#2801 2026-02-24 13:29:24

PackRat

jgmenu user Numero Uno

Registered: 2015-10-02

Posts: 2,823

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

However, Pacman was locked for some reason and as a result I was unable to install any fresh software;

error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)

Usually means there is another instance of pacman running, or the previous process didn't terminate properly. You need to delete the db.lck file.

sudo rm -r /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

is the typical fix.

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You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,124

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

And Mrs. Pacman will get really upset.
(sorry - could not help myself)

We now return you to your regular programming.

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Debian 12 Beardog, SoxDog and still a Conky 1.9er

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,559

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

However, Pacman was locked for some reason and as a result I was unable to install any fresh software;

error: failed to init transaction (unable to lock database)

Usually means there is another instance of pacman running, or the previous process didn't terminate properly. You need to delete the db.lck file.

sudo rm -r /var/lib/pacman/db.lck

is the typical fix.

Thanks for replying. I found a temporary fix - I rebooted (didn't think logging out would be drastic enough) and then logged back in again, and I was able to install a couple more programs before it happened again ...

I am slowly getting on top of it though, and advice like that goes a long way to help so thanks again.

WizardofCOR

Member

Registered: 2023-07-28

Posts: 25

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

UCS/Nubus (deb-based AD), Mint, Kali, Ubuntu and of course, BL.
Thinking of doing Arch on a NUC that's been sitting in my closet, or maybe freeBSD.  Just need a purpose, really.
Can always spin up VM's on my ESXI, but still deciding on purposes and architecture - like maybe pihole, Wazuh, TheHive, OpenVAS, Grafana, Authentik, or Wireguard.

Yet out of all of them, I gotta admit - BL has been my overwhelming favorite.

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Just a dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude...

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,559

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Increasingly now I'm finding that ISOs are getting too big to be burnt to even a DVD-R - the latest installation ISO of Alien Bob's Slackware Current comes to 5.0 GB.

It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Last edited by Colonel Panic (Yesterday 23:20:30)

MarkW

Member

Registered: 2024-11-03

Posts: 433

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Had a look at the latest KaOS.  Niri is certainly interesting

greenjeans

Member

Registered: 2025-01-18

Posts: 307

Website

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Increasingly now I'm finding that ISOs are getting too big to be burnt to even a DVD-R - the latest installation ISO of Alien Bob's Slackware Current comes to 5.0 GB.

It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Mintstick is what I typically use for a quickie burn, very reliable, in the debian repo too.

PackRat

jgmenu user Numero Uno

Registered: 2015-10-02

Posts: 2,823

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Had a look at the latest KaOS.  Niri is certainly interesting

Did you install it, or just run the live session?

Pretty radical change for them.

---

You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

MarkW

Member

Registered: 2024-11-03

Posts: 433

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

Just ran the live session.

kozimodo

Member

Registered: 2015-10-04

Posts: 131

Re: Distro-hoppers anonymous

It means that I have to have a utility in another distro that will burn the ISO to a USB pendrive and make it bootable - MX has such a utility, and there are probably other distros that have one too.

Ventoy.net.  You can have multiple ISOs that you simply copy to your flash drive and boot from any of them.  Supports multitudes of distros and Windows installer ISOs.