Re: Help on strategy for debian install needed
"uklinux" <psr@rkimber.uklinux.net> wrote:
>I should really appreciate some guidance on the strategy for
>installation. I assume that most people select specific packages for
>installation, but my instincts are to install everything (plenty of disk
>space), live with it for a while, and then remove what I *know* I don't
>need when I'm familiar with the system. That way, I assume, I am less
>likely to run into some of the problems raised in this list the solution
>to which often seems to be to install this or that package. Are there
>major disadvantages with this approach?
You can't install everything. :) Some packages conflict with others,
such as development packages related to different versions of libraries.
Debian 2.2 (potato) has the concept of "tasks" during installation. If
you install all the tasks that even vaguely interest you, you should get
a pretty complete system.
>Another issue is that there are several packages I need that I know to
>be reasonably stable (like Blackbox 0.61) but which are not in 2.2. Am
>I correct that I should just download the deb packages for these and
>install them, putting them on 'hold' in dpkg?
Yes. I probably wouldn't bother putting them on hold, though; they won't
be automatically downgraded or anything, and if in some months' time you
find yourself upgrading to the next stable release of Debian you're
likely to want the blackbox package to be automatically upgraded.
>Finally, one specific query: I have a Matrox G450. There have been some
>comments from people implying that the drivers for this are (a) not very
>good (b) only work with XFree 4.xx. Could someone tell me whether this
>is just a 3D acceleration issue? I'm not overly concerned at the moment
>with 3D acceleration and would be quite happy with good 2D acceleration
>and XFree 3.xx. Am I likely to have any problems with getting a decent X
>display after installing 2.2r2?
The upstream X people have release notes for Matrox at
http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/MGA1.html and
http://www.xfree86.org/4.0.2/mga.4.html. They both mention G400, though
neither mentions G450 specifically; I don't know enough about Matrox
cards to be able to help you beyond this, I'm afraid.
--
Colin Watson [cjw44@flatline.org.uk]
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