[LUNI] Why RPM instead of tar.gz

[Jean-Michel Smith]

On Tue, 20 Nov 2001 23:24:48 -0600 (CST)
"Kevin Conder" <kconder at interaccess.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Michael J McGonagle wrote:
> 
> > Well, something is going on, but what. I have been in the process of
> > trying to put together a Music System for myself at home 
> > 
> > Since starting to use Mandrake, I have installed 3 different systems.
> > The second
> > system was intended to only handle software synthesis, so it was only
> > based on opensource using *.tar.gz archives.
> 
> 	Cool! This is what I'm doing also. Are you using Csound or
> sfront? I use them all the time. But I've never been able to figure out
> snd or pd. Do you know anything about those programs?
> 
> > I just need to find a place to get some copies of Debian so I can try
it
> > out!!!
> 
> 	You can download the ISOs from http://www.linuxiso.org. You can
> also buy them cheap from http://www.cheapbytes.com.

I was about to reply with this when I saw your post, so I'll just add that
debianplanet.org is a good Debian resource as well.  I typically install
from "potato" ISOs (Debian 2.2r3 or 2.2r4), then modify my
/etc/apt/sources.list file to point my "deb" lines to testing and my
"deb-src" lines to unstable, run apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade
to upgrade to the current debian-testing release.  If you prefer you can
follow a link at Debian Planet to get "woody" (debian testing) or "sid"
(debian unstable) ISOs and install from them instead.  I haven't tried
that yet, but others appear to have done so with good success.

If you have config files (especially /etc/X11/XF86Config-4,
/etc/modules.conf, and any network/ppp configurations) already up and
running be sure to back them up to disk or CDR, as they can be useful
references in configuring Debian.  As others have noted Debian's install
is more demanding the Mandrake/Red Hat/Suse, mainly because much of the
automagic hardware detection and configuration under those distros isn't
in Debian yet.  I have "cheated" on more than one machine by installing
Mandrake, copying over XF86Config-4 and a few other files, then blowing it
away and installing Debian.  This isn't necessary mind you, but it can
save time when you're unsure exactly what your Monitor's settings are for
X, for example, or you don't want to dig out your ISPs docs to reconfigure
your internet connection (and try to remember that obscure 10.0.whatever
ip address they gave you, or your dhcp settings).

good luck, and have fun! :-)

Jean.
-- 
Jean-Michel Smith, N6708R - PGP Public Key: 4D625DF6 (wwwkeys.pgp.net)
* Strength and Honor.
* Kindness and Support to our Friends and to Americans of every 
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