Upgrading from Debian 9 "Stretch" to Debian 10 "Buster"

[user328]

And by "upgrade," I mean backing up my files and doing a complete D&R (delete and reinstall). 

Because upgrading from one version to the next is complicated, and runs a high risk of hosing your system.



Especially if you have non-free software or software from third-party repos. Which I have.

My Lenovo requires a non-free firmware blob for the AMD graphics accelerator.

I've also let people persuade me to install Skype and other third party shit on it. No more of that.

The only third-party software I'll be using from now on is Etcher, and I won't install that until I need it.

[Mister Obvious]

LMAO by the title I thought this thread was gonna be a punchline to a dirty joke...

[user328]

I think the Debian release names are from Toy Story characters.

2.0 Hamm
2.1 Slink
2.2 Potato
3.0 Woody
3.1 Sarge
4.0 Etch
5.0 Lenny
6.0 Squeeze
7 Wheezy
8 Jessie
9 Stretch
10 Buster
11 Bullseye

[user328]

LMAO by the title I thought this thread was gonna be a punchline to a dirty joke...

Dude, I saw a title today that struck me as hilariously kinky until I saw the gut-wrenching misery behind it.

The Evil Torture Nuns of Magdalene Asylum

[user328]

I once dreamed of running a home for wayward girls.

Once.

Ennyhew, it took a few hours, but the Buster ISO finally downloaded. Should've used a torrent.

And I found the instructions for installing the AMD firmware.

Unfortunately, I forgot to buy blank DVDs on my snack run earlier.

[Mister Obvious]

I once dreamed of running a home for wayward girls.

[user328]

I decided to install from an SD card instead of burning a DVD since I had a card at hand.

Debian Live wouldn't run from the SD card, complaining about the missing Radeon firmware.

I look at it like this. I have to install Debian 10 because I can't keep an OS version that is no longer upgradeable. And I should be able to install the firmware after the OS, just like before. So I went ahead and ran the installer.

[user328]

Well, that was a dismal failure, and opened so many rabbit holes that I decided to download the "unofficial" ISO containing the non-free firmware rather than go down any of them.

Protip: Always have a second PC on hand in case you "brick" the target machine and need something from the Internet to fix it.

[Mister Obvious]

I like reading about your technical journeys, Dev.

[user328]

This one ended in tragedy, I'm afraid.

The first Debian Live disk found my wifi adapter and connected to it, but neither of the two Debian installations, nor the second Debian Live disk, nor Ubuntu was able to find it after that.

Now, I had been having issues with the adapter on Stretch. It would occasionally disconnect, and I'd have to restart either the driver or the OS to make it work again. But at least it worked.

Something else annoyed me about the unofficial Buster distro, the one with the firmware. The ubiquitous terminal was conspicuously absent. I actually had to search for "terminal" in the start menu, which found four, none of which were the cool default terminal in Stretch.

Really, man?

Do you mean to stand there pimpin' a shiny new Linux distro and tell me a decent terminal don't come with it?

Also, a lot of Linux commands that I needed to troubleshoot the wifi adapter, such as ifconfig, were missing.

From Debian.

[Mister Obvious]

Dude TBH?

All that shit sounds like too much trouble.

[user328]

The only other option would be Windows 10, and that ain't gonna happen.

The wifi adapter is either obsolete or burnt out by now. I'm going to get a USB wifi adapter that's known to work well with Linux. Then I can install everything else I need for a proper Debian system.

[Mister Obvious]

The only other option would be Windows 10, and that ain't gonna happen.

Oh come on Dev...

It'll only hurt for a minute!