Re: Install questions etc
On Tue, Jun 22, 1999 at 04:06:02AM -0500, Joakim Svensson wrote
> This message was sent from Geocrawler.com by "Joakim Svensson" <jocke1s@earthling.net>
>
> Hi debian users,
>
> I am a very new user of Linux. I do have some 10+ year users experience
> with different unixes though so It feels pretty good.
> I am awaiting a new high spec pc and while waiting I picked up an old
> used P75 with 32M and 1G hd. Without almost any knowledge about the
> hardware (used borrowed 14" monitor) I installed slink and slack 4.0
> without any real problems.
> I installed slink from a cd set and it worked pretty well.
>
> So now I have some things I do wonder about.
>
> First. On my new system I plan to set up a pretty much complete slink
> and I also will setup a potato wich I would like to have
> very configured.
> Slink will be no problems I think but I could need some advice
> on what tactics to use when installing potato.
>
> I want to have a system (potato) that ofcourse have all the basic stuff
> but I don't want to have 10 different text editors (if I can avoid it) I
> really don't want emacs (sorry all emacs users, "vi" rules *smile*)
> I don't want all the games etc etc.
> So how will I acomplish this ? Should I install some very very basic
> task or profile and then add on using ftp ?
> Should I install a somewhat more complete system and then remove
> things I don't need and build from that ? Any other ideas ?
>
> Also could anyone update me on the use of dselect versus apt and dpkg ?
> I think I read something like "Is anyone really using dselect anymore?"
> a while ago and would really like to know the current usability.
>
I haven't installed Potato myself, but I'll assume that it's not entirely
unlike slink (as seems to be the case from your message).
I always select the 'basic' system profile, and then use dselect to add
the extra packages I want. There's no problem doing this that I can see;
choosing a profile simply pre-selects a bunch of packages, that you can
then fine-tune using dselect.
Dselect is just a front end for dpkg, and has the virtue of listing
*everything* available for installation. It's not fast and it's not
particularly pretty, but a new user who reads the help should make it out
alive. It has the great advantage of ensuring that dependencies will be
met. It can *only* be used with suites of packages that are accessible
through one of dselect's access methods, and you can only use one access
method at a time. The speed with which dselect does the back-end work has a
lot to do with the access method you use - multi-cd and apt seem to be the
best.
Apt is really cute and is what I'd use every time for installing regular
packages. It's very flexible in terms of where packages come from and
handles dependencies well, but you do have to set it up (not exactly
difficult), and it relies on the package management system working correctly
(e.g., if you have unmet dependencies you have to use '-f' or fix things
with dpkg first). Underneath it all, it is still just a front end to dpkg.
Apt is what I'd normally use to add or remove 'regular' packages on an
existing system.
Dpkg does all the work whatever front end you use, and may be required
to fix dependency problems. If you've downloaded or built a single .deb,
dpkg -i some*.deb is quick and easy, and won't louse up other stuff for
you.
In summary, I'd use dselect when first installing the system, apt for
regular maintenance, and dpkg for when I can't be bothered configuring and
running apt to install or remove a single package.
John P.
--
huiac@camtech.net.au
john@huiac.apana.org.au
"Oh - I - you know - my job is to fear everything." - Bill Gates in Denmark
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