humpty > promotes Linux  > Moving (this time from linux to ..linux)
Linux - Moving from 32bits To 64bits  (Nov 2019)

(updated for lubuntu 18.04)
 Sticking wit Lubuntu
12.04 to 18.04
Make an Installer stick
Installing Lubuntu
32 to 64

Lubuntu 12.04 had been faithful and always lived up to expectations.

Alas, the world has moved on to 64 bits.

This is a re-vamped  guide that promotes Lubuntu and to show the jump I made from Lubuntu 12.04 32bits to 18.04 64bits.


Sticking with Lubuntu

 Lubuntu has not changed. It's still the lightweight version of Ubuntu that's scaleable and doesn't tax your cpu or resources.

Easy Installation.
Easy operation.
Easy upgrade.
Easy adding and removing Apps.
Hardware friendly.

I've tried a variety of distros, and have always come back to Lubuntu.
 12.04 to 18.04

Lubuntu now uses systemd for system initialisation.
On my same netbook, It can still boot in less than 30 secs (16 secs).

Fully installed, this comes around to about 5 GB. Which could fit onto a 8GB USB pendrive/stick or permamently onto any harddisk partition.

The advantage of having it on a USB stick is that you can boot it on any machine, and it would auto detect any new hardware upon boot. THIS really shows off Linux's edge over Windows in today's modern age.
And you can still install it from a USB stick to another USB stick. How cool is that ?


How to make a Lubuntu Installer stick (from Linux)

First, download the CD image.
Download the latest Lubuntu Live CD image (.iso). from the Lubuntu website.

Transfer the live CD installer image to a USB pendrive.
Make sure you have an empty USB stick (at least 8GB) and plug it in.
Method 1
Install Unetbootin
This is a piece of software which can extract the Live CD iso image to a USB pendrive and make it bootable.
If you are on linux open a terminal and enter  apt-get install unetbootin

Run the software and select the disk image (e.g lubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso) you previously downloaded.
Method 2 (linux only)
For linux you can copy the raw .iso file as-is by using the command dd.
e.g
    dd if=/home/user_name/Downloads/lubuntu-18.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso  of=/dev/sdb

 Note that the output file is /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1. We are overwriting the whole disk of the usb drive.
You should end up with a bootable installer stick. This is the stick you will install with, NOT the target stick. The target stick has to be seperate.
How to Install Lubuntu To a USB Stick

1. Reboot your target machine with the installer stick, set your bios to boot from USB if needed. you will end up with a live desktop and you can generally mess around trying out the apps. There should be one Installer icon on the desktop, don't click it yet.

2. Plug in your target USB stick (at least 4GB) so that
the installer recognises it and just say 'no' if it wants to open a file manager.
Open an LXTerminal (from Accessories) , and type;
>mount
You will see some mounts. The last one with the word "media" will be the target stick, e.g /dev/sdb1
Remember this because e.g "sdb1" will be the partition to install to when you run the Installer icon.

3. Run the Installer icon.
Say 'yes' if it wants to un-mount your target stick.
Installation Type:
 Choose 'Something Else' when it comes to the partitions.
 
Select your target stick e.g 'sdb1' and click 'Change'
Choose Use As 'ext4'. (choose to format it)
Mount point as '/'.
 
Device for 'boot loader installation' should be e.g   /dev/sdb1 NOT /dev/sdb
This is important, choosing the wrong one will overwrite the MBR with GRUB's which is not what we want. (We don't want to touch the MBR, just the VBR, I found this method more reliable for booting).
 
Click Install.
Ignore any swap space, we don't want it (this is a single partition).

After installation, you have a choice
A) Take out the installer stick and reboot. That is, stay with GRUB's VBR on the boot sector and hope it boots.
or
B) Install EXTlinux, a reliable bootloader.

If you need a boot manager to multi-boot other OSs, I recommend Ranish for legacy MBR systems,
or Plop Boot Manager or rEFInd   for modern uefi systems.
If you are already using the Windows boot manager you can add an entry with the EasyBCD (free version).
Running 32bit software on to 64 bits

 After installing a 64 bit Lubuntu, all the software installed are made to run on a 64 bit system.
The repositories installed (for apt or Synaptic package manager) contain 64 bit software.
There might be situations when you need to use 32bit software, usually when the 64 bit versions aren't available.
Can you run 32bit software on 64 bit systems ?
Yes, but you need two things;

a) 32bit system support
and
b) 32bit libraries.

 Thankfully many linux systems have support for this;

    sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
    sudo apt-get update


But be aware that 32 bit software will have a lot of 32-bit dependencies. Those will have to be installed too.
e.g For c libraries and compiler support;

    sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386
    sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib

Click here for More Lubuntu Tips



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