Getting started w/ Debian

[Brian Nelson]

Brendan <mailinglist at endosquid.com> writes:

> On Tuesday 20 July 2004 12:02, Brian Nelson wrote:
>> > What does it matter how he gets it installed?
>>
>> Because Knoppix isn't pure Debian and can cause some problems when
>> switching over to Debian.
>
> That's very misleading. It's definitely pure debian, it's just made up of 
> things not all in the same tree. Don't confuse him already.

Of course it's not pure.  It contains plenty of stuff that's
custom-written or modified from the Debian version.

Besides, won't he be more confused when he thinks he's getting Woody but
is actually installing an unstable snapshot?  Especially when he tries
to "upgrade" to Woody and realizes he can't?


>> Also, it sounds like he wants to install Woody, but Knoppix gives you an
>> unstable snapshot, more or less.  If the OP really wants an easy way to
>> install a non-Woody Debian system, he should try the Sarge installer.
>
> Why? Knoppix gets apt-get onto the disk, and gets all the hardware working 
> well, which is all that matters at first. 

So does debian-installer (just don't go near boot-floppies)...


>> Disclaimer: I've never actually installed Debian via Knoppix, and the
>> above is based on my understanding that in the installation process
>> installs the Knoppix system straight to the hard disk.
>
> If you use the sources.list, and update afterwards, you will get the same 
> thing you get with the installs via other methods. That's one of the selling 
> points of Debian....

Simply setting the sources.list and updating does *NOT* automatically
pin you to a certain Debian release.  APT will not automatically remove
packages that you previously installed but are no longer available in
whatever distribution you've switch to, nor will it downgrade packages
to the current version.

If you try to use APT pinning and force the downgrades, you'll be even
more screwed...

-- 
You win again, gravity!