A new kind of installation?! Easy as pie?
 

Hello,

I've been running on FC4 for a while, and im ready to try debian. At first I was going to install it with knoppix, until I heard that there could be issues with apt-get, updating, and stuff like that later on. A buddy of mine that knows quite a bit about the distro told me about KANOTIX. He says KANOTIX hd install installs a debian SiD to my system almost exactly how the debian installer does, but with more packages, ect..., he also stated that I won't get apt-get, or upgrade problems later on. And I know that debian SiD is stable enough and I shouldn't run into any big problems if any...

My question is, for those who are looking to install the latest debian 'unstable', why don't they just use KANOTIX to install it?

Maybe because KANOTIX ain't Debian.

I'd go with Debian Etch. I just downloaded a 100 MB boot iso few days ago and installed Etch, very simple to do. Debian is a much better distro than Fedora imho; it isn't a resource hog.

Please ignore
 

I'll repost this, sorry for putting this here.

Kanotix is very good and very close to debian. It is as close to debian as a debian - based distro can be.

If you use wireless or a winmodem then that would make things easier for you.

On the other hand debian will run faster, you chose what to install, and is very easy to install with the net installer if you use a regualr ethernet connection.

My brother has wireless and we downloaded the first 3 iso of debian and then used the ndiswrapper and had no problems.

If you run Debian and use wireless Debian will just do the same as any other distro since it is still linux..
Ndiswrapper is only to be used if no linux driver is around. Ndiswrapper is a 'nothing else worked' fix and nothing to be proud of.
Debian can be as slow as any distro if you install the same crap as some distro's install by default. Get off the 'My distro rules horse' and just configure your distro as you like it. It will run just as fine as any...

Your statement is true depending on the hardware you install the OS to. I run older hardware and can't effectively run the big distros like FC4 or FC5. FC5 release notes, for example, recommends that you have at least 256 MB of RAM, preferably 512. My units can't run that very well.
Debian runs very well without tweaking on my Plll units without going into swap.
So, I guess it depends on your frame of reference.

But, you're right, my statement, this OS rules, was quite stupid, but, must be taken in the context of discovering how truly amazing Etch is.:D

Where did your attitude come from?

BTW I was proud to get it working. And I know what an ndiswrapper is.

"Get off the" attitude that you seemed to have for no reason.

Or we can get another rant from you on the point of ndiswrappers

"you tell em jackie way to go"

This is the fastest, simplist way to install Debian that I've found:

http://genieos.toluenterprises.com/Home.html

It will take you through a sort of merry go round though, you will have to reboot twice, but it is much simpler than the other ways I've tried.

A cool way to install Debian is by using Instalinux - Create a Custom Linux Network Install Image
IS the Genie OS a remake or a copy of the DebianPure cd?

Kanotix once installed IS a Debian Sid system. I have ran a Kanotix HD install for almost 2 years now with few problems. Actually the only problems have come from Etch/Sid repositories changing so much over the last few months. So my philosophy is if it works why bother updating. Kinda like if its not broke don't fix it. Last time I checked I had over 900 updates waiting to be installed. Unless the app has some type of security flaw or a cool new feature I just leave it as it is.

A small question, craigevil. I'm running Etch and really like the 2.6.15 kernel and KDE 3.5.1. Is SID fairly stable? Did you encounter any hiccups upgrading from Etch?
As you said if it isn't broke leave well enough alone.
Is it worth the hassle of an upgrade from Etch--->SID? My Etch systems are running like tops:-)

Thank you,

hitest:D

I installed using Kanotix, which gave me a working Debian Sid system from the start.

One of the tricks in running Etch or Sid is having apt-listbugs installed, so you can tell if updating something will screw things up.

Thanks, man! I'll look for apt-listbugs in the repos

I run both Kanotix on drive A and Etch on drive B as backup, so I know them both. I often copy files from sda to sdb in case a problem occcurs.

Been running Kanotix almost non-stop for the past year. I run Etch from time to time. I much prefer Kanotix as everything always works. You can't go wrown with either one, but if you do a lot of multimedia and sound, Kanotix has this out of the box while with Etch you have to install, configure, tweak, etc.

Kanotix is the best kept secret in Linux, IMO.

Al

I just install etch this week for the first time using the netinstall method. I was kind of worried about it at first until i looked at the screen shots over at osdir and i thought hell thats easy. And when I got down to it was easier, so easy infact id personally say I found it easier to install then mandriva 06, partitioning was a snap, partly because I onyl use one distro at a time so i just format it and set up my own partitions, 15gb root, 512 swap and fill the remaining for my home. Its simple, I didnt have to have any information other then what grapiphics card/chip i had in my machine, it auto sets up alsa and oss for you (did for me sound worked on first boot once I had realised it had been muted so turned it on with the sound mixer in gnome).

The installer sets up your ethernet connection for you with dhcp so there no intervention there on your part, just select the catagory of pre defined packages you want e.g. desktop etc etc. Setting up next is pretty much a next next next affar, only time you have to think is when you choose the type of mouse you have but it shoudl detet it for you and when you choose the driver for your graphics card.

Afterwards I was sitting there thinking now that was easy as pie, iv installed distros aimed specifically at newbies that were harder then this install. And it wasnt easy because I hadnt configured it, it didnt need it it barly gave any options for configuration other then xorg, and apt repos.

Why bother with kanotix or knoppix whendebian is a snap, i dotn knwo if sarge is the same, im presuming so, but etch was simple.

Michael

OSDIR Screenshots of installer Mentioned in previous post
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/sl...se=184&slide=1

I'm kinda of the same mind. If I want a Debian System I will install Debian, not kanotix, knoppix, Ubuntu or any of the other many many distros that are either closely or loosely based on Debian.

The install is pretty simple, I have both Sid and Sarge running on various systems and at the worst breakage in Sid I just waited a couple days and did another apt-get update apt-get upgrade and the issue resolved itself.. no big deal.

using the Standard Netinstall iso my favorite commands were linux26 and expert so I could choose which distro to install.. now witht he Etch netinstall iso you can get the 2.6.15 kernel out of the gate.. that just rocks. and the netinstall prevents you from having to download updates once the install is complete. very nice.

I was wondering
 

Do these particular distros that you are installing here have a base directory with a file something like base2_1.tgz or similar that you can copy to the hard drive logical partition and run the install from there

Sure you can.. consult the install guide for Hard drive install instructions..
http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...ages-hard-disk

The 'rant' was not pointing at you being proud of getting it installed. When something finally works the way you like it, it's always a brilliant moment (and time to move on to the next challenge ;)). What I was (obviously not clearly) trying to say was that ndiswrapper is something the linux community is forced to use since a lot of manufacturers are not opening the specs of their hardware. The fact that we have to use windows drivers in a wrap is just a shame but sometimes there is just no alternative. I prefer my wraps the mexican way and hope someday that's all that's being wrapped!

Cheers

I guess I need to clearify what I ment to say becouse obviousely the newer cd's are different I do not have those particular ditros with the particular initrd.gz file and kernel
can you tell me where I might get them? and why do I have to have a whole iso image to do this?

in the distro that I have there is a 60 mb file called base2_1.tgz and an install.bat with loadlin.exe and another file called root.bin which I believe is the install script (seems to be encrypted) I put this in a directory on a logical fat partition hit the install.bat and it installs to my to my newly formated ext2 partition in about 5 minuts. Acually there are a few more .bin files there also but you get the idea

what I am trying to find out (and I think that I have) is if this is still there in the current distros but I am guessing that it is not so its hard to explain what I am talking about
becouse we are not on the same page.

it seems to me that a 60 mb file is far quicker to download with a dialup connection than a 700 mb iso img. The idea being is if you have the command line compiler and tools in this file just punch the install and in a few minuts you rolling. from there with proper librarys the sky is the limit as to what you can do! without the fuss and frustration with drivers for this and drivers for that and configuration for this and the like. Thats just my opinion for what its worth
any comments are welcome.

Thanks, where can you get Kanotix?:D

Thanks, I appreciate the link!:D