I've decided to change from slackware to debian after reading good things about it, but I cant decide which version. Since sarge is now stable I assume it wont be getting any new versions just security updates?

Which leaves etch or sid? I'm new to debian but have been using slackware for over a year so can fix problems that arise. Looking at other posts people here seem to be using etch or sid. Which should I be using?

I've downloaded the debian-31r0a-i386-netinst iso todo a net install, if I choose expert mode will I get a choice if which to install?

Etch is a pretty safe bet right now. Just do the normal install, and after it recognizes your sources, and installs what it wants you can do a:

# nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and change all references to stable, to testing(etch). Then:

# apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade.

I would recomend sticking with sarge for now until you get the hang of apt. Etch and sid are in a state of flux right now and it is nice to know how to resolve dependecy issues and broken packages.

You should read about apt pinning and running a mixed testing/unstable system:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/ap...pt-get.en.html

http://www.argon.org/~roderick/apt-pinning.html

It is easier to upgrade than downgrade packages. Therefore, you are better off installing sarge or etch as your base system. You can configure apt to use multiple repositories, so you can grab newer versions of some packages from unstable without upgrading everything to unstable (see links above). If you run just unstable, you are likely to find things broken on a somewhat regular basis if you upgrade frequently.

I second keeping sarge for a bit to learn your way around. Most dependency problems should be fixed once package move in etch though.

But if you used slack you'll learn it pretty fast. Especially if you read the manual If you're just prepared for it and you know the tools you could also just try sid. Maybe start with sarge install, use apt to upgrade it to etch so you know the procedure. Play around with etch till you get the hang of the tools or know where to look the easy things up and then upgrade to sid.

Sid isn't that scary though. I started using it a few weeks after I installed linux for the first time. Though I must say it sometimes would have helped if I knew the tools

Bear in mind -as myates says- that sid is at times prone to show


thing, whereas this is far more unlikely in sarge or etch. But I assume you already know that

Regards,
JuanJavier

I'm going to try etch then, cant do a netinstall because my the modules for my network card aint on the cd. So I need to install from the 1st cd then upgrade to etch.