Am I making Debian harder than it actually is?

[jjmac]

bmbeeman,

Aside from mentioning something about a battery-power indicator ... you haven't really stated what your problem is. Except to imply that you weren't quite sure how to go about maintaining the system ...

That has been all explained above.

On debs site, look for the link that says "Packages" -=- go to that page -=- type in the name of a package in the search field.

You should have "dselect" installed at least which will allow you to scan over what is already availabe.

Experiment

Easy as -=-


jm

[protocol]

Having a 'stable' tree, I wouldn't consider it to be a flaw. If anything, it is aimed for users who are, in fact, looking for a stable distro. It is, nonetheless, kind of upsetting at times to have out-dated packages. Although this is a dilemma at times, like users mentioned above, you are able to edit you '/etc/apt/sources.list' and either add or edit current repositories to use the 'testing' branch; which will allow you to download/install up-to-date, and some the cost of stability, packages.

If you're looking for a Debian-based distro that is light, has a nice modified kernel, and has great hardware detection, I would suggest giving Ubuntu Linux a try.

[IsaacKuo]

MAINTAINING a Debian Stable system is easy. It's easier to maintain than ANY other Linux distribution. Other Linux distributions have the option to apply automatic software security updates across the board. Only with Debian do you have the option to do this without suddenly finding out that some of the newly updated software unexpectedly behaves differently or has a different configuration file format or something else "funny" happens.

It's getting started with Debian which can be a challenge. There's a lot of software which simply isn't included. This is great for an experienced Linux user, who knows what software he/she likes to have on his system. It's dead easy to write a single line script to install whatever software you want. But the spartan nature of a default Debian install is a challenge to newbies, who don't know what to install off teh bat.

Fortunately, there are many Debian based distributions which DO start off with a lot of more newbie oriented software installed by default. My usual recommendation is Mepis. These newbie oriented Debian based distributions don't run lean-and-mean like Debian, but they may be more like what you're looking for. Also, all of them except for Ubunut/Kubuntu use the standard Debian software repositories.

[farslayer]

I run Debian unstable on my desktop and It's been anything but unstable.. a package occasionally breaks after an update, or a dependancy isn't fullfilled occasionally so it holds a package back. since it's just my desktop I wait a day or 2 and apt-get update && apt-get upgrade again and it's usually fixed. this has only happened a couple times.

you didn't mention what type of laptop you have, there is a special package for the Dell inspiron 8000 series other than that I would recommend you check out gkrellm. This app can monitor your CPU, temp, laptop battery, network, and much much more.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...m/gkrellm.html

apt-get update
apt-get install gkrellm gkrellm-ibam

apt-cache search gkrellm to see the list of plugin modules available for gkrellm (such as the dell laptop plugin I mentioned earlier)

I'm running Debian on an old iBook
http://www.lowendmac.com/pb2/ibook-se2.shtml

Hope this link helps, I really don't know where to look for a package that wil help my problem.

gkrellm HAS a battery monitor.. did you try installing it ?

[antidrugue]

Just loving Debian!

It took me a bit of time, i tryed about 20 other distros in the process, but Debian is the only one to completely fulfil my needs.

For help about Debian on a laptop, try this (it helped me a lot!):

http://www.atworkonline.it/~bibe/sarge/

Or this if you feel cutting edge:

http://www.atworkonline.it/~bibe/etch/

Still, it also depends on what you want...

Myself I like Debian for:
unbeatable stability
infinite flexibility
best choice of packages!

Still, it is not the easiest one...

[davebardsley]

Do some reading:

To get started, if you're like me and enjoy a hardcopy try this, it touches every basic system topic in detail:

Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Bible
ISBN: 0764576445

If you don't need/want to read a tree, then check out the copious manuals and documentation at http://www.debian.org/doc/.

I highley recommend the hardcopy book. I have it personally and it is a perfect companion for the Debian newbie, and after your eyes start to bleed from staring at your CRT from fifteen centimetres you can still curl up on the couch with the book and your LCD laptop.

Installing and administering a Debian installation is so simple that even a shaved ape like me can do it (that means you can too). The more you put in to learning the details, the more you'll get out of your overall experience. Do not become intimidated by the initial learning curve, it will pay you dividends in the future.