Baslinux mailing list

[jamtat AT mailsnare.net]

Quoting Day Brown <daybrown AT hypertech.net>:
> > Start here: http://www.debian.org/mirror/mirrors_full . 
> I wasnt too sure about what I needed, the docs on the mirrors I saw
> werent much.

If you're trying to view docs located at those mirrors, you're already taking
the wrong approach.  You seem to be approaching these as if they're download
sites, where you go with your browser or ftp client and hunt up something that
you download discretely to your computer, perhaps to later install.  That's 
not
what they are.  They contain all the programs and components for the current
Debian release, and probably all have virtually the same set of files (just
provided the link so that you could see that they're up and running, contrary
to your earlier claim).  So what are these mirrors used for, if not for
discreet downloads of programs?  They're used by apt-get.  apt-get is a 
package
management system: it reads a database of programs somewhere on the internet
(from one of the mirrors).  It also keeps a record of what's installed on your
system.  It also has a record of program dependencies.  It also has something
like an ftp client (maybe wget?).  When you find a program you want, you open 
a
terminal and issue the command "apt-get install nameofprog."  apt-get goes to
the mirrors you have listed in your sources.list file, finds the program,
analyzes your system for dependencies for that program, then reports in the
console what it is going to download (program plus dependencies) and asks you
if it should continue.  You enter "y" or "n", accordingly.  It then downloads
the program(s) with dependencies and installs them on the system.  If it has
problems, it will often suggest fixes for them. 

> I downloaded kannel, the latest sarge testing release, thot I'd do my
> bit.
> but all I really ended up with was a long list of absent dependancies.

I have no idea what "kannel" is, and I have doubts about whether it can do 
what
apt-get does.  I'd say avoid it and concentrate on apt-get.  If you already
have apt on your system, and have a valid sources.list file, maybe the first
thing to try is updating it.  Do "apt-get update" (to update your package list
database) and see what happens (you'll need to be connected to the 'net, of
course).  Then maybe try "apt-get install apt" to get the latest version.

> It looks like that page was organized around the idea of installing a
> whole new release.
> All I'm trying to do is upgrade to a newer browser, which needs a newer
> kernel, which needs a newer set of dependancies....
> 
Did you try "apt-get install kernel-image-2.4-1386" (or whatever your 
processor's architecture is)?  You should only do this *after* issuing 
"apt-get
update" by the way.

> apt-cache search kernel-image-2.4.*
> on the terminal got me "couldnt stat source package..."
> apt-cache search http://www.debian.org/kernel*
> "couldnt stat source...." 
> 
Maybe because you didn't do "apt-get update" yet (i.e., you don't have a 
current
package list with the 2.4.x kernel on your system)?  I'm not surprised that
entering a url didn't work.  Look for the file sources.list on your machine 
too
and see what mirrors are listed there.  Enter mirrors close to you
geographically, if they're not already there.

> I'll prolly end up waiting until debian.org is back online. Meanwhile,
> I'm trying to setup another drive on the system to boot dos then do
> loadlin of BL...

No need to wait for debian.org to be back online.  It has no necessary
connection to the operation of the apt package management system.  Hope your 
BL
installation finally comes to fruition.

James

PS The above is based on the assumption that Corel operates very much like
Debian.  Having never used Corel, I don't know how valid this assumption 
really
is.