I downloaded woody base system and it`s working fine. Now I have installed all the packages for X as per Debian website. I type
startx but it wont start. The error messages I get are: no
devices detected and no screens found. I`ve run xf86config many
times. The xf86config file shows the correct driver. What do I
do now? Any help very much appreciated.

I would suggest that next time you post these questions in the linux software forum since I doubt whether many newbies use debian I think you would have better luck getting an answer there. Also, and I don't mean to offend you, two hours isn't such a long time to wait, I was still in bed, when you posted...

Meanwhile, congrats on your succesfull installation, glad it worked out for you!

Anne

post your XF86Config (or XF86Config-4) file from the /etc/X11 directory, and I'll bet that we can get you hooked up.

We'll also need to know what hardware you have...

debian - try XF86Setup. That always worked for me.

I found a program in /usr/X11/bin called xf86cfg.
This is a graphical X setup program. I couldn`t
figure it out! So I read the man pages and they told
me to run XFree86 -configure. This worked! Now I have
a screen. The mouse doesn`t work but at least I have a
screen. Thats progress...isn`t it?

Good Job!

Now, what kind of mouse is it? Do you have a PS2 mouse, bus mouse, USB mouse,...?

I only have experience with PS2, and it will get recognized automatically. But, I'll stay with you until we figure it out.

Denny

It sounds like you're video card or mouse are not recognized. Can you post any (WW) or (EE) lines just before the no devices detected? If you have a screen, it's probably the mouse. And a USB mouse won't run on the Woody base system.

As the man asked, "what kind of mouse is it? Do you have a PS2 mouse, bus mouse, USB mouse,...?"

This is an old post! I now have Win98 on that HD.
I setup Slak 8.1 on another HD in the same comp.
works great. I compared the xfconfig file of Slak
with Debian and they are identical! Yet Debian X
wont work. Slackware needs base and a couple of
font pkgs only. I must have downloaded and
installed a hundred Deb X pkgs!! It just shows
what having 900 people working on an operating
system can do.

Okay, a couple of questions, if you will.

I just ditched RedHat 9 in favor of Debian 3.0 Woody. The reason is because RedHat was more bloated than any OS I've ever tried. So Debian looked like the one for a trimmed down basic system. Yes, it is so trimmed down, the simple PS/2 optical mouse didn't scroll (couldn't use my USB mouse until I recompile the kernel supposedly), there is no sound, no printer, lilo didn't set up where I can boot XP, you name it. And the stable packages give me Mozilla 1.0 without Flash or Java, etc., etc. It must be a stable OS, it doesn't have to do anything!

So, I have read about Slack, but is it really hard to compile source code for your packages? Did Slack find your hardware? I still have a Wacom pen tablet, my M$ IntelliMouse Explorer, and a Toshiba pda that won't be supported in Debian either, without a lot of work. RedHat found all my stuff, it just installed 587 packages when I used a Personal Desktop installation and only selected a few packages. When you tried Debian did you use apt-get and synaptic? They're simple for getting packages, but so far all I've gotten is stable. I did try unstable once, but that didn't work, maybe because I needed stable first and then upgrade.

The only things I want right now are: pico, Gimp, Scribus, Mozilla, Evolution, and something to replace Dreamweaver (keep dreaming, eh?).

Any suggestions?

You're wanting up-to-date stuff, so I would recommend Debian sid (unstable). It is what I use on my desktop. After installing JUST a base system (when asked if you want to run tasksel and/or dpkg say NO). Then let Debian reboot. When you finish with base install, login as root, change to /etc/apt directory, then edit sources.list
Change every occurance of 'stable' to 'unstable', and comment out the line for security updates. Save the file. 'apt-get update', then 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. Now you have a base sid system. NOW run tasksel and choose the tasks that you want. From there, you MAY have to compile a new kernel for some of your gadgets, but it's simple. (BTW, I've never done it the 'Debian' way, I just download kernel source, and do it the 'Linux' way) Write back and let us know what the problems end up being (and don't wait 5 months next time). Glad to have you in the Linux community, and on LinuxQuestions.org.

I haven't waited 5 months. Actually I replied to someone's old post while half asleep.

I may try Sid, but I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather have Sarge. Actually, I think just recompiling the kernel and getting my hardware setup first would be what I'd want.

Then can't I just upgrade only the packages that I want from either Sid (unstable) or Sarge (testing)? I don't think I want everything unstable, or testing, that's out there. I just want a few apps, and a fast, efficient machine.

Something that is good about apt and synaptic - when I tried to get stuff that lacked dependencies, or was broken, it was easy to undo what I'd done.

Thanks!

Yep. My bad.

I haven't ever tried to just have a few packages that were from sid. I wouldn't even know how to go about it. But, I know it can be done. I have seen some posts about 'pinning' a package to a certain version, etc. OTOH, don't be afraid of sid. My system has NEVER totally locked up (like winbloze), and only a few times has an application caused X to restart (and that is only sometimes when I start xine). I am even up to date enough, where if I see something I want (that doesn't have a Debian package), I can compile it from source and have dependencies already met. <VBG>

Thanks for your help!

To update only parts, you need to change the word stable to testing (or unstable if that's what you want) in sources.list and then go get just what you want. It's easy with apt-get and synaptic, because synaptic let's you pick your packages. That's if you know what packages you want. It works out all the dependencies.

Right now I can't even use cdrecord, because the system doesn't recognize my DVD+/-RW. I must say that's a bit frustrating, when RH9 saw all my hardware, but then again, I chose to dump RH9 because it's so bloated.

I tried recompiling the kernel in RH9 once, and got so many FAILED things on reboot that I went back to the old kernel. However, I am going to try recompiling this kernel in Debian according to The Very Verbose Guide to Updating and Compiling Your Debian Kernel. My mind thinks methodical and verbose, and a few little surprises are okay. I used the same guys Verbose guide to install Debian, and it all worked like he said - almost to a t. The little bit that varied didn't bother me, because I have enough computer knowledge - albeit from Windoze.

It's rather frustrating to have a 'Mercedes' computer, and only be able to run it like a 'Chevy' because some of the parts aren't recognized.

Hey, I'll get it going, though.