[ale] Debian. Grr.

[Joe Knapka]

James Sumners <james at sumners.ath.cx> writes:

> 1) Forget 'dselect' even exists. If you want to use something like it then use
> 'aptitude'.
> 
> 2) Use http or ftp sources.

(1) I'm doing a first-time install, and the installer wants to run
tasksel and dselect. I don't seem to have much of a choice about
this. I have to run one or the other, it seems. (What happens
if I choose to do neither?)

(2) But what if I'm on a 28K dialup link? (I'm not, but it's the
principle of the thing...)

Anyhoo. I finally got through the "selecting packages" bit, but
it refuses to install anything because "Some errors occurred while
unpacking" ("parse error in file /var/lib/dpkg/status near line
18090: missing package name"). This seems to happen no matter
what configuration I choose in the tasksel menu.

Bleagh.

I know, I know, I'm one of those irritating people who bitches and
bitches about stuff when the real problem is that I can't get
with the program and learn to adapt to a new environment. There's
some truth to that, I guess. Thanks for responding to me at
all :-)

-- Joe

> On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 02:59:04 -0500 (EST)
> Joe Knapka <jknapka at kneuro.net> wrote:
> 
> > I'm trying once again to install Debian. My last attempt was in maybe
> > '98 or so, and ended in frustration before I even got the machine to
> > boot. This attempt is on the verge of ending in frustration, though
> > the machine *has* booted a minimal Debian system from the HD.
> > 
> > The main problem I'm having is that "tasksel" and "dselect" seem to be
> > user-unfriendly in the extreme.  So far I have not gotten "apt" to
> > install *anything* but the minimal system. I boot the machine, run
> > "base-config", and then I have to sit in front of the machine swapping
> > CDs (*seven* of them) while it "scans them for index files"
> > (presumably to figure out which packages are on which disks), taking
> > about a minute per disk to do so. This is just enough time for me to
> > get distracted by something else, so it probably amounts to more like
> > five minutes per disk.  It may not be the case that I must sit through
> > the "scanning" process every time I run "base-config", but I see no
> > indication that it's *not* a requirement, so I don't feel safe
> > skipping this.  Then I get into tasksel and/or dselect, and I
> > invariably press some wrong key that causes it to start installing
> > stuff before I've managed to select what I want to be
> > installed. Oopsie, abort, run base-config, drat, have to scan all
> > those bloody CDs again...  It's really a drag. Apparently I've been
> > spoiled by Red Hat and Slackware installers.
> > 
> > Do I *really* need to let it scan every CD every time?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > -- Joe Knapka
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> I used to be interested in Windows NT, but the more I see of it the more it
> looks like traditional Windows with a stabler kernel. I don't find anything
> technically interesting there. In my opinion MS is a lot better at making money
> than it is at making good operating systems.  -- Linus Torvalds 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale

-- 
Barney comes to play with us whenever we may need him;
Someday we will hunt him down and chop him up and eat him!
   -- Annze, age 7
--
If you really want to get my attention, send mail to
jknapka .at. kneuro .dot. net.