Hello,

I've been running on FC4 for a while, and im ready to try debian. At first I was going to install it with knoppix, until I heard that there could be issues with apt-get, updating, and stuff like that later on. A buddy of mine that knows quite a bit about the distro told me about KANOTIX. He says KANOTIX hd install installs a debian SiD to my system almost exactly how the debian installer does, but with more packages, ect..., he also stated that I won't get apt-get, or upgrade problems later on. And I know that debian SiD is stable enough and I shouldn't run into any big problems if any...

My question is, for those who are looking to install the latest debian 'unstable', why don't they just use KANOTIX to install it?

Maybe because KANOTIX ain't Debian.

I'd go with Debian Etch. I just downloaded a 100 MB boot iso few days ago and installed Etch, very simple to do. Debian is a much better distro than Fedora imho; it isn't a resource hog.

I'll repost this, sorry for putting this here.

Kanotix is very good and very close to debian. It is as close to debian as a debian - based distro can be.

If you use wireless or a winmodem then that would make things easier for you.

On the other hand debian will run faster, you chose what to install, and is very easy to install with the net installer if you use a regualr ethernet connection.

My brother has wireless and we downloaded the first 3 iso of debian and then used the ndiswrapper and had no problems.

If you run Debian and use wireless Debian will just do the same as any other distro since it is still linux..
Ndiswrapper is only to be used if no linux driver is around. Ndiswrapper is a 'nothing else worked' fix and nothing to be proud of.
Debian can be as slow as any distro if you install the same crap as some distro's install by default. Get off the 'My distro rules horse' and just configure your distro as you like it. It will run just as fine as any...

Your statement is true depending on the hardware you install the OS to. I run older hardware and can't effectively run the big distros like FC4 or FC5. FC5 release notes, for example, recommends that you have at least 256 MB of RAM, preferably 512. My units can't run that very well.
Debian runs very well without tweaking on my Plll units without going into swap.
So, I guess it depends on your frame of reference.

But, you're right, my statement, this OS rules, was quite stupid, but, must be taken in the context of discovering how truly amazing Etch is.

Where did your attitude come from?

BTW I was proud to get it working. And I know what an ndiswrapper is.

"Get off the" attitude that you seemed to have for no reason.

Or we can get another rant from you on the point of ndiswrappers

"you tell em jackie way to go"

This is the fastest, simplist way to install Debian that I've found:

http://genieos.toluenterprises.com/Home.html

It will take you through a sort of merry go round though, you will have to reboot twice, but it is much simpler than the other ways I've tried.

A cool way to install Debian is by using Instalinux - Create a Custom Linux Network Install Image
IS the Genie OS a remake or a copy of the DebianPure cd?

Kanotix once installed IS a Debian Sid system. I have ran a Kanotix HD install for almost 2 years now with few problems. Actually the only problems have come from Etch/Sid repositories changing so much over the last few months. So my philosophy is if it works why bother updating. Kinda like if its not broke don't fix it. Last time I checked I had over 900 updates waiting to be installed. Unless the app has some type of security flaw or a cool new feature I just leave it as it is.

A small question, craigevil. I'm running Etch and really like the 2.6.15 kernel and KDE 3.5.1. Is SID fairly stable? Did you encounter any hiccups upgrading from Etch?
As you said if it isn't broke leave well enough alone.
Is it worth the hassle of an upgrade from Etch--->SID? My Etch systems are running like tops:-)

Thank you,

hitest

I installed using Kanotix, which gave me a working Debian Sid system from the start.

One of the tricks in running Etch or Sid is having apt-listbugs installed, so you can tell if updating something will screw things up.

Thanks, man! I'll look for apt-listbugs in the repos

I run both Kanotix on drive A and Etch on drive B as backup, so I know them both. I often copy files from sda to sdb in case a problem occcurs.

Been running Kanotix almost non-stop for the past year. I run Etch from time to time. I much prefer Kanotix as everything always works. You can't go wrown with either one, but if you do a lot of multimedia and sound, Kanotix has this out of the box while with Etch you have to install, configure, tweak, etc.

Kanotix is the best kept secret in Linux, IMO.

Al