What and how to select during install, noob question [Solved]

[argonaut459]

Good afternoon,
after backing up the laptop ssd, I'm in the process of installing MX23 but right at the start I run into me being a noob and not really having a clue.
First, what to achieve:
Install mx23, if possible without disturbing much on the existing mx21 installation, especially programs like vivaldi browser and other things where the owner of the laptop put a lot of personal data in it.
Start using a swap FILE instead of the partition, so that tad of space can be used for /home
Start using ZRAM as I hope it will improve the "snappiness" or at least the feel of this laptop, it often has 1+ GB written in swap
Can I use suspend and hibernation normally afterwards?
From previous tries there are quite some UEFI boot thingies - can I delete them here (screenshot) safely?

second, how to do that:
Shall I delete swap partition before I install?
Can I shrink / safely to about 25GB and use the additional space for home?
the migration tutorial says this:

3) install MX 23 OVER your current installation as you proceed:
a) at the beginning, select to make a “Custom” installation
b) choose the same user name that you used before
c) select to re-use the existing home directory

I don't know what to select after the "custom" option. Do I select the partitions again and say "use for" or should I leave everything empty?
How do I find out what I named the only user of this laptop again? The folder in /home is just called Dana - would that be it?

Other suggestions on what and how to do?
Thank you sincerely
Julian

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20240215_1220
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-18-amd64 [6.1.76-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/antiX/vmlinuz quiet splasht nosplash lang=de_DE kbd=de tz=Europe/Berlin
    toram
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.2_x64 Libretto February 15  2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: THOMSON product: GENEO14C-4WH128 v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Eii model: G116X1_1 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends
    v: E.G116X1_1_6.S4.E1.039 date: 07/28/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 28.7 Wh (94.4%) condition: 30.4/30.4 Wh (100.0%) volts: 7.6 min: N/A
    model: GLK MRD Li-ion Battery type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Celeron N4020 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont Plus level: v2 built: 2017
    process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x7A (122) stepping: 8 microcode: 0x16
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 112 KiB desc: d-2x24 KiB; i-2x32 KiB
    L2: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1047 high: 1194 min/max: 800/2800 scaling: driver: intel_cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 1194 2: 900 bogomips: 4377
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9
    process: Intel 14n built: 2015-16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: icSpring camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7:3 chip-ID: 32e6:9005
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99") s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model-id: CS_ 0x5211 serial: <filter> built: 2013 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 67
    gamma: 1.2 size: 518x333mm (20.39x13.11") diag: 519mm (20.4") ratio: 3:2 modes: 1366x768
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-apl alternate: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_skl, snd_sof_pci_intel_apl
    bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:3198 class-ID: 0401
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-18-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Message: No PCI device data found.
  IF-ID-1: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek 802.11ac NIC type: USB driver: btusb,rtl8821cu bus-ID: 1-4:2 chip-ID: 0bda:c820
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2
    sub-v: f098 hci-v: 4.2 rev: 75b8
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:8 sco-mtu: 255:12 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
    telephony
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 234.48 GiB used: 1.35 GiB (0.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 maj-min: 179:0 vendor: Generic model: SLD128 size: 115.23 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0x8 scheme: GPT
  SMART Message: Unknown smartctl error. Unable to generate data.
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Intenso model: N/A size: 119.24 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 9A0 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  Message: No partition data found.
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 6 GiB used: 1.35 GiB (22.5%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda2
    maj-min: 8:2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2046 libs: 1044 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 213 Uptime: 41m wakeups: 6 Memory: 3.65 GiB used: 3.48 GiB (95.3%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[MXRobo]

First – I cannot answer your swap vs swapfile, or zram related hibernation questions, although I'd suspect that they also have to be minimally as large as your ram in order to hibernate – as is required with a swap partition.

Regarding the UEFI entries:
MX Boot Options → Manage UEFI Boot Options
related: sudo efibootmgr -v

Also, what is your goal or your intent?
To upgrade from 21 to 23, to keep 21 and also install 23, to install 23 only?
Where do you plan on installing 21? Not much space left.
Not many options with a 120GB SSD.

I humbly suggest if possible – a larger SSD.
This way in the future you could keep 21 installed, and then also install 23 beside it.
Once 23 is working good, you could delete 21 if you wanted to.

Also, possibly create a separate data partition.

Good Luck

[argonaut459]

Sorry for being unclear.

Install mx23. That's basically it.
The important part is keeping the data from programs intact (i.e. browser) or be able to recover them from the backup.

The windows installation shall be undisturbed (till warranty of laptop runs out next year or so)

[MXRobo]

No, that's fine, and sorry for being so dense, but I'm still not sure what you want to do regarding these comments:

Install mx23, if possible without disturbing much on the existing mx21 installation, especially programs like vivaldi browser and other things where the owner of the laptop put a lot of personal data in it.

The important part is keeping the data from programs intact (i.e. browser) or be able to recover them from the backup.

Obviously, you could just export the bookmarks, but that won't keep the config files, e.g. Vivaldi's config files.

And I'm not really one to give any advise on this (and I have NO experience doing this specifically) but it seems like your options are:
1 Export bookmarks
2 Upgrade from 21 to 23 – which is risky and often "ill-advised" in this forum although it's offered as an option.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I really don't know how to do the following– or I wouldn't be very confident in doing so.
3a – Install 23, then copy somes (maybe piece by piece, to check for potential problems) ~./config file from either your backups, of from an MX-Snapshot
[Just realized, probably wouldn't hurt to make an MX-Snapshot of the system before installing too, as another B.U.
3b – Install 23, then copy all or most ~./config files….
Again, I'm not the one to advise on option #2, and particularly on options 3a or 3b.

Hopefully, someone else will give better advise.

Again – good luck.

[argonaut459]

I kind of was just following the migration tutorial linked up there in the forum info.
Which says install mx23 over 21

I guess I just kind of have to bite the bullet and just do it.
So far everything Linux worked out, unless I personally did something stupid.

[DukeComposed]

The windows installation shall be undisturbed (till warranty of laptop runs out next year or so)

I don't see a Windows installation in your screenshot.

I guess I just kind of have to bite the bullet and just do it.

Here's what I would do. I wouldn't try to keep the /home partition.

It looks like the MX root partition is on sda3 and the /home partition is on sda4. If you don't care about keeping MX-21, then boot it, run User Installed Packages > Create a list of of user installed packages > Save List, and keep that file somewhere safe. Then make a full backup of /home. It's about 50 GB, which is enough to fit on many common USB disks, especially if you compress it first.

Then delete sda3, sda4, and the sda2 swap partition. Create the partition structure you want, 30 GB for root, the rest for /home. That would give you about 25 GB for system files plus 5 GB for a big swap file. Install MX. Create your user account.

When MX is running, bring the /home data back as /home/dana.backup and copy into your new account everything under ~/.config that you specifically identify as something you need.

Add new software based on the obvious stuff that jumps out at you from the User Installed Packages list.

This way you have (a) a complete backup of /home, (b) a local copy of your user-specific bookmarks, savegames, and cat videos, and (c) no more swap partition. Then, when you want to upgrade to MX-25 or so, you can look into the "preserve home" option in the installer. You could theoretically use that option when replacing MX-21 with MX-23, but I've only tested it with btrfs and I'd still make a new user account because you have no idea what changed in the /etc/skel files.

[Charlie Brown]

Yes you can delete the swap partition but after that you need to "move" the sda3 leftwards (to the "then" unollacted space.

Yes, then you can shrink sda3 if you like, in that case you can move sda4 to leftwards (again, to the opened unollocated space.). Finally you can resize (enlarge) home to the right-most.

Settings, preferences etc. are already in home, so, once you select to "preserve" it and/or backup beforehand, they'll be staying there, panel, desktop, browser pref. and bookmarks etc.

Yes, tick to use the zramswap ...

Yes, select / and /home for the relevant partitions under "Use For", just if you select "ext4" etc. under "Format" they'll be reformatted. So, under that column you can select preserve for home and ext4 for root

[j2mcgreg]

@argonaut459 wrote:

The windows installation shall be undisturbed (till warranty of laptop runs out next year or so)

The warranty on your laptop is for the hardware only. Installing MX or Linux in general will not affect it at all. See here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=does+in ... -serp#ip=1

[Stevo]

The size of a swap partition is almost never required to match the size of the installed RAM for hibernation. It only needs to be big enough to match the size of RAM in use at the time of hibernation, and modern kernels compress the RAM image before being written to disk. The target is around 40% for most data...some may be incompressible, such as a DVD image in RAM or the like.

The old recommendations for sizes equal to or greater than RAM date back to the 90's; this is now the 2020's.

[argonaut459]

On phone during an ER hospital visit, so multiquote is a bit tedious
The windows partition is on the eMMC.

If you don't care about keeping MX-21, then boot it, run User Installed Packages > Create a list of of user installed packages > Save List, and keep that file somewhere safe. Then make a full backup of /home. It's about 50 GB, which is enough to fit on many common USB disks, especially if you compress it first.

Then delete sda3, sda4, and the sda2 swap partition. Create the partition structure you want, 30 GB for root, the rest for /home. That would give you about 25 GB for system files plus 5 GB for a big swap file. Install MX. Create your user account.

When MX is running, bring the /home data back as /home/dana.backup and copy into your new account everything under ~/.config that you specifically identify as something you need.

Add new software based on the obvious stuff that jumps out at you from the User Installed Packages list.

This way you have (a) a complete backup of /home, (b) a local copy of your user-specific bookmarks, savegames, and cat videos, and (c) no more swap partition. Then, when you want to upgrade to MX-25 or so, you can look into the "preserve home" option in the installer. You could theoretically use that option when replacing MX-21 with MX-23, but I've only tested it with btrfs and I'd still make a new user account because you have no idea what changed in the /etc/skel files.

That sounds like a good plan.

Charlie Browns idea how to resize the partitions sounds perfect, too
Still a bit unsure about if I should choose "preserve home" this time or rather next time.
Right now my guts tell me, make new to get rid of stuff you might have borked up last time.

Hmm mentioning zramswap.
I recall seeing a video of a low spec laptop, that did a set of tasks fastest when using swap + zram + zswap
Might that be an idea here to, or rather complicated stuff making little difference.

Stevo answered while I wrote this.
If that's the case .... Than maybe the
Swap file + zram + zswap
Might actually be an idea especially as this only takes the space it really needs and yet should provide suspend and hibernation nicely.

But all this z compression, with this rather slow processor? Will it gain speed or "snappyness" or may it rather feel sluggish or diminish battery longevity?