Okay, I'm a newbie who's tried to install Debian 4-5 different times during my life, starting with Potato, then the version of last year, and now Woody. Each time, I get a little farther, anyhow. Here's my situation:
Loadlin Dual boot situation, Win98 [15 minute bootup time, due to their content-provider-oriented OS which means everyone owns my system except me. Bootup also requires my presence, since it immediately stops and asks me what user I want to be before doing its 12-minute warmups] and Debian Woody Linux with KDE [3 minute bootup time]. April: installed Woody. Sound didn't work, printing didn't work. May: rebuilt kernel to install Alsa and the printer driver for my DeskJet 1120C. Tried to install the new kernel; Loadlin wouldn't accept it, because the image compression was something it couldn't handle. May or June: 2-3 days before full release of Woody, my monitor blew (and no, it wasn't M$' fault. Just a stupid capacitor, one of 500 of them.) Last week: Replaced the monitor, remembered me kernel, remembered my root password (hard) and personal password (easy), and got started using KWord / AbiWord. Aaahhh, that's better than MS Word, but I *absolutely hate* having to save as RTF, shutdown, reboot into MS Windows, wait for 3 minutes by my computer, and then wait another 12 minutes while it decides to let the mouse work, and then set it printing. I would love to have a printer on Debian. So... #1 I don't know if Loadlin works yet, but I'm not sure how to install other bootup systems, and I really don't want to take away my dos capabilities at this point. I'd like to keep Loadlin, would like to avoid LILO, but would accept something else -- but I'd need a page on how to install it. Loadlin is something I understand, if someone can point me to a working copy. As of May, it was broken. Or maybe the BZImage2 compression was broken, but in that case I have to have a way to recompile the BZImage2 (if that's been fixed). #2 I'd still like some pointers on getting my ALSA started, my printer started, and (ideally) my CD-RW going too #3 I'm beginning to wonder: do I really have the wrong distribution, considering that I can't seem to get a good install? I picked Debian because of the online list servers and the wide user base, but is there something better for learners that would really help a person learn Linux? Or should I just keep on persevering? I have no problem persevering, but I'd like to know that I'm actually going forward. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
