On Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 03:44:03AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > On 08/19/2024 02:51 PM, Andy Smith wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I'm afraid I have not got the kind of answer you request for your > > actual question but… > >
Hi Richard, A first question: is this your main computer? The R61 is from 2007 or so - so more than 15 years old. It has a 160GB spinning disk, if I'm reading the specs correctly, and 1GB of memory. > > On Mon, Aug 19, 2024 at 06:19:26AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > I'm over 80 and doing first "from scratch" install since Squeeze ;} > > > Hardware is Lenovo R61 ThinkPad (64 bit). > > > I multi boot [Grub will have at least three options]: > > > 1. minimalist installation - primarily command line usage > > > 2. 64 bit Debian with maximum features > > > 3. 32 bit Debian - couple of applications require a 32 bit OS > > > > All 32-bit x86 software runs on a 64-bit kernel no problem¹ on > > Debian, so it's unlikely you actually need to dedicate a whole > > install to a 32-bit kernel, which also as previously mentioned has a > > single digit of years of remaining lifetime in Debian. > > I don't see anything on https://wiki.debian.org/LTS that implies shorter > lifetime for i386 than anything else. > There will be non i386 installer medium for Trixie when released though i386 will be retained as a release architecture. There are already packages which cannot be built within i386 limitations so the architecture is mostly built using amd64. Some packages for i386 will not now build even on amd64 because of compiler changes. i386 is dead but won't lie down :) > > > > > 4. other installs with strong project dependencies > > > > Dependencies can indeed get out of hand sometimes. > > I wasn't speaking of "software dependencies". For different projects I want > different "working environments". > A single install with all directories in one partition using LVM would be most straightforward. In 160GB and booting using MBR/legacy, you may run out of disk physical partitions anyway. Install with GUI for general use. Switch to a full screen VT for command line use, maybe? > > > > I don't know how much you are up for a learning experience but > > virtual machines or containers can often be a good way to > > compartmentalise projects and their dependencies without needing to > > do whole separate installs. > > Absolutely agreed: the problem is the 1GB memory <snip> > > I looked into VMs long ago. For my style - no advantages worth the effort. > > > Finally there can be systemd .mount units outside of fstab, but > > again that is not typical and you'd know if you added those. > > > > Thanks, > > Andy > > > Richard, You are going to be *significantly* limited by hardware here with the size and memory requirements of modern Debian. Make life simpler: install a desktop environment with lower memory requirements like XFCE and try and minimise diverse requirements. *DO* read the release notes. If you want to make significant customisations, I'd suggest a text only install, maybe using the expert install option. All the very best, as ever, Andy (amaca...@debian.org) >
