Dselect is indeed not a begineer's best friend. (Been there, done that!) There are several ways to tackle using it (or not) in installing debian. What worked for me was to enter allow the install script to drop me into dselect after the reboot and let it install the basic packages. The first phase is the access method. Just say CD, give the access path to your cdrom (/dev/hdc if you cd rom is the master on the second ide interface), take the default directory for main, and say 'none' for each of the other sections. Then hit <CR> for the 'Update' phase, <CR> again to enter the 'Select' phase. <space bar> to exit the help screen, and <CR> to accept the default packages. Now just hit <CR> for the 'configure', 'remove' and 'exit' phases. Deselect has just installed the usual bunch of packages.
To add packages, re-run deselect as before but DON'T hit cr on the 'update' phase. Arrow down to the 'select' phase because you have already done the update before. Arrow down to look at each package. The descriptions are on the bottom of the screen. Use the '+' key (on your keypad) to select a package to install. If the package depends on others a second screen pops up with the selections that you need. Recommended or suggested packages are also shown but selection is not forced. Use the '+' key to accept them if you want. Then hit <cr> to get back to the main screen to select more packages. Hit <cr> in the main screen to start installing. Proceed as in the first case. Oh yeah....RTFM!! Don't try to install X until the usual packages are installed first. Trying to get the whole system installed and configured in one sitting is too much for the beginner. One thing at a time. In fact, don't even try getting X up until you have your PPP connection, printer, networking, user accounts etc up. (Save the hard part for last!) Good luck and have fun! ----------------------------------------------------- Hello, I am trying to install the Debian Release 2.0 (CheapBytes) and am having trouble with the dselect utility. If I am reading the help file correctly one can highlight "all packages", press return, and then proceed to installation. When I do that there are an enormous number of packages that are not installed. (I would think "all packages" would mean exactly that but it apparently does not.) I have also tried selecting the packages of interest only to result in an installation that ls X* would show X86Config under /etc but ls -l would not. More could also not find the X86Config file. Rather than puzzle out why this was happening on a new install I am simply reinstalling the entire system. Comments or suggestions for dealing with dselect? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
