i have used ubuntu but dont like gnome, so i tried xfce and it was SLOW and i found the ubuntu devs had descided to put rox as xfce's file manager , so a few questions, how are the debian devs do they mess with things like that, and since i'm using freebsd hows debian for speed and mem usage. And also which branch should i be using for a desktop i just use for my amusement, sid or testing?

Debian can be as lean as you wish it to be. You can install any Window Manager you like on it.
You just decide. I use icewm or Fluxbox and both are very fast.
Use testing if you want desktop usability. I have also used unstable so far and have no
problem.
Choose the net install and you get a very small base system you can customize.
cheers

ingvildr wrote:

"so a few questions, how are the debian devs do they mess with things like that, and since i'm using freebsd hows debian for speed and mem usage."

They are excellent, you can do a minimal install, and add only what you want, ending up with a lean mean machine.

See:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icle&artid=330

It's very fast and memory usage is pretty good. I'm using Sarge with IceWM on a PII 266 with 128 MB RAM, and it flies. If you install Sid, install the package 'apt-listbugs'. Check the sticky at the top of the page on Debian's configuration.


"And also which branch should i be using for a desktop i just use for my amusement, sid or testing?"

Sid.

Debian takes at least twice the time to boot. Other than that, Debian with 2.6 kernel should be quite competitive with FreeBSD -- and package management in Debian is much faster when compared to compiling stuff from the ports system. And no, you don't get ROX-Filer when you install xfce in Debian.

I'd recommend the "testing" branch at first. After the Sarge release (6.6.2005) lots of new packages will flow to "unstable" and this is likely to bring many new bugs and dependency problems. You can install the "apt-listbugs" utility that will warn you before installing packages with known bugs.

You can cut boot time considerably by replacing discover and hotplug with lines in /etc/modules. I only use hotplug for USB. you can accomplish this by renaming all *.rc files in /etc/hotplug/ except usb.rc . all services can be enabled disabled and re-ordered by adapting the symlinks in /etc/rcS.d and /etc.rc2.d .

since i'm on dialup is there an easier way of getting sid then just installing sarge and upgrading, like maybe knoppix isn't that based on sid?, and if i did use knoppix to install debian on hd could i do such things as point sources to sid and just update when needed from it?

Kanotix is based on Sid. The cool thing about Kanotix is there is a version for running on either a Laptop or desktop.

You source.list for the repositories is under /etc/apt/source.list you can either manually add repositories to it or use apt-setup.

"Debian mirrors"

apt-get.org: Unofficial APT repositories

i was reading that knoppix is a mix of debian repos like stable, testing, sid etc but found this on the site,
So could i use knoppix to get a sid desktop?, i would prefer knoppix because its more up to date.

Yes you can install Knoppix to get a working Debian unstable install.

The only difference between Knoppix and Kanotix at the moment is that Knoppix includes OpenOffice 2.0 Beta.

Use whichever you feel more comfortable with.

Either way good luck and welcome to the world of Debian.