On Tue, 2003-03-25 at 18:39, Mr. Baldwin wrote: > Hi, > I joined this list last fall (from a different address) when I was > trying to install Woody on an experimental box in the house. I failed > to get it running after nearly an entire weekend (network issues, I > think), gave up and installed Redhat on that box. I am running Redhat Hi Tony! :) I remember a few posts by you from last year. Glad to hear you're coming back to the Debian camp. :) > on two boxes in the house and have an iBook running OS X with Fink > allowing me to run many of my favorite Linux/OSS packages on it. Fink > uses Debain package mgmt tools (apt-get), and I like the way it > works. Also, becuase the direction redhat is taking confuses me and > I'm not sure I like it, I am with trepidation looking at an attempt to > install Debian on my main box. Having any sort of a Linux background to start with is definitely good. I went straight from Windows to Debian GNU/Linux a little over a year ago, so I had a bad case of "system shock" during the transition. (pun intended :) But I also had nearly a decade of computer experience to work with. That you're at this point after 2 is quite impressive. > I have only been using Linux/OSS for about year, and have used Redhat > for nearly that entire time (tried Corel Linux, Blue Linux and Lycoris > all briefly but settled on RH for ease of use and a more complete > distro than the others offered). > I have looked at Debian from time to time and have developed a deep > respect for the complete dedication to the principles of OSS that I > see, which is my primary motivator for trying Debian. I must say that > I am not any kind of copmuter expert, even though I am considered the > most tech savvy teacher in my school. I am a 7th grade language arts > teacher with not formal copmuter training. I have owned a copmuter > for only 2 and a half years, a year of which has been spent in > learning and using Linux. By all rights, I am still a newbie, and I Pardon the question, but are you familiar with the term "free software" at all? Especially as it relates to OSS. I'm much more a proponent of free software than OSS. Technically, projects such as WineX are OSS but they're VERY far from being morally acceptable in my opinion. Then again, I'm an FSF Nazi, so don't mind me. :) (see www.fsf.org for more information) > have been led to believe that Debian will not be as simple to set up > and use as Red Hat (although my experience with Fink indicates that > package mgmt is much simpler). All the same, I am eager to sink my There's been a thread about this very issue on here recently. Actually, it's still going on. :) I've deleted it from my Inbox already, but it was someting along the lines of "Linux Sucks" or some such. It actually has turned into a pretty good discussion on the Debian installer. :) Essentially what it comes down to is this. The Debian installer will NOT do everything for you. However, it will let you do essentially everything YOU WANT during installation. And it will work regardless of where you run it. (Though I've never done it, I'd imagine that installing RH on a sparc wouldn't be quite as simple as it is on an i386. :) If you know enough about Linux to understand most of the terminology the Debian installer should really be straightforward. The only thing that I'm aware of that gets a lot of first time users is the need to load some modules by hand during the install process. Other than that you shouldn't have any real problems that I can think of. Printing out the restuls of lsmod on your RH install before you start might prove to be useful later. > teeth in deeper. Installing Fink on my iBook has especially left me > with a desire for deeper knowledge. > So, I think I will lurk for a week or two, then when I am on spring > break (Week of April 14) I will take the time to back up my /home and > other data and take the plunge. > If successful, I believe that I will enjoy partaking of the Debian > community just as much, if not more, as I have enjoyed the Red Hat > community so far. > I have a site advocating for OSS in schools (school-library.net), and > have had banners up for Debian on it for some time. I have Woody > discs in the house and offer them on my site. When my own school > (partially as a result of a demonstration I did with a Debian/Knoppix > CD) decided to upgrade to OSS over the next year to 2 years, I tried > to push Debian for all of the old tired Macs that are too feeble to > run OS X. I suppose that if I am going to open my mouth, I had better > be prepared to follow through, too, another reason to gather some > Debian experience. Wow! :) That's very impressive. I'm very happy to hear it. I'd love to see future generations coming out of public schools knowing more than just MS software. While Debian can be a bit of work to set up, in the long run I think that it is, by far, the easiest to maintain. In a situation such as you describe I think it makes a great fit. Good luck. :) > I do know that many of my local lugmates are big Debfans, although > some tout Suse and Slackware highly as well. Very few of them use RH > and even fewer Mandrake. > Is that enough rambling to annoy you? Not at all. If you run into any hiccups during installation feel free to put your questions up here and we'll try and get them resolved ASAP. :) -- Alex Malinovich Support Free Software, delete your Windows partition TODAY! Encrypted mail preferred. You can get my public key from any of the pgp.net keyservers. Key ID: A6D24837
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