Backup and restore of the working configuration

Greetings, colleagues!

Please tell me how to most correctly save the working configuration and how to unambiguously restore it in the future.
I have a ready-made build of LinuxCNC from the site, and EMC2 itself updates very well. But Linux no longer sees its repositories.
I want to install the latest version from scratch.
But I spent a lot of time, effort and nerves on a full tuning for my CNC machine and controller. I really do not want to go this route again. I want to migrate the existing configuration correctly.

Are there any instructions, FAQ, HowTO on config transfer?
I apologize if I ask this question for the millionth time, but I have not found a correct and complete answer to it.

Grateful in advance,
Ogogon.

I use product called WinSCP which is a GUI sftp tool for copying files from one computer to another. You can download it here winscp.net/eng/index.php

Then I just copy the /home/john/linuxcnc folder on the LinuxCNC machine to my Windows laptop. I always make a fresh backup before making .hal or .ini changes. I use this same program to move the gcode from Fusion360 on my laptop to my LinuxCNC machine.

After you do the fresh install and before you run LinuxCNC just copy the folder back to /home/john/linuxcnc. The run the LinuxCNC Configuration Launcher. Select your config that you just restored from the tree on the screen and check the checkbox that indicates to make a desktop launcher. That's it. Of course in /home/john/linuxcnc "john" will be replaced with your username.

John

Or you could use a USB Flash drive to copy your configurations to. Being the paranoid person I am, (I've seen the dossiers THEY have on me), I don't have my cnc computer connected to the internet, so do all my copying via USB flash drive.
Or if you are just updating the Linuxcnc app (not doing a complete OS reinstall) you can copy /home/insertyouruserhere/linuxcnc to /home/insertyouruserhere/~linuxcnc.

If updating from 2.7.xx to 2.8 there are differences with concerning joints & axises, I think most of this conversion is done automagically.

If you are using Wheezy and having trouble updating packages, look for some of my recent posts regarding that issue and the modifications needed to the /etc/apt/sources.list file, I've answered that 2 or 3 times in the last couple of days, one post mentions backports but that is not essential or required to be added. If not using Wheezy disregard this last paragraph.

With WinSCP do you have to setup ssh on the Linux box ? I'm haven't used windows for while or used WinSCP.

JohnnyCNC wrote:

I use product called WinSCP which is a GUI sftp tool for copying files from one computer to another. You can download it here winscp.net/eng/index.php

My life has been happy - I saw M$ Windows only in the picture. But then, I always have the original scp!

JohnnyCNC wrote:

Then I just copy the /home/john/linuxcnc folder on the LinuxCNC machine to my Windows laptop. I always make a fresh backup before making .hal or .ini changes. I use this same program to move the gcode from Fusion360 on my laptop to my LinuxCNC machine.

Thank you, I understood the main thing - if you copy the linuxcnc subdirectory from the home directory, then all the necessary configuration files will be saved. You don’t need to save anything else.

BeagleBrainz wrote:

If you are using Wheezy and having trouble updating packages, look for some of my recent posts regarding that issue and the modifications needed to the /etc/apt/sources.list file, I've answered that 2 or 3 times in the last couple of days, one post mentions backports but that is not essential or required to be added.

Now I have in the file /etc/apt/sources.list this:

deb http//http.debian.net/debian wheezy main contrib non-free
deb-src http//http.debian.net/debian wheezy main contrib non-free
deb http//http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http//http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main contrib non-free
deb http//security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http//security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free
deb http//http.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy contrib non-free main

(Http without a colon is not an error. Otherwise the forum will not miss. He writes that there are too many links.)
When trying to do apt-get, it gives only errors and ignore.
Obviously, in this distribution the list of addresses of repositories has changed and it needs to be adjusted.
At the forum, different colleagues offer different lists. And what is now in the original distribution?

BeagleBrainz wrote:

With WinSCP do you have to setup ssh on the Linux box ? I'm haven't used windows for while or used WinSCP.

I believe that it would be correct to use not scp, but some kind of client-server copying system, for example rsync or even better git - there are text files in the same place.

Ogogon.

"With WinSCP do you have to setup ssh on the Linux box ? I'm haven't used windows for while or used WinSCP. "

Yes. Just do these two commands and it is ready to go.

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install openssh-server

JohnnyCNC wrote:

"With WinSCP do you have to setup ssh on the Linux box ? I'm haven't used windows for while or used WinSCP. "

Yes. Just do these two commands and it is ready to go.

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install openssh-server

What do you have now in the /etc/apt/sources.list file?
Could you give its correct current content?

Ogogon,

This is all that is in mine

#deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 19.3 _Tricia_ - Release amd64 20191216]/ bionic contrib m
ain non-free

While looking around in the /etc/apt directory I saw this directory
:/etc/apt/sources.list.d

In that directory was this list of files:
danielrichter2007-grub-customizer-bionic.list
official-dbgsym-repositories.list
official-package-repositories.list
official-source-repositories.list

I have no idea what would be considered "correct" content. This all came from doing a clean install of Linux Mint 19.3 and then installing the Grub Customizer, OpenSSH, and LinuxCNC 2.8.0~Pre1.

As using search is too much trouble...
Look at this for /etc/apt/sources.list
forum.linuxcnc.org/38-general-linuxcnc-q...itory-expired#155502

JohnnyCNC wrote:

I have no idea what would be considered "correct" content. This all came from doing a clean install of Linux Mint 19.3 and then installing the Grub Customizer, OpenSSH, and LinuxCNC 2.8.0~Pre1.

If I understand correctly, you are not using Debian Wheezy, but installed Mint, and then CNC on it?
And have you ever installed any real-time subsystem in the Mint's kernel?
A CNC-function directly with git?

Ogogon.