Debian is so cool !!

leeeoooooo · 09-19-2009, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeeoooooo

The Linux HOWTOs are under /usr/shared/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/ and on other systems I have used, they are indeed text files. If you download the package from the LDP, you get a directory full of text files with a HTML index to them all. On this system, they're all individually gzipped and unless I'm signed on as root, I can't open them. I wondered if there was a reader or something I was supposed to be using.

I learned the answer to this one myself. I never thought to use sudo zcat. It works just like cat, but on gzipped text files instead of plain text files. It's a clever way to save space on the filesystem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeeoooooo

Red Hat = package.rpm
Debian = package.deb
Slackware = package.tgz or package.tar.bz2

Yes, I know you CAN build packages from source in Debian, but on Slackware, it the standard way of doing things. I'll have to say, though, aptitude is starting to grow on me. Maybe they leave out the development tools as a way to get you to start using the package manager right away

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeeoooooo

I'll stay with Slackware under VirtualBox on my PC, but Debian will be fine for my old laptop.

As the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" says, "Some folks go BOTH ways!" ;-)

It was Ubuntu that got me to take another look at Debian. The overall interfaces are *very* much the same, but the desktop application set is a bit leaner (how many word processing programs do you really need anyway?), and if you don't find what you want, the add/remove applications and Synaptic are always in easy reach.

the trooper · 09-19-2009, 01:41 PM

Quote:

I learned the answer to this one myself. I never thought to use sudo zcat. It works just like cat, but on gzipped text files instead of plain text files. It's a clever way to save space on the filesystem.

Thanks leeeoooooo,i didn't know that.
Any particular reason you are using sudo with Debian?.

Quote:

Maybe they leave out the development tools as a way to get you to start using the package manager right away

With approximately 25,000 packages in the repositories,i think that's probably right.
Since i've been using Debian i've only had to compile from source once.
And this was due to the fact i was running Stable at the time rather than Testing/Unstable.

Glad to hear your current Debian experience seems to be a positive one.

MBybee · 09-21-2009, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the trooper

With approximately 25,000 packages in the repositories,i think that's probably right.

Speaking of which - is it just me, or is the 64 bit package set a bit thin? I would have expected that now, years in, the 64 bit set would be mostly equiv.

Instead it seems like whenever I look for something, it's missing. There is a lot in there, but it seems to be missing a lot too.

Maybe it's just me?

AwesomeMachine · 09-22-2009, 02:04 AM

The OP is definitely an operating system evangelist.

the trooper · 09-22-2009, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBybee

Speaking of which - is it just me, or is the 64 bit package set a bit thin? I would have expected that now, years in, the 64 bit set would be mostly equiv.

Instead it seems like whenever I look for something, it's missing. There is a lot in there, but it seems to be missing a lot too.

Maybe it's just me?

What are you missing?.

MBybee · 09-25-2009, 06:24 PM

You know, I spent time comparing my i686 and AMD64 Debian Lenny boxes to make a big long post with the packages I was missing... and I came to the conclusion that my AMD64 box just had messed up repositories!

So basically, nevermind. The stuff I was missing like flash, some games, several tools - all turned out to be because my sources were messed up. (/facepalm)