Re: Great Debian experience
On Wed, 19 Mar 2014 21:32:10 +0700
Ken Heard <kenslists@teksavvy.com> wrote:
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> It never ceases to amaze me that there are people can get various
> iterations of Debian "working out of the box". Ever since Sarge I
> have had no end of trouble either with new installations or upgrades,
> to the point that I dread every new iteration. I would have switched
> long ago to another operating system except for the fact that every
> other one I looked at was worse.
>
> My latest experience was a new installation of Wheezy in a new box.
> It took me the entire month of January to get the OS and essential
> applications to the point where the machine became usable. Yes it
> works, but so does a Ford model T. For example I wanted to use LVM
> but the attempt broke the installer. I still have not got sound
> working.
>
> So what is the secret?
>
> Ken Heard
Hi Ken,
I have a specific set of secrets:
* Use the network installer, CLI (ncurses) mode, Expert Install
* But mostly choose the defaults
* Install the Stable version
* Tell it to include the nonfree repos
* Install a very small system working, then use apt-get to expand
..I don't even install X during the install
* Use a robust, lightweight desktop like Xfce, LXDE, or Openbox
* Install networkmanager. I'm no longer man enough to use wpasupplicant
or iwconfig
* Early, install synaptic. Much easier than CLI apt-cache search.
* Don't use brand new hardware.
About that last point: The next time I get new hardware, I'll try Debian
Stable first, but if the hardware is newer than the drivers in Debian
Stable, I'll use Xubuntu, and then a year later go to Debian Stable.
HTH,
SteveT
Steve Litt * http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training * Human Performance
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