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Switching to Debian from old Slackware 2.1; orientation?



I've started upgrading to Debian 1.2 from Slackware Pro 2.1 (yes, very old).

Given the difference in distributions and other changes in Linux, I feel
quite blind.  I don't where everything is and how things work now.  Also, 
I'm not clear on how to configure and customize things without screwing up 
dpkg.

Can someone point me to (or provide) any of the following information?

- The recommended way to customize startup scripts.  

	(For example, on my old system, I put commands to swap the control
	and caps-locks keys, to add extra swap space, etc., in rc.local.  
	Where do things like that go now?)

- How I can and should set the video mode to something other than 24 X 80
	when the kernel boots.

	(This is probably just a general Linux question on which I'm quite 
	behind.  I used to used vidmode (rdev) on the kernel image on a 
	kernel boot floppy.  That doesn't work any more (at least on the 
	normal Debian 1.2 installation's custom kernel boot floppy (which 
	isn't just a kernel anyway)).)

- What I can customize and configure without messing up dpkg.  Also,
	how to tell dpkg I'm customizing something.  
	
	(I saw a --divert option somewhere.  When do I need to use it?
	For example, for dealing with two ISPs, I have two sets of
	some configuration files, and swap around the links to them.
	Would I need to tell dpkg not to disturb my link files, or to not
	get confused by changes or timestamp changes?)


- How to install or remove modules.  (That is, how to add or remove
	modules to whatever boot-time script loads them, not necessarily
	the actual loading or unloading of modules.)

	(The Debian installation sets this up initially, but doesn't point
	to how to change it.  I would guess that's now a standard Linux
	system management operation--but I don't know it.)


Generally, does anyone know of good source of information on what's
changed in Linux recently (well, since around kernel 1.2.13 and
Slackware 2.1 and before ELF)?   (I mean besides re-reading all the 
documentation just to look for changed things.)   I'm probably doing a 
lot of things some very old ways.


Oh, one more question:  If problems are noted in this mailing list,
is someone submitting bug reports to Debian, or should we report all these 
recent 1.2 bugs to Debian?  



Thanks,
Daniel
-- 
Daniel S. Barclay      Compass Design Automation, Inc.
daniel@compass-da.com  Suite 100, 5457 Twin Knolls Rd.  Columbia, MD 21045 USA


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