.deb files keep braking my install (Ubuntu 8.04 on Sony VAIO)
 

I have a very small download limit where I am. I have downloaded updates to my machine but needed to reinstall do to a video problem(I tried to get S-Video working and now the system hangs whenever I try to watch video full screen)

Before I formatted the partition I copied all the .deb files from /var/cache/apt/archives to an external drive.

I then reinstalled and tried to install the updates from the .deb files. This goes OK for a while but it seams to inevitably brake the system and I get a broken package error. When I go to fix the error multiple packages have to be removed and I am worse off than before.(ie. terminal not working, no panel etc.)

I'm wondering what the cause for this could be and/or how I can fix this.

I am using Ubuntu 8.04 on A Sony VAIO VGN CR125E

Intel T7100 1.8GHz
Video X3100 (965 chipset?)
2GB Ram


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have never tried this, but the cause could be a dependency issue. If a package can't be installed because another package is not installed, it could cause it all to break. I assume your just cd-ing into the directory and doing a sudo dpkg -i *?
you may need to find out what package is breaking your system, and manually install it and all it's dependencies.

"cd-ing into the directory and doing a sudo dpkg -i *?"

Not sure what you mean by that but I am using Nautilus. I navigate to the folder and double click on the package. if it says all dependencies are met than I install it... the package installer thingy tells me if there are unmet dependencies I look for the dependency that is not met and try and install that first.

This was a problem until recently. I installed from another CD and read a How To on adding my .deb files to the Synaptec source list. I then turned off my network connection and did all the updates it would let me and went from there. Things seam to be OK now, and I lerned how to make my own Repository. Always good when you learn something at the end of the day.

Of course a new day brings with it a new problem (AcidRip is acting funny it loads up the DVD and when I start it it just spins the disk and nothing happens in the prosses list it is asleep?)

Thanks for your help.

"cd-ing into the directory and doing a sudo dpkg -i *?"

This is the command line way to install .debs

first you open a terminal or TTY, and then you type `cd /dir_that_contains_your_deb_files` for instance if my deb files were in /home/mikoto I would `cd /home/mikoto`

`sudo dpkg -i *` allows me to install all the files in that directory

sudo - run this command with root permissions but as my user
dpkg - stands for "Debian Package" or "Debian Package Manager" this is what allows you to actually control the .debs, and installed programs on your system independent of apt. So if your GUI breaks, it's about the only way to fix it.
-i - is the switch for "install" This installs the package into your system.
* - is the wildcard, meaning everything. This will try and install everything in the current directory into you system.

A better way that I should have written that command was `sudo dpkg -i *.deb" which would have tried to install all the .debs, and not all the files.


not sure about your process being hung up, i usually use two things when a process hangs up like that,

top
sudo killall processname
sudo kill (signal#) PID (obtainable through top)

As for it hanging, I'd make sure that you have the most up to date version. Maybe do an:

`sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade`

from the terminal.

if that fails, I'd try a:

`sudo apt-get remove --purge AcidRip`
`sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install AcidRip`

Please make sure that your online repos are enabled for those commands, as you want the freshest version of the program you can get.

Again, those need to be run from the terminal. Or if you're really only comfortable with the GUI, then use Synaptic or a manager like that to completely remove the program from your system, and then re-install it.