Debian Stable or SID-what to choose
 

HI

I have been running slack since version 7.1 and now have successfully installed 9.1 on reiserfs.
I have Win 98 also and wud like to dual boot.

I have all the 7 cds of debian woody.

Reading about the rock stability of debian and the learning curve involved which makes u do what u wnt I have decided to give debian a try.

However before giving it a try I would like to clarify the following questions.

1. Should I first install Debian woody and then upgrade to sid.
I do not have a fast internet connection. I would also like to have the latest software. Woody has the old 2.2 kernel
How do i install debian woody with 2.4 kernel.

2. I would not like to use LILO or GRUB but would like to boot through LOADLIN is this possible.

3. Should I try to download sid or sarge from somewhere and install it.

4. Can I directly install debian so that it will overwrite my existing Slack 9.1


Thanks and Regards
Ninad

Re: Debian Stable or SID-what to choose
 

Woody has to be installed before "upgrading" to sid. even though you can download sid cd's you cannot install through them. The best way to get sis is to do a base install of woody and then upgrade to sid after adding some source near you(check ww.debian.org).
As per which to use, i prefer sid(even though i am currently using knoppix...which is sid but a bit too bloated up for me) since you can get the latest apps in there. woody as u have correctly pointed out is old and antiquated even though very secure. I have never used sarge but i hear that sid is better than sarge too so i would go for sid.

when installing debian, dont tell it to install lilo to the MBR. I think this should solve the problem for you.

as i said before u need to do a base install of woody before trying to install sid. once that is done do a apt-get upgrade after updating your sources.

yes.just install debian on the partition on which slackware is currently installed. an easy way to find out this partition is to issue this command:
the first line should tell you the partition on which you have slackware installed.during debian installation choose the same partition and continue with the installation. beware that all the data will be lost in this process.
hope this helps out.

Having slow network connection is definitely a handicap for a Debian user. I've often thought that Slackware is a pretty good solution for users who have slow network connection. The release cycle in Slackware is quite fast so you can choose to upgrade software only when a new release is announced and you still have quite up-to-date software.

However, if you decide to change the distro, I recommend that you start with the latest version, the Sarge beta 4 installer ( http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ ). If you install Woody and use apt-get for upgrading Woody to Sarge or Sid, you need to download lots of packages, so it might actually be easier to start with the latest software. Also, the Sarge installer ships with newer kernel versions than Woody, so it supports newer hardware.

It should be relatively easy to install Debian over some other distro because you can use the already created Linux partitions.

I have no experience on using loadlin, so I cannot comment that. You can check out the installation documentation for the Sarge installer -- there may be something about loadlin.

My $0.02

If your 7 cds cause you to get a complete system, then upgrading wouldn't be such a huge problem. I bet you'll find that it comes with the 2.4.18 kernel as well as the 2.2. Potato had 2.2, but Woody was "modern" 2 years ago with the 2.4. If you want fairly current software, then Sarge should fit your bill. I've done Sid over dialup and my experience was that I could, if I wanted, download 100s of megabytes every night if I wanted to keep current. Then, sometimes I'd have many packages held back because of broken dependancies and sometimes my system would be broken for days or weeks at a time (this was when I ran Gnome and they were coming out with 2.2 - no GUI for a week). If you go with Sid, be prepared for many upgrades (do them once a week or less), the same as if you ran Mandrake Cooker. Its just full of development.

If you want the goods and you want to have a usable system, get Sarge. If you plan to go for the upgrade, then my suggestion is to instll only the base system. apt-get update,apt-get upgrade,apt-get dist-upgrade. Then, get the rest (X, your fave WMs and proggies). That's how I've done it in the past.