This is my first post here… I installed 12.1 choosing the minimal install (console/server only), and I would like to convert this installed system into a graphical/KDE-based, as if I had chosen KDE during the installation.
For reasons that are not relevant, install again from scratch is not a choice (I can explain if anyone is interested). Run the installer as update is not a choice either.
I can, however, install any package using YaST. Indeed, I already selected the package patterns for KDE4 Base System and KDE4 Desktop Environment. However, the system doesn’t boot showing the nice chamaleon, neither shows KDM login, and when I log into X, all what I have is an ugly TWM.
It didn’t work (which surprises me). In any case, I solved in a non-orthodox way: I installed with KDE from scratch in an external drive. Once it finished, I booted with a live CD, mounted both the system I wanted to change and the fresh system in the external drive, deleted everything in the previous and replaced by the installation from the external disk. Then I made the needed changes on the fstab and re-created manually the initrd… Not an elegant solution, but solved my problem relatively fast…
On 2011-11-24 21:36, amwink wrote:
>
> Hi Caf,
>
> It didn’t work (which surprises me). In any case, I solved in a
> non-orthodox way: I installed with KDE from scratch in an external
> drive. Once it finished, I booted with a live CD, mounted both the
> system I wanted to change and the fresh system in the external drive,
> deleted everything in the previous and replaced by the installation from
> the external disk. Then I made the needed changes on the fstab and
> re-created manually the initrd… Not an elegant solution, but solved my
> problem relatively fast…
Wow. An overkill solution, which I have used in case of disaster.
In your case, I would have installed to another partition or disk, and then
simply compare the list of packages on both.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
Yes, I tried that too, saving an XML file from YaST, than importing into the other system. The packages were installed, but no joy. I believe the installation may run some scripts that does things that just the addition of packages later doesn’t.
I used the external drive because I cannot modify the partitioning of that computer. It has just 1 partition, NTFS, that cannot be changed. OpenSUSE is installed into a 100GB file that lives in the NTFS partition. This big file is encrypted and formatted as ext4 (viewed as /dev/loop0, then mapped for decryption and mounted as “/”). The bootloader, the kernel and initrd are in an USB memory stick. Hence why I couldn’t simply run the installer again – the installer cannot see the file in the NTFS partition…
On 2011-11-25 16:06, amwink wrote:
>
> Hi Robin,
>
> Yes, I tried that too, saving an XML file from YaST, than importing
> into the other system. The packages were installed, but no joy.
I was thinking of “rpm -qa”
> I
> believe the installation may run some scripts that does things that just
> the addition of packages later doesn’t.
Might be.
> I used the external drive because I cannot modify the partitioning of
> that computer. It has just 1 partition, NTFS, that cannot be changed.
> OpenSUSE is installed into a 100GB file that lives in the NTFS
> partition. This big file is encrypted and formatted as ext4 (viewed as
> /dev/loop0, then mapped for decryption and mounted as “/”). The
> bootloader, the kernel and initrd are in an USB memory stick. Hence why
> I couldn’t simply run the installer again – the installer cannot see
> the file in the NTFS partition…
Interesting method.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
