[CLUE-Talk] Trying Out Debian

[Timothy Klein]

* Matthew Porter (mfporter at mindspring.com) wrote:
> 
> My Red Hat installation has finally outgrown the partition it lives 
> on, so as I type this the good folks at UPS are delivering to me a 
> new 8.4 gig drive (the biggest thing my creaky old motherboard can 
> handle) which will be devoted entirely to Linux.
> 
> Thanks to Bdale Garbee's outstanding presentations at last November's 
> CLUE meeting, I want to give Debian GNU/Linux a try.  So, I'd like to 
> toss out a few general questions:

 Great!  My personal favorite.

> 1 - Where's a good place around here to get an official Debian CD 
> set?  I'd prefer to buy from a local store, but failing that I'd buy 
> from a chain store or an online vendor.

I once saw one at the Tattered Cover.  Came packaged with Running Debian
GNU/LInux ( I think that was the title).  Not bad deal at all.

> 2 - Anyone have hints/tips/warnings/dire prophesies for someone who's 
> used to Red Hat and is about to install Debian?  
> 
> 3 - Any particular problems I should watch for if I'm installing 
> Debian to a second hard drive, rather than my computer's main hard 
> drive?  (I'd like to keep my old Red Hat installation accessible on 
> the first drive until my new installation is up and running and good 
> to go.)

I have heard a lot of talk about the Debian install being really hard -- I
personally did not find it to be too confusing.  Some of the docs about the
install were a little confusing, because they were trying to explain every
conceivable scenario, on a wide range of computers.  Which is hard at first, but
good if you need help on one of the rare scenarios.

The install is not graphical, but that really does not matter.  If you have
done a Linux install before, as I had, it should not be to bad.  I can't
remember any specifics about booting Debian from a 2nd hard drive, I never did
it that way.  Let me (or the list) know if you have any problems.

A previous poster talked a lot about apt-get.  Trust me, this will quickly
become your favortie part about Debian.   So you want the Gimp, huh?  Well,
'apt-get install gimp'.  Walla!  You have the Gimp.  What's that, it depends
upon GTK1.X and this, that, and the other?  No problem, apt-get just installed
them all for you (asking you if that was ok, first, and telling you how much
disk space it would take).  The latest security vulerablility email just hit
your box, no trouble.  Make sure the security server is in your
'apt/sources.list', and type 'apt-get upgrade', any new packages are installed.
I doubt I will ever be able to leave Debian unless one of the other distros gets
something similar.

> Thanks,
> 
>  --Matt.
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------
> Matthew Porter
> Golden, Colorado
> 
> mfporter at mindspring.com
> 
> 
> PGP PUBLIC KEY available
> 
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Have fun,

Tim
--
=====================================================================
== Timothy Klein         || And what rough beast                   ==
== teece at silverklein.net || Its hour come round at last            ==
== Aufwiedersehen!       || Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? ==
== Aufwiedersehen!       || The beast of Redmond, nothing more.    ==
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