Sarge to Sid

[Juan Pablo]

Just installed Debian sarge and everything was fine until I wanted to update to Sid with apt, changed the repos to unstable and did
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

After this I lost my network connection (simple ethernet)

I think is something related to the kernel since I had the same problem when I compiled a kernel for slackware without adding network connectivity.

ps : I also tried to compile from scratch from some source I had but "make menuconfig" didn't work. (I am also stuck in CLI)

[antidrugue]

Just installed Debian sarge and everything was fine until I wanted to update to Sid

Wow, you like to live dangerously. Perhaps Etch would be a better, less risky choice.

After this I lost my network connection (simple ethernet)

Can you give more details ? What is your exact network card ? What is the

lspci

output of it ?

I also tried to compile from scratch from some source I had but "make menuconfig" didn't work. (I am also stuck in CLI)

Try compiling your kernel with those instructions :
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/331741-post2.html

[Juan Pablo]

Yes I really wanted to be at the bleeding edge. But for a Debian noob like me I think I should stuck with etch.

Here is my network card:

00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

[Juan Pablo]

Another question. After the update that killed my network i was still stuck with 2.4 kernel.

[antidrugue]

I guess the best solution for you now is a clean install.

If you want Debian style and bleeding edge, there is always the latest Ubuntu.

If you want more challenge, then Debian Etch could be just the thing. Here is the latest Etch installer :
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Remember to make a separate partition for /home, that way you don't loose anything if something goes wrong.

[Juan Pablo]

I'll stick with etch by now, I have used Ubuntu for a while but began disliking it when I found more techie (or more challenging) alternatives like Slackware or Arch.

And now I'm trying Debian as I still like apt and dpkg.

I'll try that link you gave me

And a question, for low bandwidth connections (512 kbps), what is better just install a base system and then use apt to download the rest or Downloading the full CDs?.

[antidrugue]

And a question, for low bandwidth connections (512 kbps), what is better just install a base system and then use apt to download the rest or Downloading the full CDs?.

I always use the netinstall, as I only install custom systems (minimal with no gui + manual selection) which require about 300 mb of packages.

But I guess you can't be too sure which package to select at first, so you might as well install the whole first CD (desktop package selection).

[craigevil]

If you really want to run a Debian Sid system you might think about installing Kanotix. I have never like Ubuntu, the way it looks or the way they don't give back to Debian.

Once installed it is basically just Debian Sid. It does have a cool update-GUI for updating the kernel. The kernel I am currently using is 2.6.17.8, along with KDE 3.5.4.

I have ran it for over two years and I love it. The Kanotix forum and frontpage is very helpful, there is almost always a notice if doing a dist-upgrade might mess things up.

[Juan Pablo]

I'll try Kanotix, thanks craigevil. Right now I'm writing from Debian etch