i'm planning to reinstall my debian machine, so i used to have the woody release but i'm quite interested in the sarge version, but since there isn't a stable version yet i started downloading the netinst CD image, with Debian base!!!!

So my question is, is it smart to install the netinst cd image of sarge and how good is it is it stable and should i reinstall again after the stable version is released

I've installed Debian Sarge via netinstall. Thus far, no problems at all for me. Not a bad little system!

great, so i will try it tonight after making some dinner

but sarges comes with kernel 2.4.x right ?
is it smart to update 2.6.x right away or should i wait a while and why

...make sure you've got a nice and fast connection though, and using a decent speed mirror. On my PC, the install took about three hours.

owh that part i mist.
so the netinst get his files from the internet and installs debian on your machine :O now i c

It installed about 590MB of software for me during the installation process. So yes, it can be a long job (not something to try with dialup!).

I got no probs with the netinstall of sarge. Type linux26 at the startup screen to install with 2.6 kernel.

Mine downloaded about 300 MB and installed just under 1 GB. I really like it because you can select what you download, instead of downloading a CD of deb packages you might not need or want.

pick local mirrors too... helps a lot!

I did a net install of Sarge last night. I'm a nube to Linux (though a Unixhead for 20+ years) and had been working with Woody but was having a lot of problems, the main one being that it would not see my Promise ultra-ATA controller. A linux guru I know told me to update.

It went well but I'd not even think about it without a BIG pipe! I have 3mb DSL. I selected a few options including X. It took several hours to download and at the end the screen said it had gotten about 600mb. I used the Debian US ftp server and got about 200kbytes/sec. This link is good for 300+ so I wasn't downloading at full speed.

IMHO, the Debian crew is much too conservative. The categories sought to be Obsolete, Current and Testing. Sarge solved most of my problems and some I didn't yet know about, such as easily using a USB drive. KDE is about a zillion times better than on woody. In short, woody is obsolete. My hardware is about 8 years old with the exception of the Promise controller and Woody was still missing it.

I've fought a couple of problems to a standoff, though. I had Samba working fine under Woody but it was DOA after the Sarge install from scratch, even though I saved my /etc/samba/smb.conf file and put it back in place after the install. I've fought this thing for 48 hours solid, interrupted by only some 2 hour naps! Then I took a meal break and when I came back it was working. That kind of stuff scares me.

The other problem is that I'm having the "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdc1, or too many mounted file systems" problem when I try to mount some vfat discs. These mounted fine under Knoppix, which is what made me decide to send Win98 to the bit bucket about a week ago. I haven't done any file serving since!! These volumes also check out OK when I boot the windows recovery disc and take a look. I guess I need to start a new thread on this problem....

Anyway, Sarge is a no-brainer. Only advice I can give is find a big ole internet pipe to install from. Or buy a disc set. Looks to be about 12 of 'em now.


John, first post to this forum
johngd at bellsouth.net