Hi everybody,

I just switched from Mandarke/Mandriva to Debian Sarge and its 13 CDs. The installation was VERY easy, no glitches or problems whatsoever. Being totally new to Debian, I still have a couple of questions though:

1) how does one apt-get install a specific file downloaded to a directory?! My apt-get seems to look in the file/source list generated during the install in which all the packages from my 13CDs are listed. The package I downloaded, Skype, does not seem to be there. I tried Synapic and I tried apt-get install. They both seem to do the same thing. Can I add a directory to the source list or, alternatively, can I specify a path (or even one file) to apt-get install to use for installation?

2)why is Skype not part of the 15000+ packages on my 13CDs? Could it be that it is not free as in speech and only free as in beer?

3) I got my CDs from budgetlinuxcds-dot-com (whom I very much reccommend). But how can I find out what these CDs actually contain, what types of software are included? I know that there is a US and a non-US version of Debian, that there are Debian repositories with non-free packages, but which did I get? Are the 13 CDs all only really free software?

4) lastly - on boot I have a daemon for AppleTalk loading and wasting plenty of time. How do I control which daemon/applications get loaded on boot? In Mandrake, I would use the Control Center to simply select which services are turned on, off, or turned on on each boot. Is there such a utility in Debian?

Many thanks for all your pointers & answers!

1: dpkg -i filename.deb

2: because it's proprietary software

3: should be everything. to browse through the available packages use aptitude, synaptic or any other front-end to apt.

4: there's update-rc.d but I usually just delete the symlinks in /etc/rcX.d to control the daemons to run.

thanks a lot for all your info (I will stay away from Skype - is there a free equivalent to it?)

just download the .deb at skype website and install it yourself.
http://skype.com/products/skype/linux/

dpkg -i skype*.deb

To your 4th question...

I suggest you do a "apt-get install aptitude" if "aptitude" is not already installed. Then browse through installed packages with it, and remove everything you don't need. See "man aptitude" for usage information. It's great once you get accustomed to it's interface.

As you have some appletalk daemon installed it most probably means that you have many other useless programs on your harddrive. Deleting symlinks will speed up startup, but it won't remove unnecessary software.

A bit off topic, but following the stable realise of Sarge, was it easy to get a Graphical desktop running, (for e,g. Did it work out of the box, or did you need to configure it). And, does it come with the 2.6 kernel and kde 3.4? Only, I'm bored of FC4 (already), and would like to move onto the IMO the most known about linux there is. The large amount of apps also appeals to me.

Anyway, any info would be great. Buck

EDIT: Is it also easy to upgrade to KDE 3.4, and openoffice 2 beta, Cheers

Hi there,

I can sincerely tell you that I do NOT miss Mandrake (which I always believed to be superior to FC or RH). When I installed Debian Sarge all was not immediately perfect. First, the video resolution was wrong, all I could get was 800x600, and I had no sound at all. After some looking, I got the most helpful answers from Linuxquestions.org participants. I copied the xfree86config-4 file from Knoppix, and I installed the ALSA packages and ran alsaconf which immediately fixed my sound problems. The rest did, indeed, work out ot the box.

Sarge is ok as an installer, but the hardware recognition gets only a 'pass' grade from me. After years of high-end Mandrake comfort I am probably a little spoiled. HOWEVER,

I am absolutely blissful with Debian. Synaptic, Debian package manager, is at least as good as Mandrake's, but offers 15000+ packages including many fancy ones. I did not really check what version of KDE or OO I have, but apt-get is at least as good as urpmi (which FC/RH does not even have) and you can do it all with synaptic provided you add the correct source. The Debain community is very friendly and has treated this newbie (at least to Debian, with kindness and competance). Last, but not least, Debian does *not* have RPMs - hurraaaay!!!

The biggest difference between Mandrake/Mandriva/FC/RH is probably the design philosophy of the distro. M/M/F/R all have a centralized trouble-shooting design (in Mandrake THE tool to fix any problem is the Mandrake Control Center) whereas the Debian people are simply not very interested in creating their own tools when others have done a great job. And, indeed, this makes sense. Why create a super-dooper sound config module when Alsaconf is already out there? Its just a different way of doing things, but one which is easy to adapt to.

I strongly encourage you to give Debian a try. I, for sure, am NOT coming pack to the RPM hell of Mandrake.

Cheers,

VS

In which case, here I go... See you on the other side (so to speak)

to vees lucky for you to install sarge w/ no problem. i like to know how you install sarge
and if you burned it on cd. im a freshman on linux world i use knoppix-cd before and i want to use sarge/i386 & jidgo. please reply this post

KDE is pretty easy to upgrade: To upgrade to KDE 3.4.1 (replace with 3.4.0 if desired) just add to your /etc/apt/sources.list file, then update your package list and install the new versions of kde.

OOo 2 is more complicated, but you can install it by following the (slightly outdated) directions at http://installation.openoffice.org/s...=dev&msgNo=610

I am replying

No, I don't think that I was "lucky". Sarge has a decent installer, its not perfect, but its good enough for anyone with some patience and tolerance for fixing this or that. Since I only have a friggin dial-up connection, I purchased the 14 CDs from http://www.budgetlinuxcds.com/index.php?page=Choose . BTW, I *highly* reccommend these guys: I have ordered plenty of CDs from them, and they are *always* in perfect condition, their choice is fantastic (and if they ain't got it, you tell them and they get it) and their prices are very low. They ship fast, in about a week you get it.

Having CDs at home has many advantages over a net install. You do not depend on any connection, you can help others, and you get everything you need without worrying about versions. Its well worth the small amount of money this costs.

CDs you burn yourself tend to be of a cheaper quality as most burners are cheap and all too often run on poor quality OS (Windoze) and software (Nero). You would be *MUCH* better of getting high-quality CDs. No matter what you choose, STAY AWAY FROM CDs IN MAGAZINES which are of HORRIBLE quality.

Bonne chance mon ami et a+

VS