Re: Problems with DSELECT
On Fri, 11 Feb 2000, Meredith Dixon wrote:
dixonm >I would, however, like to have an *updated* working text-based
dixonm >system, with Pico, the Unix editor I like best. I would also
dixonm >like to be able to run X and to use Netscape. (The one-CD kit
dixonm >included only the main, stable distribution; no contrib, no
dixonm >non-free, no source, no potato). My video card is an STB
dixonm >Velocity with 16 MB, and I find upon investigation that I need
dixonm >some potato files to get it to run X.
there is no binary distribution of pico that i've seen for slink, ive seen
one for potato.. the pico distributed with debian is source only, i
suggest going to www.washington.edu/pine/ and grabbing pine(which includes
pico) compile/install it. last i saw the pico in slink was _very_ old
along with the very old pine. as for netscape, download the netscape you
like to /tmp and run apt-get install netscape4 .. as for X go to
www.debian.org/~vincent and add the appropriate line for XF86 3.3.6 to
/etc/apt/sources.list and run apt-get update; apt-get upgrade to get the
latest X, you do not need potato to run the velocity. It is an nvidia
card right?
dixonm >I have tried, so far, FIVE times to use DSELECT to update my
dixonm >install. I've used apt and successfully linked to the update
dixonm >site; I've successfully updated the list of updates. I've then
dixonm >started trying to do something useful with the list. DSELECT
dixonm >tells me that my C++ 2.8.2 package is broken, and it then
dixonm >apparently tries to remove everything that uses C++. If I go
dixonm >straight to "install" without doing anything other than getting
dixonm >the list of updates, the program asks me if I really want to
dixonm >uninstall 90% of my system, which, of course, I don't.
use apt instaead.. try re-installing the c++ package(s) manually with dpkg
-i --force-depends <filename>.deb
dixonm >If I persevere and start putting everything back to "install" or
dixonm >even to "hold", then, invariably, after I've spent about two
dixonm >hours patiently marking files "install" (yes, I'm marking by
dixonm >category, but even that takes that long when you're talking about
dixonm >a thousand files and when you have to try to unravel
dixonm >dependencies), I will get to something which requires a version
dixonm >of C++, and even if I don't mark C++ for removal or anything,
dixonm >I'll find that, once again, it has marked everything that uses
dixonm >C++ for removal, undoing nearly everything I have just done.
i just do a full blown install - the chinese support ..(using the profile
option that is presented during the initial install -- no you cant get
back to this scree in slink i hear you can in potato though)
dixonm >Installing piecemeal won't help because the darned thing
dixonm >retroactively changes install/remove decisions and I'd still have
dixonm >to clean up after it whenever this happens. Moreover, the one
dixonm >time I let it get to the "Do you really want to uninstall 90% of
dixonm >your system" stage, it was proposing to download 93 megs worth of
dixonm >files. People, I have a 28.8 net connection and an ISP that
dixonm >isn't all that reliable. The largest file I've *ever* d/led on
dixonm >this system was about 30 megs, and I've tried unsuccessfully for
dixonm >50 meg demos before.
since u got the cd, if i were u, the easiest way to fix it all is to
reinstall from the cd, ive installed many systems using that particular cd
and have had good success with it. thre was a minor problem with the
dependencies with samba but its pretty easy worked-around.
dixonm >It is obvious in retrospect that I ought to have bought the
dixonm >four-CD set, though I'm not sure even that would have helped me,
dixonm >since I need potato to run X. But I hate to spend *another* $20
dixonm >for more CDs for an OS I'm not even certain I want to use -- I
dixonm >just wanted to try out X, for Pete's sake!
you dont need potato to run X.
dixonm >Is there any way I can get the packages I need without all of
dixonm >this infernal attempted removal of files I must have? I don't
dixonm >know enough about Linux to do without those dependency alerts,
dixonm >but I do know enough to know that I can't manage without the
dixonm >required files DSELECT keeps trying to remove, which is more than
dixonm >DSELECT seems to know! If I had a way to find out the
dixonm >dependencies independently of DSELECT, maybe I could do something
dixonm >manually, but I don't know how to do that.
even though ive been working with unix for about 6 years i dont like
playing with dependency stuff either(90% of the apps i use are self
compiled ans self installed my /usr/local/bin has about 150megs of
bianries in it) i would reinstall from the cd, and upgrade X via
apt. download netscape and install it using apt as well.
nate
----------------------------------------[mailto:aphro@aphroland.org ]--
Vice President Network Operations http://www.firetrail.com/
Firetrail Internet Services Limited http://www.aphroland.org/
Everett, WA 425-348-7336 http://www.linuxpowered.net/
Powered By: http://comedy.aphroland.org/
Debian 2.1 Linux 2.0.36 SMP http://yahoo.aphroland.org/
-----------------------------------------[mailto:aphro@netquest.net ]--
1:02pm up 176 days, 1:17, 1 user, load average: 1.04, 1.06, 1.01
Reply to: