I've been running a LAN based on Mandrake Linux for over a year (including a box or two w/ Win2K, using Mandrake w/ Samba as a PDC and handling logins for Win2k).
I've been very interested in switching to Debian for a while, since I've heard so many people talk about how easy it is to upgrade packages and to manage a Debian box. I have a box (currently dual boot -- Win2k & Linux) that I spent 2 days trying to install Debian on and encountered multiple problems with this install. If I could find out what I need to do, I'd still be interested in replacing Mandrake 9.0 (currently on the box) w/ Debian, but I'm not going to do it if Debian will not do what I need to. This system will be a video workstation. Help or info on any of these issues would be greatly appreciated. I posted most of this on linux.debian.user on USEnet, but there were no responses. I must say I'm quite frustrated, after hearing so many people say how wonderful Debian is, I find it won't even install on my system (and that's using defaults and a minimal install). I can't help but wonder, since Debian is so easy to upgrade, and most Debian users don't do re-installs, if the installer has been overlooked or only paid minimal attention. I would love to be able to switch, but at this point I can't switch if I can't even install Debian. (Yes, I've searched the archives, read FAQs, etc., etc., etc.) Here are the problems I've been running into: (General info: I started w/ the 7 CD set of Woody, but also tried to install by booting with the rescue floppy and using the root floppy. After getting fed up with this, I burned an image of Knoppix and installed that to the hard drive by using the install script. I've verified that all my CDs are readable.) 1) Not once was I able to do a complete install. Even when I was ONLY installing the base system, I always got messages that not all packages could be installed. Even if I went back and re-selected packages, I still had this problem. This happened when I installed from the CDs, or when I started with floppies and tried a network install. 2) When I used the CDs, if the install asked for Disc 1 and I accidently put in Disc 2 and received the error message (or the insert disk message again), and put in the correct Disc, the install program continued asking for the right disc in an endless loop -- in other words, if, after asking once for a disc, it didn't find the right disc, it was unable to find it anytime afterward (is it possible an error flag was set in the loop and not cleared when the install program checked again?). 3) When I installed using the rescue and root floppies, it still required the 1st CD (the website implies if you start with floppies the entire install is network based -- if this is wrong, it needs to be clarified). Is it possible to install w/ the floppies and NO CD and do a complete network install? If so, why did install refuse to go on until I provided the first CD? 4) I am using an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon. If I select ATI as the video card, do I still need to download the drivers from GATOS, or is that what Debian is using? 5) Not once could I get the X server up and running -- it always said there was a problem with a port not being available -- and this is immediately after the install completed. 6) After installing Knoppix instead, there was no indication it recognized my firewire card or my USB mass storage device (a ramdisk). (I never got that far w/ the regular install.) What needs to be done to get Debian (or Knoppix/Debian) to see these devices and use them? 7) I added Demudi as a debs source. According to the documention, Demudi includes Cinelerra as a package. I think (but don't remember for sure) that one time I was able to install Cinelerra, but all the other times, even after I hand edited the debs file (and did apt-get update) to include Demudi as a source, whenever I did apt-get cinelerra, I got a "not available" error message. How do I fix this? 8) Is it possible, under Debian, to capture incoming video on an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon card, can I play back video through the video out port on this card, and is it possible to capture and playback video through a firewire card w/ Debian? Is there anyone else out there using Debian on a video workstation? I'd be interested in hearing how it was set up and what needs to be done. I've been hearing from so many people how great Debian is, and it turns out most of them have not installed it in a year or two, since they've just kept updating it. I am not a newbie, but I am not a professional programmer or sys admin. I feel I need to say the Debian install is very frustrating for someone (like me) who wants to set up a system that "just works" so they can use the computer and software as a productivity tool, instead of spending time making tools to write programs to do other Linux stuff. I don't care about a GUI, or point and click, but it would be nice if I could get the system to just install. Thanks for any help or suggestions. (Yes, I've been reading docs and FAQs on the site.) Hal -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
