Re: Woody

[Brian Potkin <brian@copernicus.demon.co.uk>]

On Thu, Nov 02, 2000 at 09:20:36AM +0000, john gennard wrote:

> I have used Slink and now use Potato. As I seem to be getting
> problems installing KDE on Potato and many people say they
> are running Woody successfully, I wonder if I shall go to Woody.

My feeling is that sorting out your installation of KDE on potato should
be your initial thought.  There is a thread at present on the list which
refers to KDE2 and it could be that purging and reinstalling produces a
satisfactory outcome to your problems.

Look upon it as point of honour. You have experience of Debian and
upgrading all your packages because of a possible difficulty with two or
three of them seems an extreme solution.  While woody may be performing
successfully now there is no guarantee that breakages will not occur in
the coming months.  This is not to say you will unable to deal with them
but you could remain content and untroubled in the secure world of the
stable distribution.
 
> Normally, I install from CD but of course there is none for Woody.
> I've just realised that I don't know what it is that makes Slink Slink,
> Potato Potato or Woody Woody.  How then can I go to Woody
> and how select what packages to upgrade/install?

The UK section of `Debian on CD' on the Debian web pages has at least
one link to someone who might produce a CD for woody for you if that is
what you wanted.  Or change your /etc/apt/sources.list and use apt-get
to go to woody.

You could obtain individual packages using ftp or http and install them
with dpkg -i.  I sometimes do this but it pays to look carefully at the
dependencies before downloading.
 
> I have a 56K modem and have to pay line charges. Whilst I don't mind
> spending a reasonable time downloading, I've no wish to be on line for
> many hours ( the tarball of a kernel takes 70 - 80 minutes which is
> quite acceptable).

I know it depends on your telco but 60p per hour is about you pay for
off-peak usage in the UK.  This might be cost effective compared with
the purchase of CD's if you upgrade.  Alternatively, investigate the
evening and weekend surftime deal from BT and see if you can use it with
Clara. 

Brian.
-- 
email: brian@copernicus.demon.co.uk