Baslinux mailing list

[Day Brown <daybrown AT hypertech.net>]

jamtat AT mailsnare.net wrote:
> 
> 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.
The Corel gui desktop has 'upgrade', and when you click it, it opens up
a little terminal window.
but both it and apt-get get me a mess of error messages when I try to
get the list of apps that need upgrading, and tell me of the
dependancies I dont have. 'Upgrade' tries to go to corel.com and then
gets linked up to debian someplace, and then,.. it looks like it runs
into the server problems they've been having.

> 
> > 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, 
It appears to be a nickname for a testing release of sarge.

> > 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.
I think so, got a list of missing dependancies. but no clue as to how to
get them.
 
> > 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.
apt-get update gets me 'unable to fetch file'... then a corel.com url.
(not a debian host)
> 
> > 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.
It looks like it is *spozed* to. But it is the endless train of snafus
which has me looking at the simplicity of BL.