[ubuntu-za] Configuring Ubuntu 11.10

[Jan Greeff]

Hi Bruce and Peter,

Your inputs and help is appreciated very much. I am particularly 
interested in the concept of a home directory on one of my hard drives, 
as opposed to my current arrangement of a duplicated backup on the 
second drive. I will need to learn how this can be done.

I suppose that my data will be safer on a home folder than the present 
arrangement whereby data entered on the main drive since the last backup 
will be lost if the drive should crash.

We are leaving tomorrow to spend the weekend and Christmas with the 
children in Pretoria, will contact you again later.

May you enjoy a blessed, Jesus Christ-certered Christmas with your loved 
ones.

Kind regards,

Jan


On 21/12/2011 19:51, Bruce Pieterse wrote:
> On Wed 21 Dec 2011 10:57:13 SAST, Peter Nel wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 2:42 PM, Jan Greeff<jan at verslank.net>  wrote:
>>> Hi Peter,
>>>
>>> When I tried to implement your suggestions the system froze almost
>>> immediately so I could do nothing.
>>>
>>> I have now upgraded from 11.10 to 11.04 and will be using that drive 
>>> for my
>>> backups.
>>>
>>> Many thanks for all your inputs.
>>>
>>> Jan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 19/12/2011 13:44, Peter Nel wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 7:19 AM, Jan Greeff<jan at verslank.net>    
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> ... I ran the "sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback" 
>>>>> command. Is
>>>>> there a
>>>>> way to reverse this?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Jan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 18/12/2011 20:06, Peter Nel wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Haven't verified, but you remove apps usually with:
>>>> $ sudo apt-get remove --purge<package>
>>>> - or simply -
>>>> $ sudo apt-get purge<package>
>>>>
>>>> Also, to clean the apt cache of downloaded installs and updates, run:
>>>> $ sudo apt-get clean
>>>>
>>>> (FYI - the software centre runs apt-get in the background)
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> Jan,
>>
>> Darn, I should have been more clear that the "apt-get remove" command
>> was untested on your scenario, and might not completely "reverse" the
>> "gnome-session-fallback" configuration.
>>
>> Now you see what happens if you go for the easy short answer :-)
>>
>> All should not be lost though, I think worst case scenario is that you
>> messed up your "default" desktop setup.
>> I think the regular one should still be there, and it should be
>> possible to set things up so you can log into that one again...
>> Have you tried rebooting into 11.10 after the grey screen? If so, you
>> should be able to select the session you want from the login screen.
>>
>> ... If not, we can try to fix it, but before this mail gets too long,
>> and I lose you again - is it possible to just re-install 11.10 on that
>> partition/drive?
>> Many bugs in 11.04 were fixed in 11.10 and it would be more stable,
>> and preferable to 11.04 in my opinion.
>>
>> Remember, Linux is not windows, where re-installing the whole OS is
>> usually the only option.
>> It's Always possible to fix things, from a terminal or elsewhere.
>>
>> I'll be here if you need me.
>>
>> Regards
>
> Hi,
>
> I would just like to chip in and say that the upgrade from 11.04 to 
> 11.10 was a horrible experience for me and that the desktop did not 
> work properly after upgrading. Even removing the .gnome2 and .gconf 
> directory didn't work this time around. With the upgrade to 11.10 I 
> would recommend installing from scratch, however just backup your 
> /home /etc and /var directories before hand just in case you want to 
> get something back -- you can use duplicity to achieve this.
>
> This would also be a great time to setup your /home directory on a 
> separate hard drive (if available) so re-installation of your 
> favourite distribution is easier to do.
>