Software updates broke it - is there any going back??

Hello people!

First of all, please forgive me, I have probably done something stupid due to a total lack of understanding and blind, careless fiddling around! I will try and explain the situation as best I can, but I really can't remember too many details. If that hasn't put you off already, please read on.

I had got my AAO set up nicely, running well and tweaked to my liking - advanced desktop, desktop switcher, Firefox 3, Flash 10, Open Office 3.0, Compiz, Emerald, VLC, XMMS, Ktorrent, Kdocker, Wine, Gimp, Login screen, Xscreensaver, hplip printing fixed... Then I went and installed a load of updates from Xfce Menu > System > Software Updater. I wasn't sure if this was a good idea at the time but I did it anyway. Now I know, because I things aren't working well now. A few examples:

• File manager doesn't run - it blinks on the screen and disappears. Terminal output reads: "segmentation fault"
  Alt+F2 no longer brings up 'Run' dialogue
  Compiz doesn't seem to have any effect
  The title bar of any window is missing
  Emerald themes don't have any effect
  Many of the menu items don't work icons are missing too - Settings like Desktop, Display, Settings manager, User interface, Window Manager etc.
  Sessions and startup settings doesn't work - NOTE this never worked: "no such plugin - sessions", but started working after updating. Now it doesn't again. Btw, when it did work I set it to automatically save session but DIDN'T set "Load GNOME components" or "Load KDE stuff" - Maybe this means something.
  Background manager isn't working
  KPowersave isn't running in the panel
  Panel buttons/icons have changed

the list goes on

I have a couple of questions;

• How can I force the 'Session and Startup Settings' plugin to run so that I can set it to load KDE and GNOME components - I'm making an assumption that these things aren't anymore which is causing other stuff e.g. Compiz to not run
  
  Is there any going back? Can I roll back, uninstall updates or reinstate the original XFCE items? I'm trying to work out whether it's worth trying, or to lose all my good work so far and rebuild Linpus from the recovery disk.
  
  Is there a log somewhere so that I can identify what was updated? Is there a repository somewhere for me to obtain the original packages (I would need a list of the original packages)?

To give you some idea of the updates that were applied (if you're not bored yet!), there were things like:

• xfce-utils
  dbus
  hal
  lots of lib-things
  network-manager
  kpowersave
  pulseaudio
  thunar
  terminal
  xterm
  bash
  x11/xorg stuff
  amongst other things (adobe reader / flash...)

This is a cry for help really, from someone who doesn't know too much what he's doing. I'm sorry it's a long post and there's probably not an easy way to help me, so if there are no replies I will get the hint! But if anyone can make any sense of this and offer some suggestions - answer the first question at least - I would be extremely grateful.

Cheers, James :?

 

Hi James,

Sorry to here your problems, happened to me a while ago have a look here.
viewtopic.php?f=67&t=13673

And regarding restoring the AAO have a look here.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7412

 

barrie,

I have heard of these issues regarding Acer's Live updates, fortunately I haven't had many of them as my system is relatively new I think. My updates were obtained via Package Updater under the XFCE MENU | System list, and there were about 50 updates available. I knew it was a big risk at the time and was basically too lazy/impatient/curious to backup the system before applying the updates. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Anyway, I have managed to recover most of the system by removing and reinstalling xfce and thunar related packages. Now I have a functioning desktop, window manager and file manager but still have a few issues, as described in another thread on xfce forum (compiz/emerald, xscreensaver, usb automount):
http://forum.xfce.org/index.php?topic=5013.0

I'm nearly there so if I can get these issues sorted I will be happy, and I WILL make a backup of the system!!

I have lost xfdesktop-acer though, which doesn't seem to be available in any repos. Shame.

Thanks, James

 

I give up. I think I properly stuffed it this time when I removed xfdesktop/session etc. again to try a fix, and was left with nothing.

I've resorted to Ubuntu now, which works better and more comfortably than Linpus ever did.

Cheers, James

 

Sorry to hear of your problems. I was lucky enough to have 15 years of Unix experience before getting an AA1, and I never managed to muck up Linpus beyond recovery (although not for lack of trying). That said, with Linpus almost any change was like pulling teeth, and after 6 months of fighting with Linpus, I decided to give Ubuntu 9.04 a try this week, and there is probably no going back for me. Ubuntu is *so* much easier to work with, and you get a more "normal" looking desktop to boot. Tweaking Ubuntu requires far less knowledge of Unix than Linpus.

For the cost of an 8gb flash memory card (AA1 150) or USB stick (any model), it's possible to experiment with a different Linux distribution without touching your internal drive (SSD or HDD), so there are no worries about recovery. Just set the machine up for dual boot, and choose which version you want to run. Some people like Ubuntu 9.04 NBR (NetBook Remix), but I didn't care for it. I installed the desktop version today, and have been tickled pink. Because I was installing to an SDHC card (from a USB flash drive), I actually went through four installs before I got one I liked (9.04 desktop, NBR, then desktop again, then desktop 9.04 with custom partition sizes, including 1gb for swap). I have over 4 gb of memory available, after subtracting for Ubuntu, apps, and swap file space. I like it so much that I'm considering pulling the 160gb HDD that came with Windows XP, and just running off the SDHC card.

I've been using DOS/Windows since 1983, and I can say without exaggeration that setting up Windows XP today, including downloading all the Microsoft updates, removing the bloatware, and running registry and security scans, took about twice as much time and effort as installing Ubuntu -- a Linux distribution that I had never used 24 hours ago.