This post is about Linux Mint LMDE, an upgrade problem (solved) with Gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad, and the addition of /Data drive during install to store music and other large files for easy access.

Not to many posts ago I am bragging up Open Suse 11. OpenSuse released an upgrade which means it was time for me to upgrade. I downloaded the new OpenSuse, did and install.  I understand Gnome and some distributions wish to make the desktop more Windows user friendly.  I appreciate the idea but not when it makes for more mousing and clicking. The new desktop is not to my taste. I found the newest Gnome desktop had me mousing all over the screen to run the programs I wanted to run. Ymmv of course.

I downloaded the newest Ubuntu, installed and did not care much for the Ubuntu desktop either,  I really did enjoy my OpenSuse experience. Other than the qwerky (for me anyway) install OpenSuse is a great distro.

It was time to distro hop again. I used to run Debian Linux, but Debian Stable while being rock solid runs a little behind the rest of the world in the software area. This is not a fault of Debian. It is just the way it is. I like Debian. Debian is fast, small, and agile. Unfortunately, as the Debian Version 6.0 review over at Distrowatch states: ” I’m of the opinion Debian isn’t one of the better Debian-based distributions.”

I had tried the Mint Linux  Debian Edition a while back, but it did not like my wireless card, or perhaps it was operator error, but I  was not able to get my wireless working. I thought I would give Linux Mint LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) another try and downloaded the iso.

This time around, I used a simple partitioning scheme with one new addition. I made a swap, root, and home drives. I had read about using /Data for storing files and folders, so I also created a very large /Data drive.

The Linux Mint LMDE install was flawless. After reboot it was time to upgrade. I needed to update about 400 packages. After they downloaded and started to install, I received an error about Gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad.

I went to the Mint forum, and it seems a few Mint LMDE users have this same problem. I read the plugin is not critical, so I unmarked it for install and restarted the Upgrade Manager. After the upgrade and a reboot, I marked Gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad for upgrade in the Upgrade Manager and it installed without issue. I think I remember reading Gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad needed the kernel upgrade that had not occurred when it wanted to install.

The last bit of information to share is the addition of /Data drive. I read in passing that /Data can be used to store files and folders on. It is always a pain in a single user system to have a xxx gigabyte home and the install allows you xx gigs.

Creating a large /Data drive and a reasonable /Home directory solves this problem. All that is needed to be done after install is make user a member of  www-data group in Users and Groups. At first I was confused because even though I was part of www-data I could not write to the drive.

Turns out it was this users ignorance in progress. The drive /Data belongs to Root (/). What was not obvious to me was what changed when I assigned myself as part of group www-data. When I assigned myself to www-data, drive /Data was added onto /Home like magic, giving me the biggest /home directory possible. In my case I added over 400 gigabytes of storage space! Of course creating your own /Data drive will be dependant on how much space you can allot to your own /Data drive depending on how large your drive is and how much  hard drive space is needed for other uses.

One last thought. Debian does not require a reinstall as new releases arrive. Debian is always up to date whenever you update your system. There is never a need to reinstall Debian under normal circumstances. Also the software lag is not as large using Linux Mint LMDE as it uses Debian Testing repositories instead of stable.

That being said,  there is a possibility of borking your install, but with the Mint Upgrade Manager log, you can uninstall, and wait a week or so for the bug to get worked out. The Linux Mint Forums are also a great source for upgrading information, and of course other questions or problems you may encounter.