Updating Debian
 

I am new to the whole linux thing so please bear with me. I have debain 2.6.21.4. How would I get the latest free debian and is there a step by step instruction on how to install?

Thanks.

Pam

Hi Pam. Debian is available here: http://www.debian.org/distrib/

And the installation manual is here: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

And if you do not know if you are on a 32 or a 64bit system just go with the 32 as it will work on both.

I have a headache now. Looks too difficult. Is there an easy way to update my version to 6.0?

I know from your other thread that you are using Xandros. The latest release of Xandros was based on Debian 4.0 (Etch). Debian doesn't support updates over two versions, so you would have to update to 5.0 (Lenny) first, and the from 5.0 to 6.0 (Squeeze). It would be much easier to just make a fresh install of 6.0.

I made a few screenshots of a (very easy) installation. It can't replace the full installation documentation already linked to, but might give you a first overview:
http://www.debianuserforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=105

I don't think doing a fresh installation is more easy or better per se. I would try to upgrade first of all. If that fails you still can install. Debian upgrades from one version to another are known for being rather flawless (compared with other distros).

Tobi - I do not have a cd, so how do I update to Lenny? Sorry but I am so confused.

Thank you so much for trying to help me out.

Pam

Haven't used Debian for a while, I think j1alu would be the better person to talk with regarding Debian upgrades, especially since I never used Etch and so don't have any experience with upgrading to Lenny.

Open your terminal and as root;
You can copy/paste that command.

This will open your sources list. You need to edit every instance of "etch" to read "lenny".

Save the file.

Then run;
Then;
Then;
You could jump straight to the full-upgrade skipping the safe-upgrade, I am just cautious.

When you get that upgrade run and have made sure things work I would reopen your sources.list and just change all instances of "lenny" to "stable" and do it all again.

Using "stable" instead of squeeze means that it will automatically jump you from Squeeze (current stable) to Wheezy (next stable) when it becomes stable (it is now testing).

If you do not like that idea just use "squeeze" in place of "lenny".

Are you an Asus EEE PC user, Pam?

If so, you may find this link useful: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC

I seldom read release notes (which is bad, but i am honest), but do it like:
a)make sure the old release is fully up to date (upgrade and dist-upgrade)
b) change the sources list and update
c) install apt and dpkg
d) do it like snowpine said

Etch should be available like here:
http://superuser.com/questions/16440...-etch-packages

run (i use apt-get, aptitude is fine, but i am not that sure about its syntax):
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

go on like described by snowpine, but install "dpkg and apt" before running the upgrade
(i often forget that, and it usually works too, but it is recommended. I think).
While you do so you might want to check for newer kernels and install them too (apt-cache search linux-image...).
there are also the release notes, like said, but it is quite a read. In that case i for one would prefer the re-installation (as i am too lazy).

You might want to post your sources.list first of all

I'm burning the dvd's from http://www.linuxcd.org/view_item.php?id_version=5247 and will attempt to install with an external cd rom.

You only need the first one.

@j1alu
I prefer apt-get to aptitude too. The recommended way to upgrade Debian has always been to use aptitude. That just changed with the upgrade from Lenny to Squeeze.

Ubuntu folks through a fit if you suggest upgrading using anything but Update Mangler. I have always used apt-get to upgrade from version to version there too. Have no idea what their problem with that is. I think it is just that they recommend UM and therefore you should do it that way.

If you are like me and have never had your skirt blown up particularly by aptitude you should take a close look at the man page some time. It does have some features that are very handy to know about. I am studying it quite hard right now for those features and what they do (and what they can break). The keep-all command is my current favorite.

aptitude is on my (never-ending) list.
I mention it cause i don't want to give the impression i use apt-get for a reason. Its simply that i know it.
Otoh i ain't got much problems with the package-management, so my energy to start with aptitude is rather low.
I know exactly one aptitude command for sure: "aptitude purge ~c"
(it removes some left-overs, not sure what exactly). Ah, wait: "aptitude why package-name" i know too.
In case you don't know the following link (i made it a bookmark as part of my plan to look into aptitude):
http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/...h02s03s05.html
perhaps you will like it.