I’m planning to wipe my Kubuntu desktop box root partition to re-install Kubuntu 10.04 LTS. I don’t have any major problems that would force me to reinstall the system, but I’ve installed many apps and packages from outside the repositories, manually and so on, so it’s quite hard to try to track down why something doesn’t work and then report the bug. And it’s nice to see the installer every now and then anyway, get a fresh start, tabula rasa, you know.
This is my setup:
File system. Size Used Free Use% Mount
/dev/md0 38G 26G 11G 71% /
/dev/md1 319G 276G 27G 92% /home
First I ran backups to an external 500GB USB disk:
time rsync -av --progress --stats /home/rhk /media/disk/2010-07-24-homebackup/
Then I decided to find out how long I’ve been running this system. A neat way to find it out is to find when the file system has been created:
rhk@rubert:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/md0|grep created
Filesystem created: Wed Jul 9 17:35:59 2008
rhk@rubert:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/md1|grep created
Filesystem created: Tue May 8 22:31:04 2007
So I’ve had my setup running since July 2008, from Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04, upgrading to 8.10, then to 9.04, 9.10 and to 10.04. My home partition has been there since May 2007 – that’s when I got this computer and first installed Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04.
~daily usage, I think running two years in a row isn’t that bad, every now and then installing some off-the-repository packages. And as stated above, there’s still nothing that’d force me to reinstall it.
How long have you had your setup running? Are you always upgrading to the latest version or staying with LTS releases? Do you often install software outside the repositories?
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I’m just while-looping do-release-upgrade on old laptop (containing hard disk from another laptop). It contained Intrepid and Lucid is my target (I->Jaunty->Karmic->L). It can’t even start Lucid’s installer, doesn’t boot memory stick or self-burned CD-roms. (I know: Alternate install on another computer and then swap HD back).
Created: Oct 14. 2007
This system is not in daily use, but once it was. (There are files from project genHTML =) )
Every release I do a fresh install over the old one, wipe the system files, keep the other stuff.
I always stick to the latest release because I find myself having to resort to fewer and fewer third party apps and workarounds.
Like the new Ubuntu Menu Bar. One less repository I have to run with.
I use Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. They come with a 3-year warranty. So it’s pretty much a fresh install when the laptop is brand new, and when it reaches 3-years I allow myself (or my employer!) to get a brand new laptop!