On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 02:53:45 +0100
Leszek Kobiernicki 1 <l.kobiernicki@???> wrote:
> If I can't warm to Unity, I might well hafta go Debian
if you do decide to install Debian this will be relevant;
> General questions
>
> Q. How do I install "unstable" ("sid") ?
>
> See also http://www.debian.org/CD/faq .
>
> There are no "unstable" full CD or DVD images. Due to the fact that
> the packages in "unstable" change so quickly, it is more appropriate
> for people to download and install "unstable" using a normal Debian
> FTP mirror.
>
> If you are aware of the risks of running unstable, but still want to
> install it, you have two choices:
> Use the "business card" size CD image of "testing". Boot from it in
> expert mode or with priority=medium. You will then be able to select
> the distribution (stable/testing/unstable) during mirror selection.
>
>
> Install "testing" using a netinst image, then upgrade to "unstable"
> by changing the entries in your /etc/apt/sources.list (change each
> occurrence of "testing" to "unstable").
> To avoid unnecessary downloads and package upgrades, it is advisable
> to install a minimal "testing" system first and only to install most
> of the software (e.g. desktop environment) after the switch to
> "unstable". Then apt-get update and apt-get -u dist-upgrade - then
> you have a sid release.
Incidentally installing only a minimal system is what I'd recommend
to anyone other than a complete noobie as the default installation
tends to install far too much. Install only to the point where you are
asked to select what packages to install but don't select anything.
Once the system has re-booted you can test things like networking
without having the complication of a graphical interface getting in the
way. Nano is the default editor so it is easy to change
/etc/apt/sources.list from testing to unstable and add the
non-free repositories, so you have this line:
deb
http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
I also have:
deb
http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ unstable main non-free
deb
http://deb.opera.com/opera sid non-free
but there is some controversy over debian-multimedia.org as it isn't an
official debian repository and it is to be renamed
(some people question the need for it at all since some of what is in
'multimedia' is now in Debian non-free).
you may need to install the firmware-linux-nonfree package if you
weren't given the option during basic install. I haven't used the
latest installer so am not sure what it does by default but hardware
detection should ascertain if you have a need for it.
--
John Lewis
Debian & the GeneWeb genealogical data server
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