Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

tedrogers · 2017-10-04 07:58:12

Hi all,

I want to install Bunsen onto an external hard drive that will be used exclusively on another laptop. I absolutely don't want to touch the main hard drive on the other laptop.

I've successfully done this with Fedora 26, which runs okay, but I want to speed, stability and lightweightness (is that a word!) of Bunsen, since it will be running entirely from USB-2 5400rpm hard drive.

I realise I will need to reinstall Bunsen fresh on my other machine, and I could do this while thing the long way by manually re-building the new machine to be exactly like the this one I'm typing from now, but is there a way to automate some of this?

I expect, at the least, I probably need to copy over...

menu.xml
rc.xml
tint2rc
.conkyrc

...to my new machine to make it look and function the same. The rest should be a simple matter of reinstalling the packages that I need, right?

All my personal files are stored on a cloud, so /home is taken care of once I install my cloud service.

It would be nicest if I could simply setup the partitions on the USB-2 drive, partimage over the Bunsen partitions, edit the grub and boot, but I suspect I will run into problems with that since the hardware on the new laptop is different to the current one.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-10-05 06:34:09

You could use BLOB to save your desktop configuration and then copy the folder over to the new system and restore it all back.

Check the openbox menu entry for details

EDIT: a full system backup & restore with `rsync` (or similar) should also work but I think BL's /etc/fstab uses UUIDs so they would have to be changed and the bootloader reinstalled & reconfigured.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-10-05 06:36:35)

tedrogers · 2017-10-05 07:55:11

Thanks for the advice...I'll investigate. However, right now I am unable to successfully install BL on a USB drive and have it boot after making sure to install grub on the external USB drive (rather than the first drive). I'm trying again today, and manually configuring the drive in gparted first so I've got a GPT part table and a small boot partition.

Steve · 2017-10-05 08:43:56

I successfully cloned my other computers hdd that had BL on it with all my settings boot config over to a larger hdd using acronis disk clone software. Once the clone was done i swapped hdds and it booted with no issues. I think what you need is a little bit more detailed though, sounds as if you want to dual boot using an external hdd and keep say Windows intact on the other machine and be able to boot both and have the same settings as the BL machine on the portable HDD?

Last edited by Steve (2017-10-05 08:44:52)

tedrogers · 2017-10-05 13:34:19

Steve wrote:

I successfully cloned my other computers hdd that had BL on it with all my settings boot config over to a larger hdd using acronis disk clone software. Once the clone was done i swapped hdds and it booted with no issues. I think what you need is a little bit more detailed though, sounds as if you want to dual boot using an external hdd and keep say Windows intact on the other machine and be able to boot both and have the same settings as the BL machine on the portable HDD?

You nailed it. That's exactly it.

My second attempt to boot from a fresh BL install on USB drive failed today too. Must be a grub issue. Right now, no real idea why, but I'm guessing the grub if referencing a mount point that doesn't exist. It just hangs with a flashing carat.

Bearded_Blunder · 2017-10-05 14:59:17

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

You could use BLOB to save your desktop configuration and then copy the folder over to the new system and restore it all back.
Check the openbox menu entry for details
EDIT: a full system backup & restore with `rsync` (or similar) should also work but I think BL's /etc/fstab uses UUIDs so they would have to be changed and the bootloader reinstalled & reconfigured.

/etc/hostname would need changing too if they were ever to be booted on the same network.

brontosaurusrex · 2017-10-06 02:39:53

And /etc/hosts perhaps.

randomeur · 2017-10-21 22:35:38

tedrogers wrote:

My second attempt to boot from a fresh BL install on USB drive failed today too.

I have BL installed on a 16GB USB pendrive that I sometimes use on an old laptop at work.
It stutters sometimes given the bottleneck of the USB 2.0 interface but otherwise it works fine.

I had no problems installing it on the pendrive using another live usb stick. I had previously formatted the drive to 2 primary partitions (for root[ext4] and swap). When prompted where to install the bootloader, I chose the pendrive. It took forever mind you to install, I let it run overnight, but by morning all was good.

Bearded_Blunder · 2017-10-21 23:15:43

I too have an install on a USB stick I use on a laptop with no hard drive (or caddy for one), I had no issues installing, other than making sure to pick the right USB stick as the target.

#1 2017-10-04 07:58:12

Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#2 2017-10-05 06:34:09

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#3 2017-10-05 07:55:11

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#4 2017-10-05 08:43:56

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#5 2017-10-05 13:34:19

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#6 2017-10-05 14:59:17

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#7 2017-10-06 02:39:53

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#8 2017-10-21 22:35:38

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

#9 2017-10-21 23:15:43

Re: Duplicating my Bunsen install on a different machine?

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