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RE: getting /bin files for debian unstable x86



>===== Original Message From "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com> =====
>on Thu, Apr 05, 2001 at 04:28:45PM -0400, Cyanide Morgoth Calcuterm 
(anime@MailAndNews.com) wrote:
>
>> >   - OK, you don't have a backup system.  Buy a DAT drive for $400 and a
>> >     handful of tapes.  Or a CDW or CDRW system.  But I'd prefer tape.
>>
>> $400 USD cost more than my computer cost
>
>Completely irrelevant.
>

I wish I could say that. I'm a student I don't have extra cash.

>    What is your data worth to you?

A great deal that is why I can't take 2 weeks off to spend time getting 
packages and breaking them up and putting them on floppies.

>
>    What is your time worth to you?

If I need the computer than perhaps a great deal more. In general I don't mind 
a process that takes a long time as long as said process dosn't make me a 
slave.

>
>    What is it worth to you to be able to recover from such incidents as
>    you're encountering now?

It would be nice then again I would love to be able to have a cd drive that 
worked with linux the first time. I think that will have to wait until I get a 
newer computer.

>
>    What are the minimum technical requirements to accomplish your
>    archival and recovery objectives?

Technical requirements? I know exactly how to do all the fancy things with 
tape archival it's just that I don't have the money or the hardware both of 
which are needed for the process.

>
>I shelled out the $600 or so that a drive, SCSI card, and media, cost me
>about three years ago.  For the rate of $200/year, I've had the
>assurance that I'm no more than a few days out of date with recovery
>processes.  Thank Fnord, I haven't had a disk failure.  I *have*
>unintentionally deleted files on occasion, and have also required tape
>archives to help in schlepping partitions around as I've added or
>reorganized disks on my system.
>

My experiences with SCSI support and the kernel havn't been pretty at all. Not 
at all. I even tried to ask some of the higher upps in the linux-kernel list 
about my specific problem and nada. What's infuriating about the whole issue 
is that msdex of whatever the simple cd program that came with DOS that 
detects cd drives worked the first time. Not even drivers from the 
manufacturer were necessary.

>There may be less expensive alternatives than a DAT drive, discussed in
>the references below, however I strongly recommend the technology.

And I will do just that when I have a computer that dosn't cost less than the 
drive.

>
>In a situation similar to your own, I'd have my personal data archived
>off already.  I'd also have a package list archived off already.  My
>recovery plan is to reinstall the base OS, read in my own package list,
>install this, then restore my variable partitions on top of this.

It's really hard to fit large ammounts of data on floppies and do so in a 
seamless manner. I suppose I could do something like that with floppies I just 
never really have that many problems.

>
>Disaster recovery requires preparation.  You appear to be unprepared.
>You have several options, none of them are going to be painless.  You
>have to determine what recovery path is best for you.

Actually I have a really easy option assuming that it's packaged right. 
Basically I assumed (rightly) that all I need are those files. Now I have a 
system with debian 2.1 which had the various files in /bin but they weren't 
compatable and so therefore had to think of other options. Then I thought if 
unstable had a simple tgz file with the base OS then maybe I could easily 
extract it in winzip and then just copy over the files without fuss or muss. 
Unfortunately some wonderfully gifted person decided that unstable didn't need 
a disk section or even a base install and so therefore I don't have access to 
this easy medium. If only I have access to a clean system with the files in 
/bin that is on x86 and that is running the version of libc that unstable 
works under (2.2.x if I remember correctly) then it would work. Unfortunately 
sometimes I believe in bad luck and I believe that things never work properly 
the first time.

>
>You're encouraged to look over my documents on system partitioning
>(which relates to isolating system, local, and variable data), and
>backup strategies:
>
>    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/Linux/FAQs/partition.html
>    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/Linux/FAQs/backups.html

How pray tell do you expand a system? Suppose I outgrow my partition on /home? 
or better yet outgrow some vital area that I say need more space for programs 
that I want that debian decides to install like /usr/bin or /usr/lib or 
others.

It seems to me that it works better if you have a system you administer by 
hand rather than a system that is automated by packages like debian or redhat. 
Non destructive repartitioning is the only cure and last I checked there were 
no utilities that worked for ext2 partitions that allowed for nondestructive 
dynamic repartitioning of any sort. Not to mention that I ususally partition 
my disk so there is no room (or cannot affort to let it sit idle for too 
long).

>
>Cheers.
>
>--
>Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>    http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
> What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?       There is no K5 cabal
>  http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/         http://www.kuro5hin.org
>
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>
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