Fritz Brown wrote:
Help! I have recently begun an attempt to install Debian on a Sony laptop (Mobile AMD K6-2 550MHz, 64MB RAM), and am thoroughly overwhelmed with choices about which I know nothing! I only need the ability to dial-up and network, surf the internet (I have Opera for Linux ready to install), and do some Office type stuff (I have OpenOffice for Linux ready to install, as well) at this point. But, when installing, I am faced with long lists of packages that I must choose whether to install. Can anybody give me a good list of what to choose? I am installing Debian 3.0 r4 i3. Please don't make me go back to Windows.... :( Thanks in advance. Fritz Brown
Debian doesn't make those choices for you. I suggest you read the install guide, apt howto, and the Debian Reference for starters. Also understand that most software should be installed from Debian repositories, where it is available. (Opera isn't.) A common twosome is Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, giving you web, email, and news capabilities.
You will want a windowing environment (xfree86) and a window manager or desktop environment. Looking at your hardware, I would shy away from the typical newbie choices of KDE and gnome, and perhaps install something lighter like icewm or fvwm. wmaker is good, but perhaps not for the newbie.