Re: Newbie questions about installing and documentation
> newbie? Is the slackware version more
> stable/user-friendly/complete/popular? There doesn't seem to be too
> much articles concerning debian at comp.os.linux.*, how come?
Slackware is certainly more popular then Debian right now. Slackware
has been out for a long time, and is considered a very good setup. In
our favor, most people who see Debian will comment on how much better
our installation tools are. Our packages are also a lot better then
Slackware, take the smail (a replacement for sendmail) setup -- asks
you questions for common setups, and bang! You're set to send and
recieve mail without any hassle.
A friend who used Slackware on his work machine (connected to the
net), had lots of problems getting everything networked properly.
I've never had problems hooking up our 4 Debian PCs to the net.
While we don't yet have as many packages as Slackware, we still have a
lot, and have some Slackware is missing. I happen to think our TeX
setup is a lot better then Slackware's (or at least the one I saw).
> Where is the `debian/disks' directory referred to by
> http://www.rahul.net:80/perens/Debian/InstallationNotes.html?
Check out http://www.debian.org, or ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian.
> Before I do this I would like to try linux out, is this possible
> without repartitioning my current hard disk, i.e. just setting up a
> small experimental linux?
I believe you can, but I'm not an expert. I think some other people
on this list have done so. But be warned that the default file system
for Debian is ext2fs, the most stable of the file systems available.
> What size hard-disk should I get? My main interest is actually to
> learn how to administrate a unix system. It will be on a isolated
> (excepting modem) single 486 PC and I will be the only user. I will
> mostly install things that I think are fun, like emacs and nethack. To
> be comfortable, do I need more than 540MB?
I have 171 packages installed, and they take up a little less then 160
megs. I think you should be fine with a 540. I work on a 500 and a
300 meg, and I have taken to using the 300 meg exclusively for
/usr/src because my 500 isn't half full yet. If you use Debian, and
make nethack for your machine, please consider making it into a Debian
package! :)
> In the same note, is 8 MB of memory comfortable? Oh yes, I have no
When I had a 486sx25 w/ 8m, it was usable in X, but not comfortable.
One has to wait awhile for Netscape and Xterms to load up, etc. But
if you don't use X, 8m should be fine.
> facilities whatsoever for backing up my hard-disk(s), is this a
> major worry?
That's not really something anybody can answer for you. You have to
decide what things you need backed up, you have to decide how valuable
your time is if you have to do a reinstall.
Jim
Reply to: