So it looks as if most of my present problems are version based, the fact that Debian Potato[e] tends to be somewhat old in software versions.
I'd like to upgrade to Woody, Kernel 2.4.x, XFree 4.x, etc. So I put "testing" in place of "stable" in the /etc/apt/sources.whatever file, and tried to dselect my way to bliss. However, the package dependencies are so weird that I could not rationalize the results. Why would Libc6 have been un-selected is beyond my ken. Can someone suggest a command line "apt-get -install && update" or similar mystic arcanity? For all the wonder and joy that Dselect usually bestows, this seems to be just like last year at this time when I finally updated to Potato[e], it was a command line leap of faith. Curt- -- The Road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone and I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.
