I don't know why but I can't seem to get any upgrades for weeks now. This what I get when I do apt-get update/upgrade.


carla:/home/carla# apt-get update
Get:1 http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch Release.gpg [189B]
Get:2 http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch Release [5535B]
Get:3 http://ftp.au.debian.org etch Release.gpg [378B]
Hit http://ftp.au.debian.org etch Release
Ign http://ftp.au.debian.org etch/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://ftp.au.debian.org etch/main Sources/DiffIndex
Hit http://ftp.au.debian.org etch/main Packages
Hit http://ftp.au.debian.org etch/main Sources
Ign http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch/main Packages
Get:4 http://security.debian.org etch/updates Release.gpg [189B]
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates Release
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Sources/DiffIndex
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/non-free Sources/DiffIndex
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/non-free Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Sources
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/non-free Sources
Fetched 5726B in 5s (1004B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
carla:/home/carla# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
linux-image-2.6-486
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
carla:/home/carla#

Your running stable so you will only get upgrades/updates once a security problem has been found and a fixed package has been uploaded. If you wish to have newer versions of the packages you have installed then your either have to go to www.backports.org to see if they have newer versions built for Etch or upgrade your install to the testing or unstable branches.

switch the etch to lenny or testing if you want the latest updates. It's not the rock solid system that is etch, but I have never had a major problem with the testing branch and the minor problems are usually fixed within a day or two.

You can also add repos that will upgrade you whenever Stable gets "point" upgrades (Etch has already had two). Add these lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list and you will probably be offered lots of upgrades:Then try That said, you are already getting whatever security updates are needed, so if it ain't broke, why change it?

Thanks that answers a lot. Yeah it ain'st broke and I am not that good with Linux yet to take any real risks. I already had to reinstal everything on two machines a month ago and reinstall all the apps. That was time consuming a stressful. I am only having one problems with browsing and that might just be Yahoo and another Linux forum that I can't seem to post on. Does very weird things. So when I posted here afterwards I thought 'ah it is those other sites and not the browser'.
Thanks so much for the advice!

Browser problems are often (not always) Java or Flash related, so you might also check around for HOWTOs that talk about installing Java and Flash plugins for your browser.

Yep that makes sense actually as the Yahoo site depends on those and I think I saw at the bottom of the browser something about Java. I didn't understand it though. As far as I know I installed all of that but I will take a 2nd look now that you mention it as it keeps happening especially with the same websites.

Could be that you installed the sun-java5-jre, but you forgot to install the plugin, sun-java5-plugin


Make sure you have also installed the java plugin aptitude install sun-java5-plugin

restart firefox/iceape and type about:plugins to view your installed plugins Java should be listed.

You can test java in your browser by going to http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

[edit]
Edited to correct mistyped about:config command.. DOH !!
[/edit]

Actually that's "about: plugins" ...

... and just to annoy people, it's without the space

The old typing fingers want the space after the colon, even when it's wrong

I get this when I try to install the plugin:
carla:/home/carla# apt-get install sun-java5-plugin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package sun-java5-plugin

farslayer-I can't quite understand the code. Sorry I am pretty much a beginner.

I did the aboutlugin in the browser and there are many plugins. I can't see anything about Java but this is the flash stuff:
Shockwave Flash

File name: libflash-mozplugin.so
Flash Movie player Version 0.4.12 compatible with Shockwave Flash 4.0

Shockwave is a trademark of Macromedia®

GPLFLash homepage : gplflash.sf.net

MIME Type Description Suffixes Enabled
application/x-shockwave-flash Flash Plugin swf Yes
application/futuresplash Future Splash spl Yes
Shockwave Flash

File name: libflashplayer.so
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r48

MIME Type Description Suffixes Enabled
application/x-shockwave-flash Shockwave Flash swf Yes
application/futuresplash FutureSplash Player spl Yes


Yep I tried that page http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml last night and it shows java is not installed as that green jigsaw symbol is present.

All the above is using the browser Iceweasel. Now I am having a look at what Konqueror gives me.
aboutlugins
ava Plug-in Java Plug-in KJAS for Konqueror kjavaappletviewer.so
application/x-java-applet - Java Applet (class)
application/x-java-bean - JavaBeans (jar)

Shockwave Flash Shockwave Flash 9.0 r48 libflashplayer.so
application/x-shockwave-flash - Shockwave Flash (swf)
application/futuresplash - FutureSplash Player (spl)
Shockwave Flash Flash Movie player Version 0.4.12 compatible with Shockwave Flash 4.0
Shockwave is a trademark of Macromedia®
GPLFLash homepage : gplflash.sf.net
libflash-mozplugin.so
application/x-shockwave-flash - Flash Plugin (swf)
application/futuresplash - Future Splash (spl)

Using http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml
It says JRE is installed.

So maybe I should just use Konqueror but the only thing is I have always had trouble with Konqueror when using Ebay. When listing and editing listings. Specifically uploading pictures to the site. That is why I have been using Iceweasel because it worked for that.

In your /etc/apt/sources.list - from what you posted above - I think that you need to add "contrib and non-free" to your main sources lines. Assuming you have something like this: Add "contrib non-free" on the same line so it looks like this: Then do "apt-get update" and then try to install sun-java5-plugin again. You always have to do "apt-get update" after you change your sources list. (I think that you will need sun-java5-bin too and maybe sun-java5-jre as well, but apt should drag in whatever else you need as dependencies, so don't worry about that too much now.)

Yes, fixing /etc/apt/sources.list is likely the solution, but here's a handy thing to know when looking for packages in general:

will find all packages that include whatever in its name or description.

Or, if the list you get is huge:

will give you a pageable list.

Or to find all whatever containing the string gizmo:

This is a good way to make sure you're naming a package correctly, or to see what related packages are available.

Telemachos-so is that line supposed to be
deb http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
or
deb http//ftp.au.debian.org/ etch main contrib non-free

it's just that one has the second 'debian' missing.

Sorry I know I have done it but how do I edit the repositories? Should I do it in Synaptic or via a terminal. I just don't remember how.

eerok-Thanks for those extra tips as I am mostly usisng the package manager. It's good to know more than one way of doing things and apt seems to be more powerful?!