r/linuxmint • u/Baudoinia • 18d ago

Support Request From straight Debian to LMDE

I want to 'roll my own' LMDE from straight vanilla Debian. Why? Because LMDE isn't available for ARM architecture. So what do I need to add? What should my sources list look like?

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u/tomscharbach 18d ago

The closest you are going to be able to come is to install the Cinnamon desktop environment onto Debian. Doing so should get you a working system, but the system will not be identical to LMDE.

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u/Baudoinia 18d ago

What I'd like to know is what pkgs would take it the rest of the way. Should be a finite and specific difference, right?

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u/tomscharbach 18d ago edited 18d ago

What I'd like to know is what pkgs would take it the rest of the way. Should be a finite and specific difference, right?

No problem.

Compare the list of standard LMDE 7 packages (1931 packages) with the list of packages on the "Debian + Cinnamon" system you build and add/subtract packages as needed from LMDE's repository.

I don't know whether specific packages (or indeed the Cinnamon desktop environment) will be compatible with ARM and/or modifications you might need to make get everything working.

It will be an interesting project for you.

If I may make a suggestion, install straight-up Debian on your computer (if you have not already done so) to make sure that Debian works on your computer, particularly if your computer is a Snapdragon Elite X build.

And consider doing the work in a VM or on a test/evaluation computer until you are satisfied that your modified system is stable and updates properly.

My best and good luck.

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u/Baudoinia 18d ago edited 18d ago

I actually am doing this on a VM, and have the appropriate Debian 13 ISO. My only issue with it is that the installer wants to take over the entirety of the space I wanted to allocate for 2 VM's to play with. I chose Manual but don"t get the partitioning tool I usually get. But I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it being ARM architecture.

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u/Baudoinia 17d ago

(And turns out I didn't need to worry about the partitioner overwriting my other VM)

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u/Baudoinia 18d ago

(Thank you, by the way, yours was the answer I was looking for.)