installing debian from RH system

[Mark Copper <m.copper@wayne.edu>]

Hi all,

I bought a new hard disk for a machine running RH and since some of the
programs I need are dated I thought this would be as good a time as any to
make my planned changeover from RH to Debian.

Everything went as described in the Debian installation manual, section
3.7, except for a couple of small points.  For example, when I ran
base-config, I had no opportunity to add a new user.

I wouldn't mind doing it myself, but I'm a little confused about what
happens when I edit lilo.conf.  If I change lilo.conf to something like

boot=/dev/hdb5
root=/dev/hdb5
install=/boot/boot-menu.b
delay=20
lba32
image=/vmlinuz
label=Debian

I'm worried that the MBR is still on /dev/hda.  (In fact, I think I
received a message to the effect I needed to install the Debian package
mbr on the disk).  And that I'll make the system unbootable.

I'm wondering if the new image, with a new /etc/passwd, knows the old
root password and if I'll be able to log on even if the new image does
boot.

I'm trying to understand the lilo manual and I know similar questions have
come up here; nevertheless, I would much appreciate any pointers.

Thanks.

Mark