Debian Etch installation?

[Amorphous_Snake]

How is it? Is it easy or hard? Any screenshots? And if I want to download the i386 DVD to get GNOME, KDE and XFCE, should I download all 3 DVDs or just the first?

Also, how about comparing Etch to Edgy and the upcoming Fiesty?

[yabbadabbadont]

Installing the last release candidate was just standard debian text install. Pretty much the same as Ubuntu's text install (which stands to reason). The main reason I'm not using Debian is that the kernel would hang on an ata (sata) error on shutdown. It was well after all partitions had either been unmounted or mounted read-only, so I just had to physically power off the machine, but it was very annoying. The Ubuntu kernels have never done that. Neither have the kernels from any other distribution, just Debian's. :?

[teaker1s]

I downloaded the install cd's turned out I only needed first cd as it detected my internet access and installed as a desktop with gnome

:KS :KS

[deanlinkous]

installer screenshots
http://www.debianadmin.com/debian-etch-beta3-graphical-mode-installation-with-screenshots.html

and my desktop screenshots links are here
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2332190&postcount=3

[tommcd]

How is it? Is it easy or hard? Any screenshots? And if I want to download the i386 DVD to get GNOME, KDE and XFCE, should I download all 3 DVDs or just the first?

Also, how about comparing Etch to Edgy and the upcoming Fiesty?

For some good advice about installing debian for newbies see this:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=13362
I followed this and it went well. I installed the desktop enviornment along with the base system though

[charlie85254]

If you can install Ubuntu you can install Debian etch...It's no harder and 100% self explanatory.

[mstlyevil]

If you want a Gui install just type installgui when you get to the boot message and press enter. The installation is pretty straightforward after that.

[rennen01]

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT8143350649.html

[rai4shu2]

If you use the DVD, it's very fast. :)

[ThinkBuntu]

When you drop in the DVD, enter "expertgui" It will guide you through a graphical installer that's as easy as any I've tried, although it did display at 800x600 on my 1024x768. No big deal.

[mstlyevil]

When you drop in the DVD, enter "expertgui" It will guide you through a graphical installer that's as easy as any I've tried, although it did display at 800x600 on my 1024x768. No big deal.

The first CD will do that also.

[happy-and-lost]

Have been using Etch on this "old" 1Ghz HP with some pretty weird hardware for 3 months. Not a hitch. All hardware perfectly detected, as comfortable, fast and full featured as my Feisty laptop. Love it :)

[izanbardprince]

The main thing keeping me away from Debian is the God awful number of discs it ships on, and I heard that the "default" setup just lobs tons of packages onto your system that you don't even need.

So what's in Debian that would make an Ubuntu user want to go through the extra hassle of installing it?

[mstlyevil]

The main thing keeping me away from Debian is the God awful number of discs it ships on, and I heard that the "default" setup just lobs tons of packages onto your system that you don't even need.

So what's in Debian that would make an Ubuntu user want to go through the extra hassle of installing it?

You only need one disk and a internet connection to install Debian.

The question you should be asking is what is not in Debian that is in Ubuntu that will make you want to go through the extra hassle of installing it?

Debian is a lot lighter and faster than Ubuntu because it does not have all those extra modules, services and drivers that Ubuntu does. Debian is also a whole lot more stable and not as bleeding edge as Ubuntu so things break less often than they do in Ubuntu.

[Rodneyck]

You only need one disk and a internet connection to install Debian.

The question you should be asking is what is not in Debian that is in Ubuntu that will make you want to go through the extra hassle of installing it?

Debian is a lot lighter and faster than Ubuntu because it does not have all those extra modules, services and drivers that Ubuntu does. Debian is also a whole lot more stable and not as bleeding edge as Ubuntu so things break less often than they do in Ubuntu.

Ubuntu's has rewritten a large part of the Debian code from the experimental pool to only work with and for Ubuntu, and many say not for the better. What they fix, of that which is broken, does not help the Debian community at large, only Ubuntu's user base. They are basically a leach.