Hi, I wanted to upgrade my kernel to 2.6 from 2.4 so I did apt-get install kernel-image-2.6<etc..>

After that, I restarted, I noticed my Grub now has a new listing. It's Debian with the 2.6 kernel, and debian with the 2.4. I chose the 2.6, had to reload the nvidia drivers and then logged in. Everything seems that it went fine.

I just want to make sure that I'm doing this right, the only thing left for me to do is apt-get --purge remove kernel-image-2.4<etc..> correct?


Also, one last thing. I got firefox and thunderbird, I noticed it's the really old version, this is the same if I do apt-get remove/then install firefox/thunderbird. What's the deal with that? Does Debian not support the latest firefox package at all?

I'm fairly new to linux but I full switched over from Windows XP a couple days ago. I still got lots of things to learn.

yep you did the correct thing to upgrade your kernel.

Which release of Debian are you running. If you are using Sarge(stable) then firefox and thunderbird are still on the 1.0.x versions. If you are running etch (testing) then firefox is 1.5 but thunderbird is still 1.0.7. I dont kno what sid (unstable) is at.

I wouldnt remove your 2.4 kernel just yet. I woud keeop it around for a week or soe just so you can test out the 2.6 kernel to make sure it handles your hardware correctly and has no problems.

Michael.

Sid has up-to-date versions of both Firefox and Thunderbird:
As you can see, the names have been changed a bit as well.

I'm running the stable sarge version. Isn't there anyway to specifically apt-get the newer updated packages? Or do I need upgrade my distro to the etch one first?


Also, when's etch's expected release date? Aswell, will it be fairly simple to upgrade it from sarge? (apt-get dist-update?)

edit: What's sid? Is that a repository?

You can install the newer versions using the target option of apt-get, something like this:

Anotther way is to change your repositories, but it's easier whit the --target-release option of apt-get


PD:// "Sid" is the unstable branch of debian



Regards

From an article i read today the next stable release will be in December.

I would just add the backports repositories. That has xorg, 1.5 firefox openoffice 2.0 and kde 3.5.1 as well as a number of others. These are not official packages but you should be alright with them. Means you can keep your system entirly on sarge because they are builton it. Hers the link to backports, there alink to adding the repositories on it http://www.backports.org/

Warning however once you have installed the things you want from backports unmark it and run from the normal sarge repos again.

Michael

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by "unmark it"


That told me I already had the latest version (which I don't)

edit: realized I don't have a correct address in sources.list

when I say unmark I mean either in synaptic untick the box next to the backports repositoruy, or if you edit them by hand put a '#' before the actual address. This then means that apt wont updte the package list for this and it wont see it until you enable it again.