How good is apt-get?
 

I'm planning on switching to Debian from RH9, after some truely awful experiences installing from RPMs and source. So my question is, how well does apt-get work? From what I've seen it looks awesome, finds its own dependencies, does uninstalls, etc. Is all this true? Is there any glaring weakness in it's ability to install anything you need?

It's only limited by the packages available on the servers in your apt sources list, and the version of debian you are running.

To answer how good is it, good enough to spawn a port to redhat/fedora core, and yellowdog linux. Obviously it's something many more people want.

Oh yea on the uninstall if related directories, like preference directories are not empty apt won't delete them, but once the app is gone, rm -r works pretty well to clean up

--Alex

If they are conf files for the package, a dpkg --purge will clean it up, or a apt-get remove --purge. Or a _ in aptitude ;)

The tool apt-get is the key to Debian. I think even a Windows-only user would appreciate apt-get if ever given the opportunity.

Installing Mozilla 1.5 on Debian 3.0 woody/stable was a simple matter of adding a backports.org source to my apt-sources and updating. It even automatically updated to Mozilla 1.6 when that package became available!

You can always try APT for RPM based distros--> APT. However in my opinion the original APT for the Debian based distros is better which is one of the main reasons Deb is my main OS/distro.

Is apt-get working OK with Knoppix also? How Debian Knoppix actually is? Does it does use some newer testing versions of Debian?

I was fascinating how easy the hd installlation procedure of Knoppix was. Yesterday I even got NForce2 onboard (EPOX-RDA8+) etnernet card running. (tar installation of nvnet module from NVidia site + modification of modules.conf + modprobe and netcardconfig command from terminal) It was the only deficiency with Knoppix installation all other hardware was detected beautifully.

I first tried to install Debian Woody, but it was impossible to even get X up and running...

Knoppix is based on Debian testing/unstable, so it is not as stable as woody of course. You can update/clean, etc a knoppix system just like a debian-system. There are a lot of packages installed which I do not like; this is why I installed Debian, upgraded to Debian/unstable and installed KDE, etc.

easiest way to instal linux is knoppix
 

Get knoppix 3.3 cd iso, burn iso, insert cd, reboot assuming it will boot cd, at boot prompt type:

Knoppix 2 lang=us

after it loads and you get a prompt, type:

knoppix-installer

Configure it, select that you want a debian like system. Just let it install.

Once it's installed, either use Kpackage to update and upgrade, or open console and type:

apt-get update

let it do it's thing, answer all prompts

then type:

apt-get upgrade

let it do it's thing again.

Boom done. Assuming knoppix detected and installed all your hardware right your done. I must commend knoppix on their work, I've installed it on 3 pcs no problems... even nividia cards, networks, X etc all setup first time!

apt-get is that good. Say you wanted to get giFT, or apache, etc... things that have lots of dependencies and other stuff that makes for a PITA install, well for most newbies at least... you can use apt-get to install them AND all dependencies. Or if you like GUI, you can use Kpackage to select and install everything without typing at all. Kpackage will utilize apt and install or remove or update or upgrade etc.

Debian via knoppix is by far the easiest way for windows people to port to linux. And they will be flabbergasted with apt, just like I was when I started using it.