[linux-audio-user] A little scared of Debian, was Fresh PC waiting for basic installation - Advice?

[tim hall]

Last Friday 09 July 2004 13:55, Alejandro Lopez was like:
> But I've just come accross this article:
> http://www.debianplanet.org/node.php?id=831
> entitled "An Unbiased Review of Debian 3.0". They say things like you are
> supposed to know the name of your drivers (name of the files, not the name
> of the hardware to be supported that usually comes as a description in a
> database!). I've been very dissapointed to read this. I know that people
> here who have recommended it say they had it running in little time and
> effort, but is that due to you having quite some background?

I'm very disappointed that you read this too :-] Ignore this, it's VERY old 
and irrelevant if you want a music system. Debian are soon to release 3.1 
'Sarge', because of the way the Debian versioning system works (i.e. it is 
extremely conservative compared to other distros - 3.0 'Woody' IS the 
'stable' version, but ... ) for our purposes, we should consider 3.0 'out of 
date'. If you want a Debian based music system you should install 
AGNULA/DeMuDi-1.2.0 [1].  The new installer is a breeze and this distro is 
tweaked to make it even easier for musicians. It will autodetect most of your 
hardware and you should be up & running within an hour under normal 
circumstances. DeMuDi-1.2.0 is based on Debian-3.1 'Sarge' and I can honestly 
say that, with the support of the Linux Audio community, Free Ekanayaka has 
done for Debian, what Fernando has done for RedHat based systems.

> I have installed Debian years ago, then Redhat recently. I've found Debian
> installation a nightmare compared to Redhat, but I always thought it was a
> matter of evolution with years. 

It is.

> I don't know what to think anymore, the 
> article says pretty scary stuff actually in the areas that have
> traditionally been grey in Linux (compared to our friend Windows).

Ignore the article, download the installer. You won't know what to think until 
you try it. Have a good read of [0] and [2] - This site will probably answer 
many of your questions, it's a little disorganised and out of date in places, 
partly because things have been advancing at such a rate. Have a good browse, 
this will probably set your mind at rest.

And if you're still not convinced there is always PlanetCCRMA, or Mandrake, or 
AudioSlack, or Gentoo, or ... or ... ;-] Most of us on this list have working 
Linux Audio systems of one kind or another. It does help if you know the 
names & serial numbers of your hardware and other system details, always. I 
installed Debian 'woody' as a newbie a year and a half ago. OK it took me 
several days, but it was worth it and it wasn't impossible. The new 'Sarge' 
installer is much, much easier than that.

Last Friday 09 July 2004 22:09, Frank Barknecht was like:
> > dselect
>
> Oh, the horrors that were dselect. RIP. ;)

Much maligned application, I still use it occasionally.

> > kpackage
>
> I think, this is newer than apt, but I never used it.

Me neither, if you want nice GUI, synaptic is very user friendly (3 button 
upgrade). It does get occasional indigestion, however, so you do need to know 
how to use apt-get (or dselect ;-) I think it's basically a graphic version 
of aptitude CMIIW.

cheers

tim hall

[0] http://www.agnula.org/
[1] http://www.agnula.org/download/demudi/demudi_1_2_0_iso
[2] http://www.agnula.org/documentation/FAQ/

Go Alejandro, Go! ;-)