Truely... i'm sad... I've explained to you three way of doing it and i've explained why it was like that... but it seems that you have tried only once... moreover, it seems like you don't even try to understand the repository concept...

Well if you think that a good OS is an OS where you can only click and go, and where any user can change any file without even having the rights on it, go on... Here, I stick with Debian which stays the best for me!

BTW, my dad hasn't any problem with his ubuntu (it seems like you have this distro), and he's definitly not an computer science engineer!

So, be that way if you like it, but don't criticize Linux because you're not smart enough to understand.

I have never had any problems with slack-ware, SUSE, Mandrake or Ubuntu Imo Ubuntu is what Debian should have been to begin with. Ubuntu is an excellent Os Debian.. Nah Debian has to many flaws UN stable is supposed to be stable Oh wait unstable is supposed to still be in testing and stable is supposed to be Umm Lol I tried to fix the suppository's nothing worked. Think I might have messed up the system when I attempted to install wmv codecs, not 100 percent sure about that, just guessing I mean sure I had some minor problems with the other noob distros but no where near as many problems as I I'm having with Debian.

SUSE: SUSE is a good distro Updating SUSE is simple All anyone has to do is click on the Lil lizard below the panel and wholla the systems updates without having to preform rocket science. if I wanted to install a ftp server all I would have to do is type ftp then choose from the list, that's it , none of this that isn't compatible or conflicting with this and that ain't compatible with this nonsense.

I had a Lil bit of a hard time installing slack ware but slack wasn't all that bad compared to Debian Linux

Ubuntu: 2 thumbs up it's about time someone made a Linux distro that is compatible with newer model computers there's allot of Linux developers out there who fail to realize that we are no longer in the 60-s computers are inexpensive now days Dells, band new only cost $500 therefore people no longer need to use their old PC that they had back in the 60-s the people who develop Debian must also realize that Microsoft monopolizes the computer industry Microsoft pays Dell Sony etc big bucks to make their computers so they will only work with Microsoft windows/ win modems. I preformed rocket science oh to many times with slack and BSD-s and tried to do the same with Debian it was just plain ridiculous thing to do when I could have spent my time using a user friendly distro that don't have all these Bs conflicts like Debian has. I believe that only 4 percent of computer users use Linux it's no wonder why not all distros but allot of them make installation damn near impossible.

I appreciate the replies very much, I wish I was smart enough to understand all this fancy dan mumbo jumbo but , I don't I'm going to set up the laptop and install Debian on it and use these replies as references I don't want to install Debian on this, pc cause it cost 4 grand and I'm afraid to do anything that will mess it up.

You have more chances to lose your data under Windows that under any Linux distribution. That's a fact. Just do a smart partitionning.

For the Ubuntu/Debian way of thinking. "Linux is not Windows" is the phrase you should repeat 100 times a day! Moreover Ubuntu isn't the Debian "it should be" simply because Ubuntu aims desktop users while Debian aims all kinds of use. And even Debian developpers says that Debian is more and more a base distribution (i.e. base for Knoppix, Ubuntu, ...)

For the APT system, to me it's the most powerfull upgrading system I ever seen. Nothing like Windows update (of course) but also nothing like the RPM system! It's somehow easy to understand when you try to understand a little. But of course like in many case, when you have a problem, you have to better understand the system.

And what i don't understand is why do you absolutely want to intall a Debian if you don't like it? The fact that you don't like it is your opinion, and personally I don't think your aguments against Debian are really relevant... All that you want is a desktop distribution, but Debian isn't!

For your problem, have you done an update after ??
If you use synaptic, it's the button "update".
In a shell, it's "apt-get update".

At least test this if you don't have erased your debian yet

Aff, this is absurd. Not even Windows would be capable of messing up your hardware (and I beliave that it tryes hard). If you don't like Debian download something that you like. Here is a list >> http://distrowatch.com/

Verify Linuxquestion Hardware Compatibility List and see how compatible your hardware is with the many available distros.

tsc tsc tsc.... this outdated argument again. All major RPM based distros already have package repositories and programs that automate the installation of required packages. Under Mandrake a noob can update it's System clicking: Menu > System > Configure > Update

I find that *As Easy as in Windows*

I think his problem is that mplayer is not installed, and it is not in the debian repositories. If you are still with us 1702fp, add this to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main

That is the repository for mplayer.

Then do apt-get update

Then apt-get install mplayer

For the update, maybe, but the dependencies aren't really great when you install a new package with the RPM system. But I admit, it makes a long time that I've tried a Mandrake or a FC (last year, as far as I can remember for the FC)... I have a friend with a Mandriva, still like Debian or Ubuntu...

Who pays $4k for a PC?If the list in your sig is the system you were ripped off.

Personally I agree with the #debian irc, Ubuntu isn't Debian GNU/Linux .
It is based on Debian but it is not Debian.

If you want a beginner distro that is Debian based try MEPIS or a Knoppix LiveCD.

Remember Linux is Not Windows

I have made a few corrections to the quotes--most notably inserted a big load of punctiation characters. I wonder why OP doesn't do that himself...

anyways:

Could you name any or point to a project of which (some of) the developers seem to have this mentality?

First of all, no one had PCs in the 60s, and the number of individuals who owned a computer was surprisingly small.

But besides nitpicking, I *will* address the point lying underneath, which is "computers are cheap, so no one needs to use an old one".

True. But if I spent money on a computer, I would hate to see it just stand in a closet not being used. I think it's great that with some distros and a bit of tweaking, you can put even the really old ones to some use.

And just because you wouldn't want to use an old computer doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense to cater to the needs of those who do.

WinModems are only windows-compatible because they do in software what real modems do in hardware--and that software is only released for windows.

And it hasn't got anything to do with Debian in particular.

if user-friendly (http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/U/user-friendly.html) is what you want, I'm surprised you did Slack and *BSD. You could have spent that time so much better with Mandrake or Lindows...

What `bs' conflicts does Debian have?

I'll agree with you that the learning curve is somewhat steep at first--but `computer users' also includes, say ISPs and webhosters. Two kinds of activities that should be done by competent geeks only (ok, mostly). I guess that for them to have to think a little bit and RTM while installing pays off incredibly in all the problems they don't have if they were using, say, windows.

If you mean `home users' (or similar), say so.

--Jonas

I meant that in a sarcastic way

Cater yes not Devote most people no longer use Old computers they use new ones therefore it would make allot more sense to make distros more compatible with New computers then old ones this way the majority of people will be able to use Linux instead of the Minority" it's common sense why would a music shop sell 8 track tapes when the majority of people no longer own 8 track tapeplayers they own CD players same reason why music stores no longer sell records no one buys them anymore they buy CD-s -

Making it extreamly difficult to install Nvidia drivers install WMV codecs etc etc Allot of people including myself have had problems with hardware conflicting with ( I believe hardware is the correct term ) hardware conflicting with their computers I'd guess that 7 out of ten people who have these conflicts are using newer model computers most new model computers are rigged with win modems etc which leads to these as well as other types of conflicts. It has always been much easier for me to install various distros on my old lap top then it was to install them on the $4000 pc that I'm using right now.

Well here's what I did

I went to septic manager then clicked on settings - repository's here's what is listed in that section

URL ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ that's the first line <

Here is whats listed in the second distribution > Testing

3rd row> Main

Would it be possible to click the new tab and then add some type of lines to change Sarge from testing to stable I just now did apt-get update everything seemed to have updated just not sure if the updates updated the version I'm using now from ( Testing ) to stable. something updated just not sure what.

Ok I added these lines that are below this paragraph in the http parts into the Deb - Deb-src- and Deb areas and I got this error message

http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main



E: Malformed line 6 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list (URI parse)


So I deleted what I added then typed Main back into the can't remember which section then everything went back to normal

I'm 90 percent sure hat I did everything right just don't know why the codes didn't apply I'm sure it's something simple though

I'd say that it's possible, yes... at least at home I often do that.. But i'm not sure i've well understood your question, what you mean is "Is it possible to edit or change the repository in Synaptic?", If it's that, then yes it's definitly possible!

To upgrade your system, you'll have to type "apt-get dist-upgrade". But i don't understand why you want to do it in CLI while you don't like that? Use Synaptic, it's exactly the same (i'd say it's even better), but with a graphical interface... To update/upgrade your system, you just have to click sequencially on the three buttons in the upper left corner of the Synaptic window.

It seems like you forgot a "deb" at the first line... Try these ones:
deb http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main

(I hope you don't mind me correcting your english--it's not to nitpick, it's just for the readability)

I (totally) agree with the underlying view: more free software to the users. It just sounded (past tense!) like you thought that it should be for new computers *only*.

And AFAI have heard, there is a *lot* of focus on producing drivers et al. in order to work with newer hardware.

But(!) if people want to spend their time on making the software compatible with the machine they got, that's their choice--and no one will (=should) blame them for anything unless they have paid for their time (and we enter trade law and/or contract law--IANAL, TINLA).

Not quite the same: if you buy a CD, do you have the right to make 8-track-tape copies of it and sell it? Most likely not--one *has* that right with free software (including Linux). If one had that right with music, there probably would be `speciality music shops' where you could get it on tape, LPs, vinyl singles, ....

Well, it says (fairly prominently) that the purpose of Debian is to provide a (DFSG-)*free* operating system, and the software you mention isn't free--so you shouldn't be surprised if less effort(*) has been put into making it work compared to the free software.

(*) well, less *`scheduled'* (organized, debian-official, managed, ...) effort.

See above regarding compatibility with newer hardware.

I don't know if Linux will ever understand winmodems--but I don't much care. If you buy a winmodem, you deserve it <ha-ha only serious>.

>>> me = Jonas
>>> me.cents = 2

Hum still not working

I'm opening styptic manager , then repository's then a menu pops up with this

first line Deb
second line Deb-src
third line Deb

I highlighted the first line where it says deb, erased the old data then added this line deb http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free in the area where it says URL

Then went to the next line where it says Deb-src then erased the old stuff then added this line to the area where it says URL deb-src http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free

Then I went to the last line where it says deb erased the old data that was in there then replaced the old data with this line deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main

I didn't mess with the areas that said distribution or section (s) I left them all blank

Is it possible that the areas that say distribution and section(s )have to be changed from testing to stable ? I have a feeling that this problem can be easily fixed.

Open a text editor as root then open the file /etc/apt/sources.list
(You can do that by opening a terminal/console and typing kdesu kedit then entering your root password.)

and add

#Stable Sarge
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
#Stable (Sarge) Sources
deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
#Security Updates Stable
deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free

# Testing Etch
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
# Testing Sources
deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free



save the file then open a terminal and as root enter apt-update or open Synaptic and click reload.

That will update your sources.list. Then open Synaptic and download whatever it is you are looking for.

Your sources.list is totally screwed up at this point. Once you get it fixed leave it alone. You can change the country code "us" to whatever country you are in.

Humm Ok I saved the file to my home didn't know where else to save it the only options I had was to save the file to> system> home>cd rom and desktop the file has a lock on it and will not allow me to move/ drag it to the etc apt src file I also received this error message when I opened the text editor


gedit:4018): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

When and if I ever accomplish this task, I'm going to write a letter to the person who invented Debian and teach them a much easier way to so this

Lol