switching system's want to stay with my current configuration
 

Hi,
i'm in a rush so ill ask some questions all toghther.

I've got a computer with slack12.1 that is working alright for me.

i want to move to the new computer everything as i have now,
will it be alright if ill do that in someway ?

and if so
how can i do that?

i dont mind to reinstall and then just putting all the old packages (if i had a list of them)
but how i do that ??
and all the configure's for the programs ?

i'm really a newbie
(if i cuold i would have just copy everything on a usb and then copy it back )

Thanks ahead.

The new computer requires different software (drivers) to run it, so just ghosting/cloning your current setup is unlikely to work. Most people in this situation, just set up a new system, then copy over their /home, where most if not all of your ordinary desktop settings live anyway. Then just go through and install any other programs your old system had that the new one doesn't.

David

YOu can do that, but this will require manual edit of configuration files and several additional steps, and the whole operation should be made in certain way, so this is not recommended for a newbie.

It will work (it won't work only if you use very customized stripped-down kernel, and some program might require recompiling on different CPU), but this will require additional steps. This is not for newbies.

I moved to a new box early this year and used the same hard drive.

Some simple preparations before you move the hard drive:

Ensure you have a generic xorg.conf file available such as xorg.conf-vesa. This configuration file is not dependent upon custom video hardware. Test that configuration file in your old box:

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf-vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf
startx

While in X, open a terminal window and verify there were no X related errors or warnings:

grep '(EE)' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
grep '(WW)' /var/log/Xorg.0.log

If you are using a custom kernel then you'll want to add some lines to your boot loader to allow booting from the generic or huge kernels. Test booting with all boot loader options.

Regardless of how you decide to move the hard drive, backup critical storage locations such as /home, /etc, and /usr/local.

Move the hard drive.

Update any software packages.

Run xorgconfig or xorgsetup to configure a new xorg.conf file for your new video hardware.

Run netconfig to configure your network setup.

Woodsman,

I'd think that if one doesn't boot automatically into X, then xorgconfig or xorgsetup could be run after booting the first time in the new system.

I'm more curious about other hardware-related issues one might encounter. I _think_ the generic kernels that come with Slackware are sufficient for most tasks so that changing the motherboard and other hardware won't cause a problem. But, is it better to boot using the one of the huge kernels first and then remake the initrd?

I'm curious because I'm planning on building a new computer soon and I'd like to essentially transplant my Windows XP and Slackware installations by simply putting the old hard drives in the new computer.

(I understand XP will need more work, but a repair installation and a call to Microsoft to get the new key to activate the installation should work. If so, that will save me a fair amount of money).

Regards,

-Drew

As already suggested, if you've got a heavily customised kernel, a straight copy probably won't work.

If you're using a stock kernel and the stock kernel recognises your new hardware, then moving the harddrive will work in exactly the same way as installing from fresh.

I personally didn't move the harddrive, so much as swapped out the rest of the hardware ... but it amounts to the same result :)

The major plus-point is that there's no need to reconfigure *any* of your programs, because they are addressed by the filesystem, not hdd nomenclature.

Transplant the harddrive (and/or data), boot it up and see what happens. You may need to adjust your fstab to deal with any changes to addressing, and in my case I transplated from 1 ethernet card to a motherboard with an ethernet port plus the old card. If you're reliant on network connections, ensure you've either blacklisted the correct module, or have turned off one or the other network device at BIOS level.

All this is easily accomplished using CD1 to boot as a rescue disk and mounting the hdd partitions.

Disclaimer: I personally found this a trivial task, since it's basically the same as fixing a broken install without reinstalling, but if you're reliant on the installer to map your fstab and deal with your network settings (for example), then you may find it more challenging.

As Woodsman says (paraphrased): when it doubt, back it up!

- Piete.

I use copies of the same partition on both my laptop & desktop. I use the generic kernel with an initrd that I made using the huge kernel on the desktop. It works fine on both machines. If you want the machine being copied to perform the same tasks as the copied machine, all you have to worry about is xorg.conf. In my case, the two machines perform different tasks & I have the following in the script that does the copying:
The above snippet is for the laptop. I also have [exports,fstab,hosts,HOSTNAME].server files in /etc, & link to them when I copy to the server. I am using the proprietary driver files (built from SBo-based packages) in the laptop (ATI) & the desktop (nVidia). Currently I am using the [flgrx,nvidia]-switch scripts from those packages to change drivers, but I am working on a script to automagically determine which card is installed & set the proper driver. I recently found a script to do this in a post here, but it isn't quite what I want, so I'm tweaking it.
Regards,
Bill