--- Paul Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Replying with CC since I'm not sure if Eric is still > subscribed. > Eric: You might want to subscribe to debian-boot and > repost your > experience there; be sure to reference this thread > by subject -boot > folks can find the user discussion. > > On Sun, Nov 16, 2003 at 09:06:21AM -0800, eric brown > wrote: > > I tough of posting my Linux experience as a > complete > > Linux & Unix newbie that chose Debian to start > playing > > with linux. (out of laziness and pure ignorance - > I > > wanted to do a net install instead of waiting for > > entire cds iso to download and had no clue that > Debian > > was an "hard distro") > > Roughly my experience in 1997, except I couldn't go > the CD route and I > was pre-apt...apt really moved the focus of the > "distro war" to > package management on a *big* level (since Debian > had already won the > "most complete" DSW years before). > > > My first try: sarge & new installer > > > > The new one is real simple to use but it scared > the > > hell out of me: after installing x the only thing > my > > sceen could display was: "warning sync error will > shut > > down in 5 sec" > > That's a normal function of the monitor if it's not > getting a usable > signal (in this case, getting a signal that would > take your monitor > out of range). Sometimes switching video modes > sends a out of synch > signal for a moment. > > Your monitor at least tells you what's going on: > Imagine my surprise > the first time I booted with this monitor (after > reconfiguring X for > the new monitor)...and it says "Starting XDM..." and > my monitor shuts > off. Fortunately, geek instinct got the better of > me: I didn't smell > anything burning, so I gave it a moment, and the > monitor came back on > and drew the XDM login page. > > > But, after rebooting, magic, tadam!, I was > welcomed by > > KDM! still didn't figure out what happened.
> Woot! Autodetected everything OK? Not everything: what did work: The computer is an old IBM Aptiva 2193 with 256mb, K6-2 550, , integrated AGP SIS 540 video card, SIS 900 ethernet card. what did not work: The auto detect failed to see my Trident sound card, so I didn't have any sound. I also had to undust my old PS/2 mouse, because anything USB didn't work. I used the ide-pci flavor at boot from the Sarge netinstall CD, things probably would have be very different using bf24 (that's what I did on my second install using woody cd 1 with.) > > I managed to got everything net installed by > > configuring pppoeconf right at the very beginning > (and > > played for the first time with apt, wget and > lynx). > > After choosing a rather random selection > containing > > gnome and KDE with taskel, I never managed to get > my > > dsl connection to work again (yes I was loggin as > > root, rebooted etc...)!!! After intense googling > with > > my powerbook (I was installing linux on an old > Aptiva > > desktop) I found some bug report on debian > mentionning > > a somehow similar problem with the new installer > and > > needing hacking in many .conf files that seemed > > obsolete... And went through too many cryptic > howtos. > > I almost quit linux at that point... I had enough! > Thanks for sticking it through, though when you're > trying software for > the first time, might want to hang back on the known > stable versions > for a while until you get used to how Linux works. > Though you're more > than welcome to tough it out! You're probably right about stable... But I after toughing it out for the last 2 weeks, I think (or naively hope) that the worst is behind. > > > Untill I found an excellent document in French: > > "Formation Linux" (this NEEDS translation) > > http://www.via.ecp.fr/~alexis/formation-linux/. > That > > was way more detailed on how to install Woody and > get > > some real things done (Play cds, burn, configure > and > > optimize X etc...) > > I still haven't found any document matching it in > > english. > http://babelfish.altavista.com/ But yeah, there > will be documentation. I meant real translation... I might give a try at translating the document but from what you can see my grammar and spelling skills maybe aren't what is best for the community... > > Also the too many "use your brain to solve your > problems" answers to > > newbies post I ran accross surfing many newsgroups > are inacceptable, > > if Debian is to become anything more than a geek > toy. > Well, that's the thing: Debian's not out to please > anybody who doesn't > contribute. People who tend to contribute tend to > be geeks, and right > now, the geeks are making a move towards accepting > the newbies. It's > a two-way street, though, newbies still should know > how to ask a smart > question if they want a smart answer. > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html You're absolutely right about this... I just needed to let some steam off after struggling to get my system running. The thing is that the official debian site is not very newbie friendly so I had to google a lot. Maybe a page on debian.org could better point to te best available ressources aimed at newbies. > > Installing Woody the old way: > > > > Actually I found installing the old way was > simpler > > because now I had proper documentation and new > what I > > was doing. I managed to get everything (almost) > to > > work the way I wanted. > Woohoo! This was much my experience back when > boot-floppies didn't do > quite as much as it does now. > > Get pon dsl-provider to work for users: > > > > (still have to login has root everytime) and > continue > > it to work evenafter I unplugged the ethernet > cable > > for more than 5 minutes... > > In /etc/ppp/options, there should be something about > "demand" in > there. Might try fiddling with that to have it > automagically go up > and down. Thx, I'll give this a look. Sorry, my post was not very clear ... It is pretty much already in automatic mode, but when I unplug the cable for more than approximately 10-15 minutes, I can't get the connection to work again even as root. I then have to reboot > > >From a newbie perspective the debian choice can > be > > overwhelming. I still didn't find a better way > than > > apt-cache search to get packages that probably do > what > > I want to do. I normaly guess what is appropriate > but > > I would really appreciate a place where you can > see: > > want to do this : this is the best tool. > > Actually, AFAIK, everybody uses apt-cache search for > that. Pipe it > through less to keep the output from getting > overwhelming. > > > Finally I would just like to say that are truly > enjoy > > the freedom Debian-linux now gives me: I somehow > fell > > that I emerged from the MS matrix and now live in > the > > free world. I think that if the Debian community > put > > more efforts in documenting more with a DOTHIS > than a > > HOWTO approach would help getting more people into > > Zion. > The problem is, Debian's flexibility prohibits such > drool-proof > documentation for the most part. The final > debian-installer is > supposed to greatly simplify the process for people > looking to speed > through it and get their hands on Debian while they > burn in (God knows > we all had a burn in process where you'd reinstall > every couple weeks > to get a fresh start). Thanks for the feedback! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
