Assuming you told the installer to format the partitions after you re-assigned the names, it should have done just that. If what you were having problems with related to configuration files in your home directory, then when you logged in, you would have received the same home directory and configuration files you had before. What I do before a new install on an existing installation is rename my old home directories to something else. That way when I create the users again, they get fresh configuration files. I then assign rights to the "old" directories and can move anything back that I want.
Joe On Saturday 05 January 2002 10:38 am, you wrote: > Within the last week I managed to get Mandrake 8.1 installed on my > newest computer. I used the expert install, and after a few initial > problems it seems to work, (except that I can't get to the "virtual > terminals" (1 thru 6) -- but that's the subject of a different post). > > The intent of this post is to describe the biggest problem I had during > the installation, and find out if anybody else experiences similar > problems. In a way it's not a big deal, because I know how to work > around the problem. It's just that, when I mentioned the problem on > some mail lists about 18 months ago it was sort of pooh-poohed as if it > can't happen. I'm sure it can happen (although I might have the wrong > understanding of the cause), and it should be more well known and steps > considered to overcome it. > > My theory is that if you install (I don't mean upgrade) Linux on top of > an existing installation, the new installation does not totally wipe out > the previous installation, and, under the right circumstances, if you > had problems with the previous installation, you may have those same (or > similar) problems with the new installation. If you take certain steps > during the installation, you can avoid this problem. > > For me, those certain steps have included: > * Rearranging the partition table so that no new partition is in the > same location (and size) as the same partition from the previous > installation. (Well, except for partitions like /home or Windows > partitions.) > * Changing the file type of partitions (except for /home and Windows > partitions). > > My recent experience: > > The first time I tried to install Mandrake 8.1 I tried to install it on > the existing (Reiser) partitions from a 7.2 install. During the install > I went through the partitioning procedure merely (IIRC) adding the names > back to the partitions that already existed (and formatting those that I > did not intend to preserve, i.e., other than my /home and some windows > partitions that existed.) The install didn't work. (Can't recall all > the problems, don't think it even successfully booted.) > > On the next try, I changed all the partitions except /boot from Reiser > to jfs (/boot is ext2). This time the install worked (well, reasonably > well -- I must remember not to test the SiS 630 video during the install > -- testing it causes problems on all Linux's I've tried since Mandrake > 7.2 (i.e., Redhat 7.2, Mandrake 8.0, troktopel 3, and Mandrake 8.1). > > My old experience: > > During my first Linux installation efforts (about 18 months ago as I > experimented with a whole bunch of Linux distros before adopting > Mandrake 7.2) I found that I got better results if I rearranged the > partitions in the partition table so that no partition in the current > install matched a partition in the previous install (except for things > like /home or windows partitions.) If I did not do this, I often found > that a problem from the previous installation still existed in the new > installation, even if I thought I changed relevant options during the > install. If I did do this, I typically did not experience recurrence of > previous problems (unless I repeated a poor choice during the > reinstallation). > > Randy Kramer > > Background info (totally irrelevant, I think): > * The computer that demonstrates the problem most recently uses a > Duron 700 MHz. on a Matsonic MS8308EP motherboard with integrated video > (SiS 730/630), sound, and NIC -- but I'm using a different NIC to get > coax ethernet. 256 MB RAM. The experience from 18 months ago was with > several different computers.
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