> PR> Which installer should I recommend to a beginner of Debian > (and Linux?). PR> > PR> I remember I saw somewhere on the web an article that covered > a lot of PR> debian installers, but I cannot seem to find it. > ol1> > ol1> apt-get > ol1> all the gui stuff is just confusing. > > But how do you know what to type as parameters to apt-get if you're > just starting? 'apt-get install' also misses a lot of things like > Recommends: and package descriptions. > > Is the recommendation to someone using stable, or testing/unstable? > In unstable/testing, I like aptitude quite a bit (though you should > read /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README first, since there are a lot of > things that aren't in the online documentation). The version of > aptitude in stable isn't particularly featureful, so for stable, > I'd recommend learning to use dselect (it isn't actually as bad as > people make it out to be).
This is the old "war" again. Different people like different installers. I only know two installers (apt-get and dselect), and have only seen other peoples comments on the other two (aptitude and deity). The sad truth is that currently there is _no_ installer recommendable for a _beginner_. Both apt-get and dselect requires the user to know more than a beginner would know. Both aptitude and deity have had the majority's verdict "thumbs down" at their current state. (That is not to say that they won't be excelent installers in the future.) I would have to say your choice is between apt-get and dselect. If you in general prefer the command line for installation administration, then go with apt-get. If you in general prefer somthing a wee bit more GUI-like, then go with dselect. You should probably also considder what service you would like from your installer. Find out what the differences between apt-get and dselect are. They both give you good service, but they both give you different service. Don't ask people their personal preferences in installers (unless you want to make statistics over how many people use each installer). In stead ask people to explain the technical differences between the installers. That should give you a good starting point to find out what installer suits your personal preferences. I will start out right now. apt-get is a command line installer. dselect is a terminal GUI-like installer. apt-get as a standard installs only the needed dependencies of the package you want (nothing more than what makes your package run) dselect as a standard installs both needed dependencies and recommended dependencies (what makes your package run plus some extra things most people add later anyway) There are also differences between how apt-get and dselect resolve dependencies and between how they handle dependency problems. Other people know more about that than I do. Anyone care to add to the enlightenment? Cheers :o) Johnny :o)