Hi,
I have been a Linux user for over five years already, and I have always used Mandrake, and other RPM-based distros, but I have decided to give Debian a shot, first because I got sarge in a two DVDs set from a friend, and because I have always heard a lot of good things about it.

I already read Macondo's post-install guide for Debian which is great. I even decided to re-install sarge again from scratch, because I installed it before I read this, and there are some things I want to do the right way.

Now, going to the point. Debian is really good when you have broadband internet connection, which I only have at work. We are starting to use Linux to some extent here at work, and as I am one of the most linux-knowing around (and I don't know too much), I am somehow in charge of deploying linux. We have several PCs without DVD drives, and I have this sarge in DVD set. Is there some way of installing sarge off a network having the DVDs as package source? if so, how I boot the boxes? because right now I can only boot from the DVD.

Now, suppose I manage to do this. After that, I would like to mantain those debian boxes updated, but I would like to have a central repository here within our intranet, so that I only update the central repository from the net, and then the individual boxes get updated from this local repository, thus saving bandwidth and time.

And, finally, this is for my personal purposes: is there some way I can get advantage of this repository here at work, so that I can get the packages I am interested in, and update the system at home. There I can only get connected through modem . Suppose OpenOffice.org is out for debian in its version 2.0 and I already have it in my local repository here at work. Assuming I have the posibility to get it home in some physical storage (CD, DVD, usb drive), what should I do at home to install/update this?

Thanks in advance

BTW: apt/.deb is much better that rpm, how didn't I realized this before!
mandrake's urpmi is good but this is better.

I think you would copy the packages to /var/cache/apt/archives, but I haven't used Debian (yet).

# Debian links
Installing Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 For Intel x86
The Very Verbose Debian 3.0 Installation Walkthrough
APT HOWTO
Debian Package Management HOWTO Version 1.1

For installing Debian at work, I recommend you installed Debian testing (sarge), unless you are wanting to install Linux on mission-critical servers. (From your post it seems like you are installing Linux on individual workstations, in which sarge should work great.) Download the netinst CD image from here: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ , then burn a Debian CD yourself and you're all set. You only need one CD, because Debian will install the rest over the internet (since you have a broadband connection at work, this will be okay for you).


In regards to setting up a central repository at work, I'm sure it can be done but might take a little work. I'm not a sys admin though, so I would have no idea to begin. Honestly, rather than trying to bring home a new DVD image of your central repository at work and installing it on your machine every week or two (which sounds very iffy), I think it would be worth if for you to invest in a broadband solution for your home.


I also used Mandrake before I came to Debian (but it was more like for 4 months than for 4 years) and I agree that apt-get is much, much better than urpmi.

You may want to take a look at: http://familiasanchez.net/~sanchezr/?page=debrepository

You should be able to set up a local repository on one machine and use it as a server to install and update other machines. I've never done it myself, so I probably shouldn't be answering here but the above link is useful for you I think. I did create a small local repository on my computer once as described here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...98#post1592398