on Fri, Sep 05, 2003 at 03:34:37PM -0400, David Z Maze ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > Joey Harrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > I am installing Debian on a Internet-capable computer for > > experimentation and a way to continue learning about Linux without > > the limitations of a live CD. Should I use stable, testing, or > > unstable? My preference would be to have the most recent packages, > > but also somewhat tested, so should I use testing? Thanks. > > If you've never used Debian or (especially) Linux before, I'd strongly > recommend starting with stable, and change to a less solid > distribution if you decide that you're sufficiently comfortable with > the system and that stable as a whole is just too old. While sid has > been doing okay for the past few months, it *is* prone to the > occasional failure where nothing on your system will run, and if you > don't follow the mailing lists and know how to track things down and > fix them, you can get stuck.
<...> What David says, with the addition that you can use a method called "pinning" to get a greater level of currency by mostly using testing, while pulling a few packages from unstable. I don't recommend going unstable in your first year or so of using Debian, and use testing or stable on all my own systems (I've run Debian since 1999). I'd still recommend starting with stable for a few months. It's old, as we're nearing the end of a release cycle (target for Sarge is December 1, 2003, though I'm told they've left wiggle room by not specifying the calendar....). Whatever you do, you can find excellent support here or at irc:irc.debian.org/#debian. Peace. -- Karsten M. Self <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Defeat EU Software Patents! http://swpat.ffii.org/
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