New laptop everything has changed!

Support & Help Requests
1

Dear Friends,

Old computer, themes, all software, etc.

New computer - I want everything to be same, except different laptop.

This was simple in the old days of everything was a text file. Copied sources. list, used dpkg to regenerate everything, and copied the hidden config files from home.

Working with “everything is a text file” to flatpacks and the like is rather more complicated.

Is there a short and easy way to copy all programmes and settings nowadays, or is getting the exact same desktop, files, etc an all nighter?

I wanted synaptic to generate a download file, which used to mean everything installed was copied, opened synaptic on new machine and used that file for synaptic to read, and everything back to “the way it was”. This seems to be no longer possible. I am trying to avoid all manual work, just automate the process. Is there a simple way to do this, or is it no longer possible. (All pregrammes used to be installed by .debs, so perhaps the use of

I cannot even find a way to add lah ppa simply, as there is a .d file and so on….

Am I stupid, or must I have to start from scratch with a mate system which I then must customise?

No judgment, just need a clear answer from an expert.

All good wishes,

Martin

1 Like
2

(This reply is based on AI-assisted research)

You’re not stupid at all — what you’re trying to do used to be easy, and it really has become more complicated with snaps/flatpaks and modern packaging.

The closest “old-school” automated way today is a hybrid approach:

1) Reinstall your apt packages list
On the old machine:

apt-mark showmanual packages.txt

Copy packages.txt to the new machine, then:

sudo xargs -a packages.txt apt install

This restores most deb-installed software.

2) Restore PPAs (if needed)
You can back them up with:

ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d ppas.txt

Then manually re-add only the PPAs you really still need (some may no longer exist or be safe).

3) Copy user settings
Copy your home config folders:

~/.config
~/.local
~/.mozilla (if Firefox)
~/.thunderbird (if used)

This restores most desktop, panel, and app settings on MATE.

4) Snaps & Flatpaks (unfortunately manual-ish)
Snaps:

snap list snaps.txt
xargs -a snaps.txt sudo snap install

Flatpaks:

flatpak list --app --columns=application flatpaks.txt
xargs -a flatpaks.txt flatpak install -y flathub

:warning: Reality check:
There is no longer a perfect one-click clone of an Ubuntu system.
Snaps, Flatpaks, sandboxed configs, and deprecated PPAs make 100% automation unrealistic today.

Best practical workflow today

  • Fresh-install Ubuntu MATE
  • Restore apt packages
  • Restore user config folders
  • Reinstall snaps/flatpaks

This gets you 90–95% back to “the way it was” without pulling an all-nighter.

3 Likes
3

Should that include a redirection operator?

ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d > ppas.txt

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4

Dear Mester,

Thank you very, very much. This is exactly what I needed. I forgot I had to copy the .config and .local, and was dreading copying the whole home folder and getting odd messages. I am presuming I can still deal with permissions! The snap and flat thing was sublimely, as in earth changing helpful as well, as I am a deb person of nigh on thirty years. (I still had a source of an obsolete mvp player…….)

Thank you is not enough!

Very best,

M

2 Likes
5

Good catch, and thanks for pointing that out!
Yes, you’re absolutely right — it should include a redirection operator.

The correct command is:

ls /etc/apt/sources.list.d ppas.txt

Without the `` it would just print the list to the terminal instead of saving it to a file. :+1:

2 Likes
6

You’re very welcome — I’m really glad it helped! :blush:

Yes, copying just ~/.config and ~/.local is usually the cleanest way, and permissions are easy to fix if needed.

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