How can I easily back up my system - FINALLY got everything working

[evans62]

Almost every time I get a kernel update it breaks my wireless card and/or WICD. I need to get smart about this,

I would like to continue accepting kernel updates, but would also like a backup tool in case something breaks.

Suggestions?

[The Liquidator]

Re: How can I easily back up my system - FINALLY got everything working

Does this happen when you get kernel updates or when you get new kernel versions?

If the latter, what happens when you boot into an earlier kernel version. Does it work then?

For info what wifi card have you got and are you running it natively or with ndiswrapper?

[evans62]

Re: How can I easily back up my system - FINALLY got everything working

I guess new kernel versions. I could have sworn that sometimes even booting into the earlier version it would still be broken.

I did have a card with ndiswrapper until just now. I went out and got one that I saw a post where someone bought the same card (tenda W322P v 2.0), just plugged it in, and it worked.

So I bought it, plugged it in, and it didn't work - I found a post where supposedly it tries to use the wrong drivers (rt2800) instead of the right one (rt3562STA), so I ended up doing a make and a make install to get it working.

[The Liquidator]

Re: How can I easily back up my system - FINALLY got everything working

Is this the post to which you refer?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1612271&page=4

[woodsmoke]

Re: How can I easily back up my system - FINALLY got everything working

As to backing up the system.

I started doing a very simple thing several years ago.

There is an unsung HERO of Linux known as Fragadelic.

He developed an application which, quite simply, does a COMPLETE backup of the "information" on your system or the whole system, WITH updates etc.

Quite a few of the "old line" people got irritated at this because a bunch of "fly by nights" started making new distros with a couple of cosmetic changes and instead of giving them to family and friends started hawking them as new distros.

The application is that good.

So......im just kinda stupid about all this Linuxy stuff so I wouldn't have the slightest idea of how to make a new distro or even how to make a good slice of toast!!

But what I started doing was.....if the app is not in the repos of a distro then I went to his site and downloaded the deb and put it on a cd, but otherwise in one way or another...installed it.

And when I have the distro exactly working the way it needs to be I make a "distributable remastersys" of the .iso. It is a file called "custom .iso" in the remastersys folder.

I then date it etc. and tuck it safely away in a sleeve and put it in a drawer that is just for my backups.

The next time there are major updates and i tweak in some other way i repeat.

It sounds like a waste of cds but I didn't spend big bucks on an external hard drive(although I DO have one for backing up day to day data which is then moved to cd on a regular basis) and if something goes bonkers all I have to do is get the cd and reinstall.

Kinda laborious but the system has worked without fail for several years now.

As an example, I really like #! and spent a LONG time getting that tower desktop exactly right with Conky etc. etc. A particular wallpaper, multimedia set into Conky you name it.. a very complex script in Conky.

As a test I then installed the #! custom .iso on a LAPTOP. ... and the exact desktop etc. came up but needed some updates for hardware which it did and bingo!

just a suggestion, of little worth.

woodsmoke