Mint 19 Experiencing Problems

[buster]

Some of us have avoided the Mint upgrade because of problems we experienced with it in one form or another. Now a press release has come out from Mint that has been repeated on Distrowatch. I have pasted all of it on our site for convenience. I'll also note I said that you can't go wrong with Mint.
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The Linux Mint project has been dealing with a number of bugs in core packages since the release of Linux Mint 19. The new release, which is based on Ubuntu 18.04, has run into regressions in the MESA, GRUB, kernel, and WINE packages. In the project's July monthly newsletter the team addresses some of the concerns and discusses efforts being made to fix these problems. "More recently, a GRUB update triggered an issue in one of our own packages. That issue could only be triggered by a new GRUB update and so it had gone undetected during QA and the beta test. Although it was fixed in a matter of hours in the repositories, it still affects our installation ISO images and it breaks EFI installations when the live session is connected to the Internet. The release notes were updated to ask people to install off-line. New 64-bit ISO images for Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce were produced with the fixed package and they passed QA yesterday. These new ISOs will replace the current images in the days to come.

Be careful with kernel 4.15.0-24. A critical issue causes some computers to boot really slowly, or not to boot at all. Ubuntu is aware of it and working on a fix. We've also received negative feedback from the 4.15 kernel series in Mint 18.x (based on Ubuntu Xenial). Although Ubuntu decided to switch the HWE series towards it, the 4.15 series doesn't appear to support some proprietary drivers yet (nvidia-3.04 and nvidia-340 among them).

We're also aware of regressions in the Bionic base affecting VPN, Samba, WINE (recently fixed). Ubuntu 18.04 is a brand new base and we're sure it will settle, receive bug fixes and get more mature with time."

[Jason]

These regressions really show the value in using Timeshift or some other snapshot program. Then if bad stuff happens, you can revert to a previous day or week when the system was working fine.

Sad to hear but I guess stuff happens. Might be good to wait another month or two before installing/upgrading to 19, or even wait until 19.1 if you want to be extra careful.

[fox]

Mint 19 already has the kernel update in its (actually, Ubuntu's) repositories. Mint update will update your kernel to 4.15.29. I haven't had any trouble with Mint 19 since installing it, but I also don't have a nvidia graphics card on that computer.

[buster]

Tried to update my 18.3 to 19 again. Fairly long process on the command line, with an ultimate, unexplainable failure.

No big deal, and if I try a third time it may work. But it's boring, and the 18.3 is fine. Surprising though.

[BusterE]

So I got the mintupgrade file again and did at least 8,000 billion upgrades and it seems to have worked this time. Slow process even on my SSD. Not sure why I bother but it's too cold outside and real work doesn't appeal to me. Sort of like doing another Sudoku puzzle.

[Jason]

Hmmm. Wonder why it didn't work before? Maybe you have a flaky SSD?

[buster]

Far, far more likely that the flaw is in the BusterBrain that guided the whole process. In the summer I was successful, and then went back because of dissatisfaction. And this time I missed once and nailed it the second time. I can't blame everything, though I'd like to, on hardware.

[Jason]

I installed a fresh version of LM 18.3 Xfce edition on my laptop and updated it with every update, including kernel updates. Then I proceeded immediately to upgrade to 19 Xfce just to see how it would go using the "official" instructions located here.
After what seemed like an eternity with it downloading updates (probably about 2 hours) , it quit saying that it had trouble with one update and to try again a little later. So I restarted the download process and it said there weren't any more. So then I initiated the actual application of them and it seemed be running along fine but was again taking a long time so this time I watched the screen closely and noticed it was running through the application of updates over and over in a loop. So I used Crtl-C or Ctrz-Z to get out of it (though i might have actually powered off the laptop). Restarted and was able to login into LM and started the process over again.
No luck. It did the same thing again, getting stuck in this loop. I gave up but at this point, but I have no idea if I'm in 18.3 or 19. However, there is a slew of new updates waiting for me so I think it's probably 19. But the fact the upgrade didn't really give me proper output to determine that is distressing.
I recommend anybody moving to 19 that they do a fresh install, preserving or backing up and then restoring /home to retain your settings if you like.I rarely have had issues with this laptop and it's had numerous distros installed on it so I don't think it's me. I am glad that it didn't break when I had to end the program prematurely though.

[buster]

So we both agree it's not our hard drives  . But it is messy. And uncertain. As I wrote earlier, I did get it on the second go-round, but no idea why.

I used the same set of instructions

[buster]

"I recommend anybody moving to 19 that they do a fresh install, preserving or backing up and then restoring /home to retain your settings if you like."

Nice idea for most, but my 120 gig hd is pretty small, so it isn't partitioned. I do use another hd with a /storage file on it, but not a Linux formatted drive, so I rely on Timeshift, on the same drive, to handle the problem. And when I needed it, the process went smoothly.

Anyway, Tessa is supported til 2023, and I doubt the old computer will last that long. I may not last that long.

[fox]

I recommend anybody moving to 19 that they do a fresh install, preserving or backing up and then restoring /home to retain your settings if you like.I rarely have had issues with this laptop and it's had numerous distros installed on it so I don't think it's me. I am glad that it didn't break when I had to end the program prematurely though.

For what it's worth, I've done two Mint upgrades, one 18.3 to 19 without incident. And I've done numerous Ubuntu upgrades without incident. I do agree that a fresh install is the safest, but as long as your data are safe, I don't think the consequences of a botched upgrade are that severe.

[Jason]

For what it's worth, I've done two Mint upgrades, one 18.3 to 19 without incident. And I've done numerous Ubuntu upgrades without incident. I do agree that a fresh install is the safest, but as long as your data are safe, I don't think the consequences of a botched upgrade are that severe.

True, but it is a waste of time. As I said, it took over 2 hours and I'm not sure what I wound up with. Granted I was doing other things but I found it very peculiar that it seemed to have issues upgrading from a freshly installed 18.3 to 19. I would have thought that would be the easiest test case for it. I could have installed LM 19 from scratch several times over in the time it took to do the upgrade.

To be fair, 18.3 to 19 is probably a big leap when you think about 18.x being based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and 19 being based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. It's not like upgrading from Ubuntu 18.04 to 18.10, just to compare.

Anyway, on to better things. I'm giving Manjaro a try on my laptop.

[fox]

....
Anyway, on to better things. I'm giving Manjaro a try on my laptop.

Been there, done that. Manjaro is a very nice program, and definitely makes it easier to use an Arch distro. Their themes and graphics are very well done, too. Ironically, I borked a Manjaro update after about 6 months of having it. In comparison, I've had Arch on a laptop for more than a year and have never borked it!

[Jason]

I've tried it before but the increased interest makes me wonder if something changed in it in the last six months. Their website definitely looks different - a lot more professional.

[fox]

Fodder for our next PLUG meeting presentation??? Or in light of Dougal's post to another thread, maybe he could present Q4OS.