Re: Re[2]: Next step?
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>>>>> "Søren" == Søren Neigaard <neigaard@e-box.dk> writes:
[...]
Søren> Should I uncomment the security line? My machine is a
Søren> workstation, not a server, is this needed?
IMHO, every Linux user should be in the habit of keeping up to date
with security patches. Remember: when Code Red and its variants hit,
most of the infected machines were Win2K machines that were used as
workstations, where the owner didn't even know that he/she was running
IIS. Besides, updating your packages with security fixes almost never
hurts.
Also, some exploits are local exploits. i.e. they can allow local users
to gain root access. If this is a laptop and you are the only user, and
you keep a close eye on it at all times, this may not be an issue for
you. But if you leave it out of your sight for a while (e.g. going to
lunch), it is possible (and it's up to you to determine if the risk is
great enough) that someone might break into it and do nasty things.
Søren> What do you recommend, what do I gain from running testing
Søren> packages? Would it be smart when it comes to X?
You mentioned a desire to run Evolution. AFAIK Evolution is not in
Potato, and even if it was, it would be quite out of date. Betas for
Evolution 1.0 have started appearing recently.
AFAIK, the XFree86 in testing is 4.something. XFree86 4 introduced some
architectural changes over 3.3.6. As a result, XFree86 4 does not
support as many video cards as XFree86 3. You might be able to still
use your 3.3.6 server with the v.4 libraries, but I don't know. They
have been getting pretty good at porting most of the drivers, and maybe
by now XFree86 4.1 supports everything that 3.3.6 supported. Check the
XFree86 web page. http://www.xfree86.org/
GSM> apt-get dist-upgrade-- if you want to update the core system of
GSM> yours to the next release (say, potato to woody)
Søren> What is woody, does this include a new kernel?
Woody is a new set of packages -- some new packages, mostly newer
versions of Potato packages. I believe that it does include a new
kernel (probably at least 2.2.19, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has
2.4), but you will need to explicitly tell apt to install it.
But if you are on a laptop, you might want to use a custom-compiled
kernel anyways. This will allow you to tweak the settings, and get rid
of some of the drivers that you don't need, to reduce memory usage. It
will also compile the kernel for the CPU that you have instead of just
i386 (although recently, at least in sid, they have multiple versions of
the kernels compiled for different CPU's). Check out the kernel-package
package. Of course, this means that you will need to install gcc and
some other stuff, if you haven't already, so it may or may not be worth
it for you.
As Glen said, there's a lot to learn about Debian for you to use it
effectively. The thing I like about Debian, though, is that all those
things are pretty easy to remember once you learn it. I co-administered
a Red Hat box at work for a couple years, and I still can't tell you how
to get rpm to do certain things. Building from a source rpm is
guess-and-test for me. But with Debian, I did it once, and I've
remembered how to do it from then on.
So don't despair. It may seem complicated now, but once you get the
hang of it, it will be smooth sailing.
- --
Hubert Chan <hackerhue@geek.com> - http://www.geocities.com/hubertchan/
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