Upgrading PixInsight to latest version on my Linux Mint tower computer.

[Gina]

Downloaded and installed the latest version of PixInsight following the instructions and it seemed to go fine but when I choose PixInsight from the Graphics menu nothing happens!  I suspect I may need to upgrade my version of Linux Mint.

This is how I proceeded :-

1. Logged into my PI account and downloaded the new version.
2. Created folder pi-install2 in Home and copied downloaded file into it. 
3. Followed instructions on the PI web site for installation, changing downloaded filename to right one.  All went smoothly with removal of old version included.

Screenshot of installation process.

Checked the PixInsight System Requirements.

I noticed this :-

Quote

PixInsight 1.8.8-8 for Linux requires a 64-bit Linux distribution with glibc version 2.27 (January 2018) or later and GLIBCXX_3.4.29 / CXXABI_1.3.12 (GCC 9.3.0 or later).

I think my version is probably pre-2018:-
.

Do I need to upgrade my Linux version?   Do other things look adequate?

Any other comments?

Edited October 15, 2021 by Gina

[rotatux]

Hi, I don't know about Mint, I recall it is or was an Ubuntu/Debian variant... so check with your usual package manager GUI (synaptic ?) for versions of packages "libc6" or "glibc", "libgcc..." or "gcc-libs" (unsure about the hyphen).

You can also look out on command line with commands like "dpkg -l | grep libgcc".

PS: I hope you kept the installer for the previous version, you may need it 😕

Edit : according to Distrowatch there https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint your version 18 has GCC 5 and GLIBC 2.23 so I'm afraid that yes it's too old (latest Mint 20 would be required)

Edited October 15, 2021 by rotatux

[Gina]

Pretty sure I have the previous installer.

[Gina]

Think I should backup the home SSD image before upgrading the version.  Must look up how to do that.

Yes,Mint is a "fork" of Ubuntu which is based on Debian.

[Gina]

I've used dd in the past and other tools.  Of course, to copy the system drive I shall need to boot from a Live Linux system, either CD or USB stick.

Any recommendations?

[Gina]

Have tested booting main PC from USB stick so I can use that to make an image backup of my system drive onto a USB external drive before running an upgrade.

[Gina]

Found this :-

https://www.maketecheasier.com/back-up-entire-hard-drive-linux/

Most of this I know of but section 4. TAR looks like a much simpler way than using a Live Linux USB stick.  It looks too good to be true.  Anyone done this?  Or any other comments.

What about the problem of changing the system drive when using it?  

Edited October 15, 2021 by Gina

[JamesF]

I'm trying to respond to this thread, but every time I submit my original response I just get the existing thread back without an error.  No idea why

James

[JamesF]

And now of course I've lost everything I'd typed.  Grrrrrr.

James

[Gina]

When I get that problem I type into an editor and copy.  Then if post lost I can just paste rather than retyping the lot.

[Gina]

BTW.  I see I need to update my signature - things have progressed.  I look a fair bit older than my avatar too!!!

Edited October 15, 2021 by Gina

[rotatux]

On 15/10/2021 at 20:02, Gina said:

I've used dd in the past and other tools.  Of course, to copy the system drive I shall need to boot from a Live Linux system, either CD or USB stick.

Any recommendations?

On 15/10/2021 at 20:52, Gina said:

Most of this I know of but section 4. TAR looks like a much simpler way than using a Live Linux USB stick.  It looks too good to be true.  Anyone done this?  Or any other comments.

Different ways for different needs :

• at filesystem level => tar, rsync. Will save your files efficiently with Unix attributes but not the structure of the system (such as boot files)
• at disk block level => partclone, fsarchiver. Will save your partitions efficiently (only used blocks of the filesystem) but require knowledge to manipulate.
• at device level => dd and clones. Will save all the raw disk blocks, hence not efficient at all.

For an easy backup solution I recommend RescueZilla (not to be confused with CloneZilla). It can save and restore efficiently your whole system or a subpart, all with a user-friendly GUI. But you have to boot into it for operations. I have given it to my father who has 0 linux knowledge and he copes with it.

[Gina]

Thanks Fabien.   I'll have a look at RescueZilla.  Was going to try CloneZilla but the instructions look a little strange.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Gina

[Gina]

This is the partition structure on my system SSD.

/dev/sda2 contains the OS and lots of data files.  Not the best allocation methinks.  A 450.31 GiB image is going to take a lot of space and a long time to back up.  Better do it once then move some of the data off elsewhere and shrink the partition.  Of course, with hindsight it would be different!!!

Edited October 18, 2021 by Gina

[Gina]

Downloaded Rescuezilla and wrote it to a USB stick with balenaEtcher, booted into that and used it to backup the /dev/sda2 partition image.  Took 98m.

Very easy and straightforward.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Gina

[Gina]

Have now run sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade and let it upgrade Linux Mint to the latest version.  Just wants a restart to run it.  Just need the nerve!!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

7 minutes ago, Gina said:

Have now run sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade and let it upgrade Linux Mint to the latest version.  Just wants a restart to run it.  Just need the nerve!!

Good luck with the reboot 🙂 

Steve

[Gina]

Rebooted but it still seems to be running the old version. 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Can't live without them I suppose but some days I really hate computers 🙂 

Steve

[JamesF]

In the GUI, there's an option in the update manager tool to upgrade the version you're running.  I think you need to open the update manager and perhaps in the edit menu there'll be an item to upgrade the system.

James

[Gina]

Thanks James.  Guess I could choose option 3. 

Alternatively, perhaps setup a dual boot system with a choice of both old and new.

[JamesF]

I honestly can't recall which I use.  Probably option 3.  I do it under manual control though, so I can see what's going to get updated before it happens.

James

[Gina]

I thought running sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade would upgrade to the latest version but this time it didn't.

[JamesF]

No, that usually just makes sure you have all the updates for your current system.

James

[scotty38]

I think you need apt-get dist-upgrade to ensure kernel updates