Hello from a new user!

24 réponses [Dernière contribution]
Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Hi everybody,so glad to be here, thank you for having me!

I am the proverbial newbie, but have been reading many of your messages and that has been a nice start! Also found a great video course on Terminal for beginners (on YT) and the clouds seem to be opening up :)

I would appreciate if anyone could help/guide me with updating Trisquel 8, also, I am unsure if I should first upgrade LibreBoot (and how), or if it is OK to install a new Trisquel as it is.

There are so many questions to ask, but I'll refrain from bombarding you all at once.

Many thanks in advance!

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

Hors ligne
A rejoint: 07/24/2010

To avoid issues, it is a good idea to first remove the packages you installed through third-party APT repositories and the repositories themselves. For PPAs, there is ppa-purge in Trisquel's repository.

To then upgrade, execute in a terminal:
$ sudo do-release-upgrade
If that does not work, try:
$ sudo do-release-upgrade -d
If that still does not work:
sudo sed -i s/flidas/etiona/ /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade'

Once you have a functional Trisquel 9 system, you actually want to upgrade to Trisquel 10! Indeed, Trisquel 9's support will end in April. So repeat the same as above on Trisquel 9 except that the last-resort command line becomes:
sudo sed -i s/etiona/nabia/ /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade'

eric23
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A rejoint: 06/30/2017

> I would appreciate if anyone could help/guide me with updating Trisquel 8

Which processor does your computer have? I know that x86 (32 bit) is unsupported now in the latest release.

https://trisquel.info/en/download

I think you will be encouraged to install the latest Trisquel 10 on you computer instead of upgrading. I know for sure Trisquel 8 is unsupported. I am not sure when Trisquel 9 will reach end of life or if it has already.

Malsasa
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A rejoint: 12/01/2016

Welcome to the community!

Best regards,
Malsasa

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Thank you Magic Banana, that was so beautifully explained!

I like the idea of going from 8 to 9, then up from there, it would be handy to be able to keep my setup, but if necessary, I could just install the newest stable version. Happy to say your code looked doable and friendly, terminal is definitely a nicer place since that video course I mentioned.

As for other apps, I don't remember installing anything extra, so it should be OK, although I must admit I don't know what a PPA is... does it stand for third party apps?

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

A specific type of third-party APT repository:

A Personal Package Archive (PPA) is a software repository for uploading source packages to be built and published as an Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) repository by Launchpad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu#Package_Archives

The advantage of upgrading is that everything will be upgraded, including what you installed on top of the default system. The drawback is that it may go wrong.

If you go for a fresh install of Trisquel 10 and do not need/want a new partitioning scheme (typically for a larger root partition), then, assuming you have a separate partition for /home (Trisquel's default install does that), you want to choose the "Something else" type of installation, to specify the same root partition (the partition whose filesystem will be mounted at /) and the same partition for /home but you do *not* want to format the latter (a box to uncheck). Finally, you want to specify the same login for the first user of the system. That is, whatever that command outputs on Trisquel 8:
$ awk -F : '$3 == 1000 { print $1 }' /etc/passwd
If you do not err, that user will be able to find all her files (including her personal configuration of her applications: her e-mails in Icedove, her bookmarks in Abrowser, etc.) after the reboot. If there are additional users (are there?), you can then add them again from that first user (taking care of keeping the same UIDs) and they will find their files as well.

Anyway, you want to back up the user files before a fresh install: it is too easy to forget to uncheck the box for formatting or to confuse the partitions! Trisquel 10 uses Back In Time by default. I believe Trisquel 8 was using Déjà-Dup, which is in Trisquel 10's repository too.

Sunny Day
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A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Many thanks again for the detailed info, Magic Banana!!

I have been comsidering everything (from my current paranoid perspective) and decided to erase and start anew, with an installable live usb created by Trisquel.

I have already reinstalled it a few weeks ago from the original Trisquel 8 live USB I created on my other half's PC, quite a while ago. I felt I had to reisntall after I was hacked (my Mac + locked out of all drives), in the hope to clear anything that could have affected the devices in our network, so there isn't a lot to redo and I feel the extra work is worth the peace of mind.

It would be great to have partitions as Trisquel intends them to be! I checked the disks in the System (with df, learnt yesterday :) and this is what it listed:

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev 3938332 0 3938332 0% /dev
tmpfs 791168 9584 781584 2% /run
/dev/sda1 19091584 4621604 13477112 26% /
tmpfs 3955824 10024 3945800 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5120 4 5116 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 3955824 0 3955824 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mapper/trisquel--vg-home 449598988 724532 448874456 1% /home
tmpfs 791168 20 791148 1% /run/user/1000

I am planning to download Trisquel 10 today or tomorrow, and make the live usb with the info from this link:
https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/starting-installable-live-system

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, hints or advice. I used the PC method for Trisquel 8 at the time because I wasn't comfortable at all touching the terminal.

The good thing out of all the nightmare is to finally be moving to freedom, it has been a dream for a long while... would love to build my own computer!

---
(I am looking at the preview of this message and can't see how to paste the terminal info without squashing it into one line. I will post it as it is for now, sorry about that)

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, hints or advice.

Well, the 13477112 kB (~13 GB; use df's -h option for a human-readable output) of space for / would be too few for me (with most of TeX Live, some rather heavy video games such as SuperTuxKart, etc.). But if you really only use 26% of them, I guess you need not enlarge the partition and can follow what I wrote in my last post.

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

It's beautiful how you can read that so fluently... I still feel a bit like a donkey looking at that text :)

Thank you very much for checking it out, I will use the -h, as you suggested, glad to say I understood that part, but am not confident with the partitions side of it, as I've never done it in terminal or learnt how to as yet.

Before that, I have another pressing question, if I may.

Do you have a partition with windows network in your installation by default? If I remember correctly, there was/is one of those in there too, and I am sure there is a partition like that in my second TP x200 (with CoreBoot). I could not get rid of it, but managed to unmounted it by pure luck... I seem to remember doing the same in my main TP with Trisquel (sorry, my memory is very crowded)... I am asking because I discovered a windows partition installed by hackers inside my Mac, without my knowledge, and was not a happy bunny to find windows in my ThinkPads too.

Thank you again Magic Banana, I feel lucky to be here!

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

not confident with the partitions side of it, as I've never done it in terminal or learnt how to as yet.

I was suggesting you the "Something else" type of installation in the graphical installer. It will lead you to a graphical partition editor where you will see your current partitions, will be able to edit them, to define the mount points (/ for the 13.5G partition, /home for the largest one) for the system that will be installed (Trisquel 10) and whether the filesystem on the partitions should be formatted (I repeat: if you do *not* format /home and then define the same first user as on your current Trisquel 8 system, her files will be kept, including her personal configuration of the applications). See https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XmFx4yo84P4/WL0cne_KykI/AAAAAAAAJNQ/j5AM_PPS7OkfcWMonF6N7ClDwwNdfEOMQCLcB/s1600/Screenshot%2Bat%2B2017-03-04%2B17%253A57%253A43.jpeg to visualize the tool.

I discovered a windows partition installed by hackers inside my Mac, without my knowledge, and was not a happy bunny to find windows in my ThinkPads too.

Editing partitions (as I wrote above) can include clicking on a useless partition and on the minus button to remove it. You can then enlarge an adjacent partition (maybe the root partition, which is rather small, as I mentioned) in the liberated space. That said, you may be talking about a small (at most some hundreds of MB) FAT partition that was mounted at /boot/efi. If so, you neither want to remove it nor to format it!

Also, you probably have a swap partition that you want to keep: it is used for hibernating and if the main memory is full, maybe because a program is leaking memory. If you never hibernate, it needs not be large. For instance it can be 1 GB large: you will have enough time to perceive that your system is slow, to save your work and to close the process allocating too much memory (without swap, the kernel immediately kills the process it believes is faulty). If you do hibernate, having as much swap as RAM is good.

Sunny Day
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A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Great information, thank you once again Magic Banana!!!

I see what you mean and will follow your advice, starting with a bigger partition for the swap, just in case I do hibernate, what you said makes total sense.

Also good to know the home partition retains the user's files, that is so cool, so I will make a good size one for the new home... I also realised I made a mistake by adding a differnet username than my usual in the current Trisquel installation (reinstalled after the hackers event)... so, in this case, I think erasing all and starting afresh is the way to go, like wiping the slate clean and making it right.

I still haven't downloaded Trisquel and am now considering going for 11, without rushing, as this is a good opportunity to learn as much as I can and do a better job of it.

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

Also good to know the home partition retains the user's files

If you do not format it, yes.

I also realised I made a mistake by adding a differnet username than my usual in the current Trisquel installation (reinstalled after the hackers event)... so, in this case, I think erasing all and starting afresh is the way to go, like wiping the slate clean and making it right.

Let me explain: the installer creates a user whose id is 1000 and whose home folder is /home/$USER where "$USER" is the login you give when the installer asks you for one. The "user name" is any string (which can include spaces contrary to the login) and does not really matter. If you reuse your existing /home without formatting it and write the login of the current user 1000, she will keep her home folder intact. From that session, you can then add the other users (is there any?), always specify the same login and the same user id (aka "uid") as they currently have on Trisquel 8. That id is what is written in the attribute of any file to specify its owner.

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Sorry for the delayed reply, it has been crazy here.

Huge thanks again, for clarifying and helping to dissipate the clouds, I see what you mean about the user now (1000, yes :)

The concepts are getting clearer, but the praticalities are still getting in my way. I'd love to have bigger partitions for swap and home and decided to do a test run on my other x200 TP with CoreBoot (currently with Mint and nothing much else in there). The graphical interface is friendly, but I can't see exactly how to achieve what I was aiming for.

The list is long and confusind and doesn't seem to offer resizing, at least not in a clear enough way for a beginner like me. Things like format and size for each partition were also questions I couldn't go passed. If I go for the default installation, it recreates the same small swap and home, I remember wondering about that when I reinstalled Trisquel 8 as well.

I wonder if during installation I could just remove the existing partitions and create new ones, for swap, user and system (and maybe more?). Or, could I resize them before installing?

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

The list is long and confusind and doesn't seem to offer resizing, at least not in a clear enough way for a beginner like me.

Assuming https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XmFx4yo84P4/WL0cne_KykI/AAAAAAAAJNQ/j5AM_PPS7OkfcWMonF6N7ClDwwNdfEOMQCLcB/s1600/Screenshot%2Bat%2B2017-03-04%2B17%253A57%253A43.jpeg still accurately shows the partitioning step of the "Something else" type of installation, then the window on the right allows to resize and to format (or not) the partition. It was obtained selecting in the list the partition to change and then clicking on the "Change..." button. Enlarging a partition requires free adjacent space. You certainly do not have free space and will need to first reduce or delete (with the minus button) (an) existing partition(s).

I wonder if during installation I could just remove the existing partitions and create new ones, for swap, user and system (and maybe more?). Or, could I resize them before installing?

You can do all that.

If you need more help, please attach a screenshot of that partitioning step.

Avron

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A rejoint: 08/18/2020

If you need more help, please attach a screenshot of that partitioning step.

In addition to Magic Banana's suggestion in order to get more help, I'd suggest that you also attach the ouput of the following commands run in a terminal in your existing system:

sudo pvs
sudo vgs
sudo lvs
lsblk --fs

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Thanks a lot Avron!

I run the commands you listed:

lucky@lucky-tp1:~$ sudo pvs
sudo: unable to resolve host lucky-tp1: Connection timed out
[sudo] password for lucky:
lucky is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
lucky@lucky-tp1:~$ sudo vgs
sudo: unable to resolve host lucky-tp1: Connection timed out
[sudo] password for lucky:
lucky is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
lucky@lucky-tp1:~$ sudo lvs
sudo: unable to resolve host lucky-tp1: Connection timed out
[sudo] password for lucky:
lucky is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
lucky@lucky-tp1:~$ lsblk --fs
NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda
├─sda1 ext4 2ce1b7d6-edb9-45e5-a4bd-01d97f7b9141 /
├─sda2
└─sda5 crypto_LU 4485943c-e16c-4775-b747-34f57fedf051
└─sda5_crypt LVM2_memb 0d55Hk-Qdfe-vW5K-7QjZ-sqkF-3vWu-92J4wF
├─trisquel--vg-swap_1
│ swap 0b78e2ed-38a1-4b08-8a23-b184bea60c55 [SWAP]
└─trisquel--vg-home
xfs 1eae22c2-37f9-491f-aa73-445d70e8206d /home
lucky@lucky-tp1:~$

Avron

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A rejoint: 08/18/2020

lucky is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

The first user created at install of Trisquel is normally in the sudoers file, so I am guessing "lucky" is not that user, correct? Can you log in as the first user and retry?

sudo: unable to resolve host lucky-tp1: Connection timed out

I am not sure why you see this, this normally does not happen in Trisquel.

From what I see, /dev/sda5 includes an encrypted volume, which contains 2 logical volumes, one used for your home filesystem and one for your swap file system.

Magic Banana, with such a setup, is there a way to use the installer, not format the home partition and get a working system? (I tried but not with this exact setup, I had a separate /boot, and / in the encrypted volume but I did not manage).

Magic Banana

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I am a translator!

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

Magic Banana, with such a setup, is there a way to use the installer, not format the home partition and get a working system?

Probably, but I am not sure. I have never tried that and I am not knowledgeable when it comes to LVM. As long as the user data are backed up, there is little risk to try. That would be specifying /dev/sda1 as the root partition (to be formatted) and the largest logical volume for /home (not to be formatted). In the worst case scenario, the system can be reinstalled, that time deleting /dev/sda5 and recreating in the liberated space a partition for /home and a swap partition. Of course, the backup would then be necessary to restore the user data.

Avron

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A rejoint: 08/18/2020

Actually, the issue I had was the reuse of an existing encrypted volume, not LVM.

In my previous tries, the installer did not offer the option to open the existing encrypted volume, so I tried following instructions like in https://blog.wohli.org/2016/10/05/Installing-Ubuntu-16-10-on-existing-LUKS-encrypted-LVM/ (open the encrypted volume manually before starting the installer) but either something is missing in those instructions or I missed something while trying to follow them, in my imperfect recollection the installed system would not boot.

Or is there another way? In that situation, I finally made a fresh install on which I restored a full backup of /home made with BackInTime.

Sunny Day
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A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Thank you Avrom and Magic Banana!!

Yes, I re-installed Trisquel 8 and was the first user, which I named lucky... as I mentioned, I think I screwed up by trying to protect the system, that is why I am leaning towards a clean install, to create good partitions and set it all up again, properly this time. It is not too bad, considering it will also make for good and needed learning!

"sudo: unable to resolve host lucky-tp1: Connection timed out

I am not sure why you see this, this normally does not happen in Trisquel."

I am glad you mentioned this, I wasn't sure if it was uncommon or not, I wondered if the hackers had tried (and failed?) to get into Trisquel as well, meaning, they got erverywhere! They installed a windows partition on my Mac, which got cloned to other drives in the Mac, and external drives, before I discovered them. That is the main reason I was asking if a windows network partition is usual in Linux, I saw them in my second ThinkPad and seem to remember one in Trisquel too.

I have to digest the rest of your discussion about installation :)

Oh, just one more thing, I have a docking station and it would be nice if I could add a decent size HDD (3 or 4TB would be sweet), is that doable?... My Mac had big drives with a lot of work on them (about 2 decades worth), which the hackers locked me out of (well, at least temporarily, I intend to get it all back!).

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

You are so patient and kind, I can't thank you enough Magic Banana!

I am glad to be postponing the Trisquel installation/upgrade, as I seem to be learning how much I messed up on a daily basis... I haven't yet taken that screenshot, which is another little thing to find out how to do (coming from MacOS seems to be "unhelping" even with the basic stuff)

Please have a peek at the info Avron requested, I will paste it now on my reply to his message, the terminal seemed to show permission problems and maybe more.

Avron

I am a translator!

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A rejoint: 08/18/2020

Trisquel 11 looks almost ready, you may want to install it directly to avoid the burden of one more upgrade.

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Great point, thank you Avron!

I was wondering about that after I checked the downloads. Yes, I could do with not having to upgrade for sure, this last couple of months have been crazy and I can't wait to have my Trisquel happily in its place!

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Hi eric23,

I forgot to mention I have my Trisquel on a TP x200.

As I mentioned to Magic Banana, I was pondering on that, an upgrade or a clean install? Thanks for bringing it up... thanks for the link as well, it's good to be sure of where to go, that was another thing I wished to confirm, as I have been hacked and am in paranoid mode... actually, I am discovering it's not a bad mode to be in, as the more paranoid we are, the faster we learn and the better we can protect ourselves, our friends and our family :)

Sunny Day
Hors ligne
A rejoint: 01/05/2023

Lovely to ready your welcome, Malsasa - thank you!