Thanks Ztcoracat. Quick question. Those files with "64" in them are for 64 bit capable processors though, right? And mine is 32 bit.

Thanks Timothy. Yeah, wow, that link is impressive. It's a little overwhelming for me though--matching up which of those distros would work well with my computers. (I'd be lost without you LQ guys. :))

Thanks rokytnji. Now I'll have to figure out whether the laptop of mine is PAE or non-PAE. Anyway, getting closer. Thanks.

Therein lies the rub (or the Wub, if you prefer?)... Sid is installed by installing a command-line only version of the current stable, then changing sources.list and dist-upgrading. To be safe I tend to not even install wireless drivers nor enable non-free repositories until the system is fully Sid. It's not for everyone but you only install once and it's generally hitch-free if you're careful.

Thanks 273 but that sounds like Sid would only be a stage-two sort of thing for me once I get something on there in the first place. (So I can get onto the terminal.)

Well, yes, you have to install Debian using the usual installer.

Honestly, for someone not completely comfortable with Linux yet, I wouldn't recommend SID. It requires more than most people would wish to do to manage it without breaking. If someone wanted Debian, I'd suggest they install stable, and use backports to get a moderately up to date OS rather than installing SID and if they're not very good about paying attention to changes, they upgrade and everything is broken.

Yeah. I'm having trouble just doing the basics, like putting any distro on a machine. The simpler the better.

Gregg,

At the risk of reopening old wounds, would it not be much simpler for you to spend a few dollars on that more up-to-date Asus machine, install Xubuntu and live happily ever after?

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/syd/5487887839.html

Old wounds? Ha ha. So, see it's still available, and as I used to be a real estate agent I know that anything that stays on the market too long is probably a clunker! Nah, I'm glad you reminded me that it's still out there. But complicating things, Newegg has its refurbished sale going on:

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail...FAZ21haWwuY29t

and that's got my head spinning with all the possibilities. But I still might get the ASUS. (I don't know. It's just kind of a vibe that that might be really good.)

But this latest is regarding installing a distro on a laptop. See, I lost the OS trying to install a different OS and now I'm having difficulty installing any OS on it.

Correct the files with 64 in them are for a 64-bit machine.

I found Debian Stable in 32 bit netinstall here.
https://www.debian.org/distrib/

'Debian-testing-i386-DVD' is available for download here:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/we.../i386/iso-dvd/

<OR> if you prefer the netinstall of Debian Testing is here:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/we...s/i386/iso-cd/

This article may be of some use as well.
http://serverfault.com/questions/547...debian-testing
HTH

You don't really "have to". I do debootstrap installs which is basically installing debian in a chroot. For me this bypasses having to download the netinstall iso that is often bigger than my base install before I boot it or upgrade it. It also lets one download firmware for networking and use the browser of the host distro to walk one through the process. You could also upgrade to sid, but I tend to stick with stable on my slow interwebs. If I need something newer, it's normally the kernel or firmware, not the packages. Which is a tolerable customization relative to the headaches of other distros.

Thanks Ztcoracat, Great links. I think the netinstall would be perfect as I only want to use the laptop as a word processor. (And I have internet access on the laptop so I could just get Libre Office.) Unfortunately I'm having difficulty having the laptop recognize either a CD or USB drive. (Still working on that one.)

You're Welcome.

Are you suspicious that the CDROM drive on it's way out?

-::Try other CD's and different usb flash drives and see if they are recognized.-::-
-Clean the CDROM drive with one of those cleaning disk's maybe it's dirty?
Replace the cdrom drive if that's an option.

If you want to try something real small and pretty new, you could try stali http://sta.li/
I'm going to give it a test drive soon an initial 30'ish mb iso is appealing.