Debian Unstable vs. Ubuntu

[rpowersau at gmail.com]

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 02:33:54 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard
<cybe_r_wizard at earthlink.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 13:11:19 -0800
> Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> Hiya, from a possible convert.  See below:
> 
> > > Many say that Ubuntu "forces" its own choices. If you ask me, by all
> > > means do that. The desktop doesn't need tons of questions, and
> > > nitty-gritty details about every other little aspect of the system.
> > > Users need simplicity, they just want a system that works (trust me,
> > > this is the only thing that got me to try Ubuntu and ditch Gentoo
> > > for a while, the fact that I got the system up and running in less
> > > than 10 mins).
> >
> > That's the idea exactly.  In fact, I don't see the Ubuntu approach as
> > "forcing" at all; given a simple, working system, the user is free to
> > make new choices and depart from the standard configuration as far as
> > they like.
> >
> > If we did not make these default choices, that would be "forcing"
> > users to make a choice before they can have a usable system.
> 
> I am soon to install an Ubuntu system over an existing Libranet.  Will I
> have the opportunity to keep my /home partition or should I back it up
> to CD and replace it later?  Does Ubuntu allow for seperate /home
> partitioning?

It's usually a good idea to back it up to a cd or another drive
regardless just in case anything goes wrong.

If you have a seperate partition with /home on it then you can tell
ubuntu not to touch it while installing. Then after installing you can
modify your /etc/fstab to mount /home on that partition, rename the
/home directory (/home_original), and reboot. I think it is best if
you are logged in as root when you do this since root doesn't live in
the /home directory. I don't know what may happen if you rename /home
while running as a user inside it.  ;-)

The only problem you may run into is the user id. Depending on how you
created your user that you want to save, the id could be wrong and
you'll run into problems. User id is linked to the user name and
depends on the order the user is created. If the user you want to save
was the only user you ever had or was the first user created, then if
you create a user with the same user name when you install ubuntu
you'll probably be ok. It worked for me.

But always back up first. ;)

> 
> --
> Cybe R. Wizard
> --
> Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
> Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
> "Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
> Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L
> 
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-- 
Regards,
Russ