[lug] Help installing debian at the install fest?

[David L. Anselmi]

siegfried wrote:
> However, if I take the same debian distro and try to install it on my
>  ext2 partition, I get a core dump.

Which program cores?

> Is there any point in lugging my PC to the install fest and getting 
> some help installing debian?

That has a higher probability of success than leaving it home, I think.

> The core dump is happening in the beginning part of the installation
>  process. Are there installation parameters to play with (like there
>  are boot parameters for knoppix)?

Yes.

> Will there be enough bandwidth there to do the abbreviated debian 
> that downloads almost everything or should I burn a debian distro 
> that does not require a network connection?

A netinst is slow at DeVry, but I will have CD images of testing that we
can burn.  I don't have a full mirror so there are issues using them as
a network repository and I probably won't figure out a workaround by the
21st.

> Which debian should I use?

Testing.

> It is so confusing and (as of six months ago) they did not explain 
> the difference between sarge, etch and the other releases.

You can read about the details and what the names mean at at debian.org.
You can ignore the code names--they are for advertising types.  There's
stable, testing, and unstable (and some others that aren't interesting
for you).

Stable is released every 2 years or so.  Like Windows, the only updates
between releases are for security and major bugs (and some other things
that aren't interesting).

Unstable gets updated as often as a new version of a package is made and
uploaded by the maintainer.  Sometimes things break but you quickly
learn what to watch out for that will cause you problems and you can
usually revert a broken package.  I use this on my laptop.

Testing gets packages after they've been in unstable for 10 days (more
or less).  If something serious breaks it will keep a package from
testing.  I use this on my production servers.

I normally recommend testing but I've heard it said that unstable works
as well and gets security fixes without a 10 day delay.  I watch the
security list and only upgrade every month or so, so the delay doesn't
affect me much.  I'll have testing CDs, so that would be easiest for
you, I think.

Sometimes the testing installer is being worked on and is broken, but we
should be able to figure that out beforehand.

Dave