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Questions from a new user [forwarded]



I have given Kent more information about the mailing lists and web pages;
please consider his other questions.

------- Forwarded Message

Date:    Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:48:58 -0500
From:    Kent West <kent.west@infotech.acu.edu>
To:      Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk
Subject: Meta & Newbie FAQ (Debian)

Hi!
 I assume I'm sending this to the right person (it's the only mail link I
saw on the "Submit your answers and corrections" page of the Debian Linux
Meta & Newbie questions web page at http://www.debian.org/fom/15.html).

First: I understand your reference to 42 as being the ultimate answer; it's
a reference I often use when interviewing prospective employees, just as
kind of a minor personality test. It was humorous to see it on the web page.

Second: I recently did a clean install of Debian 2.0.34 (not an upgrade),
mistakenly believing this to be the current stable release. I've since
become convinced that Deb2.x ("hamm") is still the unstable version.
Nevertheless, I'd like to stick with it, since the comments I've read on
the web seem to indicate that it's got some nice features.

I've reinstalled several times, and everytime I run dselect something
breaks and I wind up getting frustrated and wiping the drive and starting
over. Recently I found some clues to my problem; apparently Deb2 uses a
library version 6, whereas Deb < 2 uses a library version 5, and the two
don't get along.

I've found some instructions (which are really above my head) for upgrading
from <2 to 2, but I'm not doing an upgrade; I'm doing a clean (new)
install. Do I still need to follow these instructions for upgrading
(running autoup.sh, etc), or does my clean install already have all the
upgrade stuff in place?

If my box has all the upgrade stuff in place, did the base install not
install the man program? (man doesn't work on my box.)

If I try to run dselect (via FTP over direct ethernet connection), I "know"
my system will break again. I've read references to apt-get as being a
replacement for dselect, but I can't find much information on it. I did
find a place that I thought allowed me to download apt-get, but once I got
it on my box, I tried running it like the web page said, but my box
reported "command not found"; I then chmod'd the file to 777 so I had full
permissions, but again, "command not found". Did I not download apt-get, or
am I doing something wrong? Will it allow me to get the man command, X
Windows, etc, without breaking things, or am I just as well off with dselect?

Third: Why doesn't the less command work? It reports "bash: less: command
not found".

Fourth: How do I set up my Debian 2.x system so I can telnet into it from
other computers?

Again, if I've sent this to the wrong person, or if my answers are in the
documentation and I just haven't found it (I've looked for two days, so if
it is in the docs, maybe it's not easily found or understood for newbies),
I apologize. If I have sent this to the right person, thank you for
considering the questions.


===========================================================
Kent West			| Technology Support/Customer Service	
	|
Abilene Christian University	| Voice: 915-674-2557  FAX: 915.674.6724
	|
ACU Station, Box 29005	| E-MAIL: kent.west@infotech.acu.edu		|
Abilene, TX  79699-9005	| Ham:    KC5ENO, General			|
===========================================================


------- End of Forwarded Message


-- 
Oliver Elphick                                Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk
Isle of Wight                              http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver
               PGP key from public servers; key ID 32B8FAA1
                 ========================================
     "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
      down his life for his friends."      John 15:13 



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