Need help with Debian package management

[bill-CIZd1d4GmLheoWH0uzbU5w at public.gmane.org (Bill Horne)]

Dan Ritter wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 12:20:11PM -0500, Bill Horne wrote:
>   
>> Thanks for reading this. I need help to solve a problem with Debian 
>> packages.
>>
>> I used Aptitude to add the GNU compiler to a new Debian Etch install. I 
>> pushed the wrong button, because it took a day to download 5GB worth of 
>> archives, and it installed a lot of kernels I can't use and games I 
>> don't want, etc.
>>     
>
> Erm, yes, that was amazing.
>
>   
>> I think I'll have to reinstall, since the operation for which I need the 
>> compiler (adding Intel drivers for the 82865G chipset) won't work with 
>> the current setup.
>>     
>
> In future -- try 'apt-get install build-essentials module-assistant'
>
>   
>> I copied the /var/cache/apt/archives directory to another machine and 
>> modified the sources.list file on the target, but doing apt-get update 
>> produces this result:
>>
>> Get:8 ftp://192.168.10.90 etch/main Packages
>> Err ftp://192.168.10.90 etch/main Packages
>>   Unable to fetch file, server said 
>> '/var/cache/apt/archives/dists/etch/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz: No 
>> such file or directory.  '
>>     
>
> Sounds like there's an FTP proxy in the way.
>   
No, that's a machine on my LAN, and there's no proxy. There is, however,
no "dists" directory below the archives directory. I copied the
/var/cache/apt/archives directory from one machine to another, so it
only has the .deb packages which were retrieved by Debian during the
upgrade attempt. In other words, it's not an archive per se.
>> Now, the question: is it worth my time to construct a Debian archive of 
>> the packages that I downloaded?
>>     
>
> No, but it's worth keeping them.
>
> What are you trying to do, now?
>   
Now, I'm trying to install Etch on a Dell Dimension 4600C which has an
Intel 82865G graphics chipset. I don't know if the latest release
contains the driver(s), but assuming it does not, I need these questions
answered:

1. Will Intel's drivers work under xorg software, or must I switch to
XFree86?
2. Will I need the AGPGART kernel module?
3. Must I build the Intel and/or AGPGART parts from source?

Thanks for your help.

Bill

-- 
E. William Horne
William Warren Consulting
Computer & Network Installations and Service
781-784-7287