Getting started w/ Debian

[mvalites at banta-im.com (Matthew Valites)]

> Hmmm, this is a big selling point of Knoppix for me. The latest version 
> has the 2.6 kernel, and the awesome hardware detection that it has 
> become so widely recognized for. This system will be used for a new 
> project, part of which is updating my knowledge so I want to be using 
> the latest versions for everything.

I've never used the Knoppix for anything but a rescue CD, so I can only
speak from experience.  

> Once I have a default Debian installation, what are my upgrade options? 
> It sounds like I definitely won't be using anything on the stable 
> branch. I'm assuming someone must have a .deb for the latest kernels, 
> perl, apache, mod_perl, postgres, etc?

If you need a package, check here for the apt source:
http://www.apt-get.org/

You should be able to find quite a bit of what you're looking for,
including backports.  I run unstable on all of my machines (since the
stable project refuses to come out of the dark ages).  Any problems that
occur due to the branch being "unstable" are usually posted here:
http://www.debianplanet.com

You can do an "apt-get -u upgrade" to find out what packages will be
upgraded at which point you can decide to "hold" them, look up whether
there's any problems, etc.

Once your system is installed, edit /etc/apt-sources and replace stable
with testing/unstable (depending on your decision).  Note that the
security updates don't affect unstable (I'm pretty sure they affect
testing, but I'm not 100% positive) so you'll have to comment that line
out.  Run apt-get update, then apt-get dist-upgrade and you should be
set.

~Matt