install comments + question

[Michael Kaminsky <kaminsky@lcs.mit.edu>]

I finally got my new machine and armed with the advice of many people
on this list, I aimed to install stable and upgrade to testing.  The
follow is my feedback:

 * I installed the base from a Windows 2000 partition which worked
   fine.  The install kernel kept locking up on boot and it turns
   out I needed the idepci kernel.  The problem now was that although
   it didn't lock up, it wouldn't recognize my notebook's Intel
   PRO/100 (builtin ethernet).  Apparently in the 2.4 kernel, the
   eepro100 driver works with this card, but the install kernel
   couldn't find it.

   Long story, but many hours later I finally got a functional kernel
   on the machine via Windows.  Ironically, I booted a Mandrake 2.4
   kernel I had on another machine to bootstrap Debian...Once I had
   network access I could install a kernel-image deb file, etc.

   Bottom line is that I got the machine functional (not fully
   installed yet) in about a half-day.  BUT, I doubt there is any way
   a beginner could have pulled it off, IMHO.  I was moving modules
   and kernels around, using multiple machines, multiple boot disks,
   etc. until it clicked.  That's just to get the most minimal stable
   running.

   (The Debian claim is that stable is so stable because it works and
   doesn't really ever change.  Problem with that is that the hardware
   changes underneath it and outdates--makes it UNstable anyway.)

 * That being said, apt-get is so much better than rpm.  My
   dist-upgrade to testing had no problems.  With minimal script
   updates, my new kernel + grub are working just fine.  The new
   flexiblity is a real win.

 * QUESTION:  The new notebook (A30p) has a Radeon Mobility card that
   happens to only be supported in the CVS version of XFree86
   (4.1.99.1) from this month.  So I have to compile this
   ultra-bleeding edge X server, which is fine, but...

   How do I make the Debian packaging system think that I have the
   xserver-* packages installed.  I want to be able to apt-get galeon
   for instance but not have it try to pull down those packages and
   install an X-server. Can I insert a dummy entry/package into some
   DB?

Thanks.

Michael