Let's wait... Salamandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 If you have few packages installed, upgrade tends to work. If things are not ok, first reinstall, if then still not ok, complain and hunt bugs. The upgrade function can work, but it is much slower (since all dependencies have to get sorted out) and in the end, you don't know if you would get a better experience with just a clean install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 I think if it was labelled 'Attempt to Upgrade' it would be more accurate. I havent tried a pure Mandrake UPGRADE because to me Mandrake out of the box is not very useful. There are always a few things you need from PLF etc. For a home machine used as a replacement Windows machine perhaps that is acceptable BUT if you are using it as a server then UPGRADE is suicide. There are dependancy probs which go beyond the libraries, for instance I remember in 9.1 that mysql was installed with the files having root ownership. That was later patched however at this point you had to manually chmod the files still owned by root. So the dependancies also include any upgrades you might have made and things you fixed on the way. So if you upgrade once and it works your lucky. However upgrading an upgrade is getting close to Russian Roulette with 5 chambers full and one empty. Its pretty stupid in my view to have this as the default option. It should be hidden away for experts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitor Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Hi, When upgrading from 9.1 to 9.2, I first did the upgrade thing. That did not really work as it was supposed to be. Some thing did not really work OK and some bugs that were in 9.1 were still there although they were supposed to be fixed in 9.2. Finally I reinstalled, but conserved my /home (which is straightforward if you have it on a seperate partition as I do). Then I had some new 9.2 bugs (menu disappearing and stuff). But the old 9.1 bugs were gone and everything went much smoother. Also the reinstall was so easy, that I don't really see any need for the upgrade. By conserving the /home, you conserve also your configuration, so reinstalling that way is all you need in my opinion. I'm gonna do a complete fresh install for 10.0 though. I have a second HD now in my PC which is much more quiet (Seagate Baracuda), and I want my /home on that one. The old noisy HD (Maxtor, makes a hell of a noise), I want only to use for backups from now on. Ciao, Sitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 I keep my /home, but it is wise to also keep any file you touched in /etc like the rc.local, modules.conf (in kernel 2.6 /mdk10.0 modprobe.conf) etcetc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiedra Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 I've only used the upgrade option once from 8.1 to 8.2 and didn't have any problems, but now I formatt everything except for the /home. I think it is better to do that any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salamandra Posted March 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 OK, I will make a clean install but first will try to copy all the /home information into another partition. Thanks to everyone for the input! Salamandra Willing to put my hands on Mandrake 10!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aru Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 I've only used the upgrade option once from 8.1 to 8.2 and didn't have any problems, but now I formatt everything except for the /home. I think it is better to do that any way. I've always upgraded (w/o problems? not always), since mdk 6.x (well, I think I reinstalled when 8.0, but I'm not sure that was long time ago). If you reinstall you'll miss the fun of fixing those little nasty problems inherent to an upgrade. I recommend to upgrade and fix if you have to (you are always in time of reinstalling later) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdunn Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 This is from the release notes for Mandrake 10 - could be an alternative way to "ATTEMPT TO UPGRADE" ? It won't give you the "Spring Clean" that a fresh install will though - and could possibly be prone to errors if you've installed non mdk rpms, or compiled stuff from source. Whatever you do, take the earlier advice and back up anything you've customised, like /etc stuff - and any downloaded stuff you'll want to reinstall - and obviously preserve your /home The rest of this post is quoted from the release notes: http://qa.mandrakesoft.com/twiki/bin/view/...x10ReleaseNotes Upgradingurpmi can now do a distribution upgrade simply by adding urpmi sources for the 10.0 dist tree or cd's and then running 'urpmi urpmi' then 'urpmi --auto-select' and finally 'urpmi kernel' to install the new kernel. See KDE notes for tips on having a smooth upgrade experience with KDE installed. KDE 3.2 The KDE Project has reorganized applications for the 3.2 release. An example is that kmail is part of kdepim now instead of kdenetwork. This could cause upgrades from 9.x that have KDE 3.1.x installed to not go smoothly. The best way to do an upgrade from 9.x will be to completely remove KDE from the target system, run the upgrade using your preferred method (urpmi --auto-select or upgrade installation) and then install KDE from the 10.0 media. If you do not do this, you will find that some KDE 3.2 applications will not be installed and some KDE 3.1.x applications will be left on the system. It is also a good idea to make backup copies of each user's ~/.kde directory before doing the upgrade. This is because in the past, changes to KDE configuration files have caused problems when trying to run the new apps with the old configuration. It may be helpful if you are having problems after the upgrade to rename or remove the old ~/.kde directory and let it recreate automatically. Then move any data like kmail accounts and kaddressbook data back by hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiedra Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 Oh Aru. Before getting married I wold have enjoyed the challenges of fixing those little errors after an upgrade, but now, the wife takes up too much time. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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