Debian Buster preview

Two and a half years ago, I updated this computer to Debian Stretch while it was still Testing (the pre-release version) but in freeze (a stage when no new packages are added and bugs are ironed out).

Stretch has been a rock solid and reliable Debian release, both on this machine and on a later purchase, now the main family computer. But with a new version approaching, I always get the urge to try it out.

So, a few days ago, I updated the older computer, now rarely used, to Buster, which again is still strictly Testing but in freeze.

I'll make the same warning as I did at that time: Buster is still in Testing and can break. If it breaks, you get to keep the pieces.

So here is Debian Buster:

I have to confess I ditched the doggy wallpaper straight away and used the Moonlight wallpaper by Juliette Taka Belin.

Back in 2016 I wrote "The update was pleasantly painless with no issues". This time I wasn't quite so lucky. I ran out of disk space during the installation, and got this message:

No space left on device

I had tried to check if there was enough space for the upgrade using a command I found here (which suggested I had just barely enough). This computer has a separate root partition, given the default size of 10GB by the installer. This default size is really too small nowadays- at least for a Gnome install update.

Luckily I was able to run apt-get clean and apt-get autoclean to make enough space to finish the upgrade. Although I was given an error message before I could continue:

dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem 

When the upgrade completed, I rebooted the computer but it froze with just the cursor visible in the top left of the screen. That's my installation borked, I though, and went to bed.

However, the next morning I found I could boot into Rescue Mode and get a command prompt. I cleaned up the disc and found I could load the default installation. Hurrah!

Now I have Gnome running reasonably well. It does seem a bit slower than Stretch at times, despite the claim that Gnome 3.30 is lighter on resources. I may try a clean install at some point to see if that makes any improvement. This is a very low spec machine, it has to be said.

The most obvious change in is a switch from an icon grid to a sidebar list in Gnome settings. There are also minor changes to the file manager, and the addition of a Night Light mode, which changes the screen to a sepia tone, which apparently reduces eye stain at night.

One bug I have found so far is that the Gnome file manager does not create thumbnails for image files. This is a known bug, and quite easy to rectify by installing libgdk-pixbuf2.0-bin.

For me,  Stretch was a big improvement over Jessie. This update by comparison seems to add only minor improvements. My impressions so far are good, but I can live with my Stretch install on my main computer for a while. I will see what bugs get knocked out of Buster (a few fleas?) before updating it.

At least having an old laptop around I can scratch my update itch without inflicting those fleas on the family.