[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Throw an hard drive with Debian installation into...



On Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 01:58:24AM +0100, Thomas Anderson wrote:
> I am curious, what would happen if I threw a fully functionally,
> 
> Linux installation (HDD) into an entirely different hardware configuration:

It depends :-)

It starts with the bootloader: different hardware boots in very
different ways. If you have GRUB (the default with Debian), you
will need either a "traditional BIOS" or UEFI beneath it. That
means MACs, Raspberry Pis and other misc hardware is out.

Then, the kernel is built for a specific architecture family.

A kernel built for x86_64 won't be happy on ARM. Or RISCV. Or...

If your distro has taken those hurdles, you'll still be left with
some funny things. Kernel modules for hardware you hadn't in your
first motherboard. Network scripts might be set up to look for
a specific MAC address which won't "be" in your new machine. Your
fstab might be referencing file systems which have moved around
(this is one of the cases where label based or UUID based file
system referencing clearly "wins").

In the latter cases, chances are good that you'll get enough of
your system up to "fix" things.

Be prepared to invest some time, and to learn a thing or two :-)

Cheers
-- 
t

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: PGP signature


Reply to: