[sf-lug] seeking update advice

[Akkana Peck]

jim writes:
>     I'm entertaining the idea of two OSs, Ubuntu 13.04 
> and Knoppix 7.0.5; I want to get hard media for each. 
> 
> * Are these releases okay or good? (Should I get older 
>   releases or wait for an upcoming release?) 

Nobody knows yet how good 13.04 is, since it won't be released for
at least a month. Usually it takes about a month after release for
people to get a sense of whether a new release is solid or flaky.
Personally I still have my Ubuntu machines on 12.04, but I haven't
heard anything bad about 12.10. I know nothing about Knoppix.

> * For previous Ubuntu releases I have added packages for 
>   word processors, graphics, and other applications. 
>     There is a lot of software overlap between Ubuntu and 
>   Knoppix and some differences: for example, I like Abi 
>   Word, which comes with Knoppix but not with Unbuntu 
>   (not 10.04, anyway). 

Ubuntu has always had abiword, though it's not in the default
installation -- you have to apt-get it.

>     The clean, simple, stupid (a good thing, fewer bugs) 
>   way is to install each distro in separate partitions and 
>   use dual boot to work with either. 

That works fine.

>     The complex, uber-smart, potentially hair-pulling 
>   way is to install each such that they use the same 
>   directories such as /var/ and /usr/ and /lib/ and 
>   possibly /etc/ and so on, differing only in the /boot/ 
>   directories for grub and kernel and other differences. 
>   This complex way will have to accommodate installation 
>   of new packages 

I'd be extremely surprised if that worked. The two distros will use
different versions of nearly every library and software package,
so whenever you update one, you'll be overwriting packages from
the other, even if apt-get doesn't notice the difference and
complain. The resulting system is likely to be flaky and
unpredictable, and of course neither Ubuntu people nor Knoppix
people will be able to help you with problems since the software
you're running is neither Ubuntu nor Knoppix.

I do use one shared /home partition that I use from all distros.
But if you use certain packages with complex config directories --
particularly firefox, gnome and kde -- you may not be able to do
that, and may need to play with symlinks for any data you want
shared among all distros.

I do use firefox, but I run the same version everywhere (installed
to /usr/local) so I don't have to worry about waiting while it
reinstalls all its extensions every time I reboot to a different distro.

>     I'm sure there's a lot of middle ground between the two 
>   above install cases. There's even install Ubuntu 13.04 
>   and carry a Knoppix USB stick (I don't like this one much). 

That works too, but why bother? Running from a USB stick is slow,
and with 500GB you have no space issues.  I usually reserve 4 partitions
for OS installs, even though I typically use only one 80% of the time,
You never know when you might want to try a new distro.

	...Akkana