How To Upgrade Debian 9 to Debian 10 Buster via Command line

Alexzee

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Hi:

I found this tutorial yesterday and would like to upgrade my Debian 9 system to Debian 10 Buster.
However before I do I wanted to make sure this was the right instructions.

Can someone take a look and tell me if this looks right? Please-
Here's the link:

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/update-upgrade-debian-9-to-debian-10-buster/

Will I have to reinstall the driver for my wifi card and my gpu again?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 


The instructions look clear and concise to me, but do not ignore Instruction #1. If you make a good backup, it will not be a disaster if things go badly.

I'm not sure about the need to reinstall drivers... you might. I tried running Buster on a live USB and it did not recognize my old graphics card at all. It wouldn't boot because of it. You may want to try the same thing... booting on a live USB first to see how your system may react. But the upgrade process still may work for you, rather than a fresh USB boot.

Good luck!
 
Thanks atanere for answering my questions.
One more question please:

Is there a command that I can run to find out all of the programs that were already installed on the Debian 9 system?

In other words is there a way to get a listing of things (programs and applications etc.) that were installed after the Debian 9 installation was complete?
 
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There are probably over 2000 applications installed... and that list is probably not what you want. The best thing is to keep track yourself of favorite programs as you build out your system. However, when I'm ready to install a new system, I also realize that I do not want all the stuff that I've previously installed and have now forgotten about! The things that I use regularly will quickly come to mind as I get a new OS ready to go.

We discussed a few ways of listing installed programs in another thread not long ago that may help you. There is no perfect solution, but maybe one of the techniques there will give you what you need.

Cheers
 
I've downloaded the .iso for Debian 10 Mate.

At this point I'm not sure if I'm going to perform a fresh install or just use the command-line to upgrade from Stretch to Buster. Decisions, decisions--

Been shopping around online for a new desktop build so I may just hold off on installing Debian 10 until I'm finished with the new build.
 
Spent about an hour maybe a little longer at Micro Center yesterday working with a Tech on 2 different builds.

I'm in the process of trying to decide on the AMD build or the Intel build.
The build for the Intel CPU is higher ($1,100.00) than the AMD ($700.00) build.

When I have more time I'll list both builds, read the reviews and the specs.
 
I'm planning on using my Corsair 550 PSU and my Radeon HD 7750 for my new build. Also I already have a keyboard and mouse so I don't need that. My left speaker isn't working so I think I'll just pick up a HDMI cable so my Vizio will play the audio right from the T.V.

Here's the mobo's and CPU's I'm considering from Micro Center.

MSI MPG Gaming Edge WiFi AM4 Atx AMD
AMD Ryzen 7 3.7 GHz
OR>
As a bundle:
AMD Ryzen 7 2700 with Wraith Spire Cooler Asus Rog Strix x-470 Gaming
w/o WiFi

TP-Link network adapter and either G.Skill or Crucial RAM.

LG Disk Drive

I'm trying to get this build done before Christmas.

How do I tell if the mobo needs more than a 550 PSU?
 
Hello,

First be carefull with dist upgrade. This is really likely to break something : from my own experience the only times when I ended up with a broken system was when upgrading a distro. So many things are going to change that any configuration that you don't override could cause a really hard to find problem.

MSI MPG Gaming Edge WiFi AM4 Atx AMD
AMD Ryzen 7 3.7 GHz
OR>
As a bundle:
AMD Ryzen 7 2700 with Wraith Spire Cooler Asus Rog Strix x-470 Gaming
w/o WiFi

Which Ryzen 7 for the first choice ? Go for a gen 2 (Ryzen 2XXX) unless you aim low budget.

TP-Link network adapter

Consider taking something handling 802.11ax if you want a future-proof NIC.
These cards are still rare but you can go for an AP that you configure as a bridge and plug you computer with ethernet cable. This way no driver problem ^^'

either G.Skill or Crucial RAM

Be carefull with frequency and CAS latency. Ryzen gen 2 can handle fast memory and it has an impact on performances. Try to aim for 3Ghz (or more) memory with a 15 CAS latency (or less)

How do I tell if the mobo needs more than a 550 PSU?

You probably don't. This is 65W AMD CPU. You have a single hard drive. I bet your graphic card wont take more than 300W ^^
 
I've decided not to upgrade. Instead I'm just going to perform a fresh installation.
Unfortunately my current build and my future build is too far away from the router to use an ethernet cable.

I had to change my build as a friend is helping me to pay for the build. Here's the new build:

Asus AM 4 Tuf Gaming x-570 Plus WiFi ATX
AMD Ryzen 7 3800x
G. Skill ripjaws V 16 GB 2X 8GB DDR4
CD Rom Drive
Crucial M.2 500 GB NvMe

I found out that my Radeon HD 7750 GPU is compatable with the mobo.
I'm just going to have to disable the integrated graphics in the BIOS so that the system will use my GPU.

Thanks for the good advice: JulienCC
 
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One more question--

On my last build I had a terrible time figuring out where the pins were for the leads to the front of the case and had trouble seeing the positive side and the negative side of the plugs.

How hard is it going to be to find the pins on the mobo for the leads to the case?
 
I'm just going to have to disable the integrated graphics in the BIOS so that the system will use my GPU
Ryzen CPUs dont have iGPU, unless their names end with a D. Your system won't boot if you dont plug a video card. You won't have to disable anything.

On my last build I had a terrible time figuring out where the pins were for the leads to the front of the case and had trouble seeing the positive side and the negative side of the plugs.

How hard is it going to be to find the pins on the mobo for the leads to the case?
There are notes one the MB's PCB and you will have a schema in the user's manual. For the sides of the plugs you have to look for an arrow or something that indicates the positive side.
 
I downloaded the mobo's manual so I'm off to read that.

Does the positive side go on the right or the left?
 
I am sorry if this is too late in the game to be of any possible assistance... These comments probably are completely off base. If that is the case, I should move them to where they belong.

Upgrading From Stretch to Buster
Not 100% different from upgrading from Jesse to Stretch.

I say DON'T DO IT! Yes, move your stuff from Stretch to Buster, but do not risk your Stretch on an upgrade is my gut reaction.

You might already know this next part.. but in case someone else reading this thread does not....

If you have not had experience with virtual machines for running linux, then, I will say this. You are missing out on something as big as the whole rest of the linux world. That will sound like exaggeration if you have not found out what virtual machines are. When you find out, you will see why the emphasis I am putting on virtual machines is appropriate. If everyone already knows all this, then I am sorry to waste your time mentioning it.

I admit my situation is unique, because I am extremely stupid and lazy. With that as my starting point, it is a billion times easier to just make a brand new virtual server with Buster then copy what is needed from Stretch to Buster, without putting stretch at risk of problems due to the upgrade.

There is a special app that makes this run smoothly. It is called AreSink, spelled rsync. I think it is $29.95 from Amazon but if you know where to look, it is a lot cheaper from Debians (I think Debians charges one "apt install" command per instance of Debian, and that is it). The only bad thing about AreSink is getting used to remembering to forget about ftp and other ways of copying files. rsync -av pulling from the old machine into the new one never breaks the old machine and the new machine is under construction so foul ups are no big deal. Accepting this is not for everyone, especially those unfortunate souls who enjoy agony.

On my computer at home, I sprung the $100 for VMWare, so I can have all the instances of Linux I want. I found used 8TB disks on ebay plus some 500G PCI SSDs to run what I need going fast. Put 64G of RAM on board, and off you go, no worries for years. It is like my computer is a data center.

I never upgrade a server with a major upgrade. Instead, I make a new server with the newer version of the OS, then copy everything from the older verstion to the newer one. By not applying the upgrade, the old server is preserved. It never loses its ability to do what it has been doing. After awhile, all the stuff is setup on the new system and I just leave the old one not running. Finally the day comes when I just delete it

Upgrades within a major release have never been a problem. Just use apt update;apt upgrade; This is one of the beauties of Debian. Sticking with apt is a good way to avoid problems.

The same strategy can be used with cloud servers.

Just say no to major upgrades. Once you give VMWare their $100, all servers are free, except Windows, which is a bonus reason to avoid windows where possible. Build a new Linux machine as a virtual machine, and run it, and keep your old one safe in the process.


Servers in the cloud are more costly,but still cheap enough to just make a one for upgrades and never apply the upgrade to the one that has been running awhile. Not need to risk that. When everything is moved to the new server, just turn the old one off and the costs go back down to what you had before the upgrade.

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