Howdy y’all! This is my first post, so please let me know if I’m doing something wrong.

I’ve been fighting to get the latest Bookworm installed over my existing Bullseye installation. I think I might need to wipe and start over 😢

My previous install was with xfce primarily, but I had installed Gnome to see what’s up with Wayland. I had forgotten all about Gnome until I updated to Bookworm…

The install appeared fine at first, but much much slower loading up.

When it booted, I had no Wi-Fi. 8 figured, okay, let’s get that installed the same way I did it before.

Welp, it identified as an Intel AC adapter. It’s actually an a/b adapter. I checked logs, and the system couldn’t load the driver. So I installed atheros-firmware (correct driver) and rebooted. Still no.

So I read and read and saw that Gnome could conflict. So I booted into Gnome.

And my heart fluttered at the huge difference. 😍 Still no Wi-Fi, but holy freaking cow was it buttery smooth! No dropped frames!! No compositor shoe horned in!

I immediately started removing XFCE4. Couldn’t get very far before the system tried to remove Gnome with it.

I went through and marked each file individually for complete removal and checked the pop up for what would be removed with it to ensure gnome would be left alone.

While doing that, I also removed the atheros package.

A few reboots, and still no Wi-Fi, so I reinstalled the atheros package and rebooted.

Boom! Wi-Fi works! Awesome!!

But the computer is VERY slow booting, and the log that runs at boot still says none of the drivers are loading. Errors everywhere.

I don’t know these things, but since Gnome loads eventually with everything working… it feels like Gnome is duplicating the boot scans and that’s resulting in a full 6 minutes before the cursor appears (and another 2 minutes before there’s anything to click on)

The laptop also has a touch screen that randomly touches itself and screws up everything. I eventually found a way to disable it, still not sure exactly what worked.

I’ve got a 120Gig SSD that should fit, but the current 1T HDD is real nice to have for downloads… so I would prefer to keep it if possible…

What are y’all’s input on this?

Why is it so slow to boot?

What can I do to get drivers to load on boot? Does it matter, since it all works?

Is my Wi-Fi driver really not loading? But some compatibility thing is making it work?

What other Wayland issues should I be aware of? Like how xinput is useless?

I’m thinking of doing a fresh install, but if I’m going to have the same issues…

“You’ve chosen to hold back some packages”

No, I did not.

I’ve used Synaptic to mark things as automatic install, and dpkg to clear that error, but still cannot remove LibreOffice without it trying to remove Gnome 😢

I hate LibreOffice and the gigs of language files. I don’t need a heavy app taking 5 whole minutes to load up to edit a simple text file with no extension. (I’ve since been setting every file for of text to open with a svelte text editor)

I should let y’all know, I switched to Linux on this machine because Windows 10 would start doing something and then ignore all input for random amounts of time. I got sick of it and threw Debian on it instead and never looked back.

The machine was immediately refreshed and booted in less than 2 minutes.

That was back on Buster. Then I did the Bullseye update and had major sound issues. I did a ton of stuff I don’t remember anymore and I’m still using Pulse. I fixed it is the point. Now the Bookworm update. 🤯

I would love it if I knew a wipe and install would fix the speed issues… That’s really my only complaint at this time…

I eventually managed to remove most of XFCE, and most of the languages of LibreOffice… but I’m thinking I should do a netinst and that should allow me to avoid LibreOffice…

I literally only watch media and browse the Internet with this machine. I figure if I needed word processing, Google Docs or another computer…

  • superkret@lemmy.ml
    1·
    1 year ago

    A reinstall will get you back to a working desktop for watching media and browsing the internet within half an hour.
    Much faster than trying to backtrack all the stuff you did and figuring out what’s wrong.

    And you seem to have messed up quite a bit by trying to remove a lot of stuff manually, package by package. IMO that’s a waste of time, and has a 50/50 chance of messing up apt.
    All they take up is a bit of drive space (likely less than 1GB). Just remove what you don’t need from autostart and the menus if it bothers you.

    • Benjamin@lemmings.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’ve clearly broken something then, because after removing my media files… the install is over 200gigs.

      I’m brand new to Gnome; I thought you could freely add Desktop Environments without conflict? I’ve since removed XFCE and am all in on Wayland… I think? Is Wayland the same as XWayland? 🤦‍♂️

      If I install Gnome cleanly, will it still install and use Wayland?

      And I discovered my BIOS is password protected 🫣 and I can’t remember it 😢

      • superkret@lemmy.ml
        2·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, 200GB is not normal. Sounds more like you at some point clicked “select all” and then “install” in Synaptic. (This kills the Debian)

        Yes, you can install different DEs without conflict.
        But manually and individually removing all packages you think belong to one DE will lead to breakage. XWayland is like a compatibility layer that lets programs designed for X work in Wayland.

        Yes, if you install and start Gnome, you’re using Wayland. Programs that can’t will use XWayland. You don’t have to worry about it.

        Then google how to reset the BIOS password on your hardware. Sometimes it’s a jumper you can reset, sometimes you have to take out the CMOS battery, sometimes you have to call the manufacturer and provide proof of purchase.

        • Benjamin@lemmings.worldOPEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          I found a web site, biosbug.com, and was able to generate an unlock code.

          Yeah, really looks like I ought to do a clean install I think.

          The system takes forever to boot, but it’s pretty responsive after…

          I appreciate the help and info greatly. I’ll eventually get it right! 🤦‍♂️

  • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Do yourself a favour and install Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE 6). It’s Debian without the pain.

    They also have 32bit if your pc needs it.

    • Benjamin@lemmings.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I’ve got an even older machine, Intel Atom, 2Gigs RAM, and I’m running 64bit XFCE4 there quite decently, but thank you for the info. How much longer do you think 32bit has? I thought web browsers already switched to only 64bit?

      ZRam is good stuff

      • danielfgom@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Really hard to say. I suppose as long as someone still uses it. But I’d guess it must be a handful of PC’s now. Maybe 1000 or so? 🤷

  • thayer@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Honestly mate, it sounds like you’ve done a number of customizations, tweaks, and package changes, some of which you didn’t document and now cannot recall.

    The easiest and cleanest solution is to drop-in your much faster SSD and perform a fresh installation. If you run into any post-install issues, you’ll at least have a clean system to troubleshoot. And the performance difference will be night and day.

    Try not to get hung up on having LibreOffice around. It’s just an application. The reality is there are likely hundreds of binary files on your system that you’ll never use. And you might even find it handy some day if you’re without internet and need to work on a document or spreadsheet.

    As for the old 1TB drive, you could purchase a USB drive enclosure and use it as an external drive for storage or backups if you don’t already have a solution for that.

    Edit: As of Bookworm’s release, firmware is now provided by the non-free-firmware repo, enabled by default and included on the official installation media. It might not be included on the netinst media though, so if you need wifi during setup I would stick to the standard ISOs.

    • Benjamin@lemmings.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Yeah… I’m thinking the SSD is the route… fresh install…

      Your comment about Wi-Fi and net install… yeah… I was assuming my phone set to USB share would work OOTB… probably won’t though, eh?

      I think I’ll snag the Gnome install media and just stick with that.

      Currently, this system is running very decent. At least as well as it did brand new with original software… except the boot times…

      If I go the SSD route, the drive can be left as is in case I totally screw up. I can use the same enclosure from the SSD on the HDD.

      • thayer@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        USB tethering should work fine as well if the firmware isn’t on the netinst media.

        For the boot times, simply pressing the Esc key should drop you into text mode. From there, it should be pretty obvious where it’s hanging in the boot cycle.