Re: Debian newbie questions
>1. Cannot boot without the boot disk.
>I'm using the same partitions that I used successfully
>with Mandrake. hda1 is windows, hda2 is the swap, hda3
>is Linux. I installed lilo as the boot loader in the
>hda3 partition.
>
>When I restart, System Commander only gives me the
>options for Windows or a Floppy. I try to add the
>partition, but the boot flag keeps getting cleared.
>
>I've also used fdisk to set the partition as bootable.
>The flag seems to stay set while I'm in Linux, but as
>soon as I reboot, something clears it, and the
>partition is non-bootable again.
How about not using System Commander at all? lilo can
boot Windows and Linux as well. Just edit the lilo.
conf file, with lilo to be installed in mbr and all
appropriate options in place.
In cfdisk, make the only the win98 partition bootable.
In any case, if you choose lilo to boot linux, it
will do so.
>2. I ran into some trouble with dselect.
>I ended up going back by hand and making sure all the
>critical software remained installed. But that seems a
>difficult way of doing things.
>Is there any way to reset the dselect selections. I
>tried R, D and U, but none of them seemed to do what I
>want. I just want a way to tell it to leave everything
>the way it is now. All installed software installed,
>all uninstalled software uninstalled...
>
>I think I ran into a similar problem with apt-get. I
>had trouble installing an update to KDE (going to kde
>2.2). I tried to use apt-get remove to remove a
>conflicting package, but I kept getting the original
>dependency errors. I was able to get around it using
>dpkg, but it would be nice if I could clear apt-get
>and start again fresh.
I know no way of resetting dselect. However, you can
reselect(+) the packages that the system would want to
deinstall. Then start methodically, deinstalling one
by one the packages you don't need, then minding the
dependencies. The concept in dpkg is more or less
tied with interdependencies between software packages.
Apt-get also depends on the dpkg- program, which is
also related to dselect as a general front. You have
to mind the dependencies. Really. It ain't a good
option to --force-install packages, as you're bound
to get something really wrong as you go on.
You need to understand the concept behind the debian
packaging system. At first it may intimidate you, but
should you get the hang of it, you'll thank God it's
that way (try upgrading using a pure LSB distro
for many machines and you'll get the picture why many
serious sysads prefer the superior dpkg system as
opposed to rpm). Just hang in there. You can always
reinstall the packages should you get them removed.
Don't be afraid to experiment - just do the experiment
in the right way.
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