Etch vs Sarge

**murph1083** · 06-07-2006

How stable is etch now? I know its only in testing right now and the know bugs seem so small. What do you guys think?

**antidrugue** · 06-07-2006

Etch is quite stable now, it has already been through most of the major changes it will encounter:
gcc 4.1
xorg 7.0
gnome 2.14.1
kde 3.5.2
and more.

But still, it is testing, so you have to know your stuff a little. It does require more work than Sarge in order to get a nice multimedia desktop out of it.

If you are beginning, than I suggest you stay with Sarge for a while, until you feel confortable with the command lines and with the Debian system in general.

**SweetLou** · 06-07-2006

I think it is very stable. I haven't had any problems.

**Zelmo** · 06-07-2006

I think it's not as stable as it could be. After updating packages last night, I'm going to have to go digging around for ideas on why I can't get into X any more.

**antidrugue** · 06-07-2006

Originally Posted by Zelmo

I think it's not as stable as it could be. After updating packages last night, I'm going to have to go digging around for ideas on why I can't get into X any more.

Had the same problem when updating from xorg 6.9 to xorg 7.0. Turns out the solution was quite simple. Do you have an NVIDIA card?

As Zelmo points out, you are always at risk of this sort of thing when using a testing release. That's why you should be prepared for it.

**Vergil83** · 06-07-2006

I would agree with most of what has been said. If there are important things running, I would stay with sarge. However, if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, I say try it out.

Currently they are shooting for Dec 4, 06 as the release date
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel.../msg00015.html

**Vergil83** · 06-07-2006

Originally Posted by Zelmo

I think it's not as stable as it could be. After updating packages last night, I'm going to have to go digging around for ideas on why I can't get into X any more.

I had that same issue about 2-3 weeks ago in Sid. I think it was because of the xorg modular change. You have to install the modules for your card now. For example, I had nvidia, so I had to

Code:

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nv

**antidrugue** · 06-07-2006

Yep, or if you want to use the proprietary drivers, then you have to tell the NVIDIA installer the new path for X libraries (in xorg 7.0 the path changes) :

Code:

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0.8762-pkg1.run --x-module-path=/usr/lib/xorg/modules

**Zelmo** · 06-07-2006

Originally Posted by antidrugue

Yep, or if you want to use the proprietary drivers, then you have to tell the NVIDIA installer the new path for X libraries (in xorg 7.0 the path changes) :

Code:

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0.8762-pkg1.run --x-module-path=/usr/lib/xorg/modules

Oh, yeah, I guess that would have been easier than what I did. I remembered the update saying something about changing the directories and making a symlink from /usr/X11R6, but looking at my filesystem I don't have such a symlink. So when I ran Nvidia's installer, the kernel modules and libGL stuff went into the wrong place. After looking at my X log I found out where they're supposed to be and copied them into there, so it's working again.

Just to be sure, do you guys have /usr/X11R6/lib symlinked to /usr/lib/xorg now, or something similar?

**antidrugue** · 06-07-2006

Originally Posted by Zelmo

Just to be sure, do you guys have /usr/X11R6/lib symlinked to /usr/lib/xorg now, or something similar?

Not at all. Why do that? It works very nicely without doing that. Anyway even after the upgrade to xorg 7.0 both /usr/X11R6 and /usr/lib/xorg exist.

I did no manual symlinks whatsoever.

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