[Glastonbury] ive become debbied

[peter cole]

On Sun, 2004-09-26 at 01:22, Kelvin McNulty wrote:
> Thanks for reply...
> 
> On Friday 24 September 2004 23:26, tim hall wrote:
> > Last Friday 24 September 2004 22:39, Martin Wheeler was like:
> > > On Fri, 24 Sep 2004, Kelvin McNulty wrote:
> > > > Does Debian install itself like SuSE does? or do you still have to make
> > > > a list of all the hardware first?
> > >
> > > Depends.
> > >
> > > If you've got the all-singing, all-dancing new installer -- yes.
> > > In about 6 key-clicks.  (Says Andy.  Of course, he could be lying.
> > > But as he is trained in law, it's difficult for him to distinguish
> > > between outright mendicity and creative use of language.  Sigh.)
> 
> Sounds promising to me....
> 
> >
> > Is that like a more creative version of mendacity then ?;-]
> >
> > I've been using the modified Sarge installer that AGNULA uses, it's a
> > little over simplified for my tastes, but basically does autodetect your
> > hardware in the majority of cases and does the job in less than an hour
> > with the minimum of user interference. It still doesn't use X, which is a
> > Good Thing IMO. I know people love to moan about the Debian installer, I
> > don't understand why, I suspect people equate pretty graphics with ease of
> > use.
> 
> I'm quite OK with not using X...
> 
> >
> > Installing Debian is (now) easy. Personally I find configuring things like
> > CUPS and dial-up modems a _lot_ more trouble in comparison. 
> 
> I managed both of these on SuSE, dial up was a bit of a fiddle, but I 
> eventually figured it out using wvdial with a wvdial.conf in /etc and sudo to 
> get it going without having to be superuser... I have found how to get on 
> broadband using a router with HTTP GUI control panel too.,.. and there is a 
> company called thirdheight.com who do a broadband PCI modem with a Linux 
> handler...
> 
> > The
> > difficulties lie only if your hardware relies on non-free drivers, like
> > nvidia graphics and and certain sound cards. I think the arguments about
> > Debian's lack of user-friendliness may already be a thing of the past.
> >
> > If you really need to interface with a lot of proprietary solutions then
> > you may still find Debian frustrating. IMO this is also a Good Thing. ;-)
> 
> It may be that SuSE has proprietory drivers...
> 
> >
> > > Otherwise no.   :-)
> > >
> > > [And btw -- it's *always* advisable to have a list of your hardware to
> > > hand, *whatever* distribution you're installing.]
> 
> Well, I think I will look for a scrap machine to try it on - have you got any 
> at the moment, Alistair?
> 
> > >
> > > Andy -- how do we get Kelvin a copy of the new installer version?
> > > One that comes with cast-iron guarantees not to blow up his screen or
> > > rape his hamster?
> >
> > Well, I was, of course going to recommend my hobby-horse distro AGNULA, but
> > I looked in the small print of the Gerbil Protection Licence and noticed
> > the 'except Kelvin' clause, so no promises. (sorry, it's been a hard day)
> >
> > AGNULA/DeMuDi comes on a single CD and installs a basic GNOME or fluxbox
> > environment. (That means when you finally reboot after installing all the
> > packages you want X actually works first time, or thereabouts, usually) -
> > You don't have to install all the DeMuDi packages and could easily apt-get
> > anything else you wanted from the Sarge repositories. Of course I would say
> > that, I don't have a lot of experience of other installers to compare it
> > with. Never felt the need to try them and let's face it, the great thing
> > about Debian is you only ever have to install it once. :-)
> 
> Hey! Sounds good... genuiinely immortal software...
> 
> >
> > If they fix the AGNULA server before Wednesday I'll download and burn one.
> >
> > My extremely biased opinion.
> >
> > tim hall
> 
> I do remember being impressed by Martin's description of how easy it is to use 
> apt-get...

Apt-get is great no depedancies to worry about. so easy 


> Kelvin
> also figuring out openoffice macros...
> 
> 
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