On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 10:04 PM, Mel Walters <melwalt...@telus.net> wrote:
> Talk about a failure to communicate! I am wondering about my skills now > you see? > My original question was related to keeping a system up to date with > minor updates, not a major Debian upgrade like say Debian 6 to Debian 7. > Again, starting with Debian (the latest stable) that is working and up > to date. Then keeping it up to date with normal updates that Debian > wants to do. > > In general I have had good experiences with this with most distros. I have been doing regular patching and even major version upgrades via apt since the 90s. This process works extremely well and is very reliable these days. I now automate my system patching, and I have most of my systems automatically rebooting if the update requires it. Where you get in to trouble is with 3rd party repositories and custom built libraries and binaries. > My statement is Debian should do that OK, assuming it was setup in a > Debian manner. > > This has been my experience. > My worries are multi fold for this friends system. He is having issues > with both Windows and Linux on his flagship workstation now. I will have > to fall back on simplification and basic troubleshooting to help him > further along. > > Sounds like hardware. If it is random stability issues, I would first make sure nothing is overclocked, then start with the power supply. Especially on machines that I am going to put under load, a flakey or solid power supply can make all the difference. What is he doing with this workstation? Is he putting it under load or is it just unstable? Issues with some programs is another topic. > Not to say my case was the same, but I had an issue years ago with a > mail program crashing. I think it was from an old carried forward home > directory. A quick test by creating a new user worked fine, (no crashes) > so I ended up repairing my home directory by clearing out the dot config > directory for the offending program and starting a fresh configuration. > This must have got rid of an old configuration that was incompatible > with the newer program. No more crashes. > > I have not had that experience for a while. My laptop's home directory is about 6 years old now. I just keep copying it in place to newer installs (I have carried my home folder across three laptops now). Always something to look out for though.
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