Hello, I am a new to the world of Linux. I have Ubuntu 6.06 LTS installed on my machine. And I have a problem with it, I apologise for such a long mail but to be on the safe side, I thought it would be better to describe the problem as elaborately as possible as I am unaware of the functioning of this system. Since this version of Ubuntu did not come with gcc i tried getting and installing it from the internet. But while doing so (I admit I was totally unaware what I was doing..) I somehow messed up with installed packages on the system. The installation of a package called libc6 did not complete successfully and I got some error saying all dependencies could not be satisfied. It also said (although I don't precisely remember the exact message..) that a service called "gdm" is running that interfered with the installation. [Till then I was unaware of the [package managers available on board; my fault! Didn't read the manual!] Then, when i tried using the package manager [The "Add/Remove" utility & Synaptic] the software refused go any further saying there is a broken package on the machine that needs to be removed first. It instructed me to run the command "apt-get -install -f" at the terminal. I did. The message I got there was that two more packages (ubuntu-base & ubuntu-minimal) will have to be removed from the system along with the broken package "libc6". I cancelled the process right there.. Because the warning said it would free up more than 2GB space on the disk on removing the ubuntu-minimal package. I suspect this must include quite essential parts of the system and therefore chose not to remove it then before getting more information about it. But I am not able to install any more packages unless I remove these three packages from the system.

Meanwhile I also requested the latest version, 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn) of Ubuntu from the Ubuntu website and have received the disk today. I have seen that it includes updated versions of some of the packages, has gcc preinstalled, and I suppose, is definitely an improvement over Dapper Drake.

Now my doubt is: 1. How can I resolve the error on my installed system, 6.06 LTS (the problem described above)? 2. Is removing the package "ubuntu-minimal" from the system safe? Can it be restored to previous state? (I'm on dial-up, downloading 2GB of data is an impossibility!) 3.* Is there another way? can i install the latest software i received today (Ubuntu 7.04) overwriting the previous one, but preserving the user accounts, settings, software and data that i've already stored there? For instance, I've installed Mozilla 2.0.0.6, while v 7.04 comes with Mozilla 2.0.0.3! Can i keep the newer version there without messing up anything? (I also have plug-ins like Flash Player for Mozilla installed..) 4. If not 3, can I at least keep the data on the disk unharmed while installing the new (Ubuntu 7.04 over Ubuntu 6.06 LTS) OS.

Asked 1 and 2 just for gaining knowledge about what can be done in such a situation, however I want to install the newer version nevertheless, so please at least show me a way to do at least one of 3 or 4 if possible! I really appreciate your cooperation and concern.

{ * Here I try to describe the currently installed system's configuration as much as I can comprehend and remember. 1. one password protected user account. 2. dial up connection set up. (for modem set-up, I used the scanModem script, thanks to http://www.linmodems.org/; it was very useful and easy to work with) I use "wvdial" to connect to the internet. 3. Mozilla 2.0.0.6 installed (removed the default 1.x version that was preinstalled), + Flash Player plug-in + loads of Mozilla extensions. 4. I have a dual boot with M$ (khidkiyan :p), so, all doors and windows mounted (read FAT32 & NTFS drives! =)); actually Ubuntu does that by default; no pain. 5. 405 MB of data on the Linux drive. Can I preserve it while installing V 7.04 over V 6.06 LTS. 6. Currently fsck, while booting, gives me an error saying the boot sector and its backup are different, and provides all the offsets/differences that it encountered. If fsck logs it to a file, i can post it here if i know where it is logged, that might give a better picture. } [[ About my internet connection.. Although i somehow know that my connection uses CHAP authentication, i get the following logs at the terminal every time i use "wvdial"..

--> Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/pap-secrets: Permission denied --> --> PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) may be flaky. --> Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/chap-secrets: Permission denied --> --> CHAP (Challenge Handshake) may be flaky.

Any information would be really enlightening there.. ]]

Thank you very much and regards. :)