Hi!
I am using Debian stable for some weeks now, but there still are so
many things I don't really understand, for example the installation of
debian packages. I know how to use dselect, and I can also use dpkg.
But how do I, for example, install a newer version of windowmaker or
netscape? There are several .deb packages, and I don't know which of
them to use. Sometimes a packages.gz is also there. Can I do something
with it, like showing it to dselect, so I can use this tool for
installing?
But it wants a whole debian tree, not just some additional packages. I
can install the packages manually, but this involves a lot of dpkg -I
or checking the dependencies first.
Another problem: my Debian stable is so outdated. New packages for
wmaker etc. usually need newer versions of other packages. And these
need other new stuff, and so on. For example, I wanted to install
xmms, an mp3 player, and got it from the frozen packages. It needed
some newer libraries, which I got after some downloading. Now, xmms is
running, but much some software (e.g. xaos) doesn't run any more.
Also, dselect complains about dependency problems, and I always have
to override its suggestins by Shift-Q in order to complete selections.
I know some of the missing libraries, but I don't dare to start
downloading them, because who knows whcih other stuff they will need.
I guess I could use apt-get so simplify things a bit, but I still
would not know how much I would need to download. My ISDN is not
working yet, so I have a 28.800 modem only. The phone line is not the
best, so I often loose the connection, which makes long downloads a
bit complicated. On the other hand, I have a high-speed internet
connnection at work, maybe I should just download the whole frozen
tree? I already have done something similar for potato, because I had
accidentally got a new potato Xserver and it needed a lot other tings,
but this were five CDs. There must be a simpler way. Why are there no
CD images like for stable?
I like the Debian philosophy, but I also see that soooo many things
don't work well/correctly/at all. And I always always run into some
problem when installing new stuff, like having to download many other
stuff, or some other programs refuse to work after that. I need newer
windowmanagers, newer CDburning software, MP3 encoding software, and
much more. Lots of stuff to download, and probably that's not enough,
because of my outdated libraries.
On the other hand, I also installed Mandrake - I am using VMware, so
it's very easy to test another OS. Well, I am impressed. Everything is
already there, and it is newer than in my debian distribution.
So, what would I need to do to get an up to date system? Without being
online for days (which costs some money here). Or is potato finished
very soon?
Sorry for the bashing on Debian here. Of course it is not fair to
compare a brand-new distribution like Mandrake to Debian stable which
is quite old now. But I see that with Mandrake I could easily start
doing all the stuff I want to do, while here in Debian I am still at
the point of wondering how to install newer software.
Alex
