Quoting Mark K. Kim ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > There's 8 ISOs, including 1 NONUS. Why is it so big? I didn't think > Debian was that big -- all the less popular stuff is downloaded off the > 'net was my understanding?
The full contents of all four Debian package collections on the mirror sites (main, non-free, non-US, contrib) have climbed above 10,000 packages and still growing. No kidding. There's really no need to try to fit a recent snapshot[1] of all of Debian onto seven (not eight -- see below) CDs, but the images are available if you insist on 'em. > Should I get all 8 ISOs? What do people recommend? You could get 1-NONUS and quit there. (The difference between "1" and "1-NONUS" is that the latter includes some crypto & patent-encumbered software omitted from the former. Never use "1" unless/until Ashcroft tells you 1-NONUS is a criminal tool.) Or you could get one of my preferred tiny Netinst images: http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ Or (if on i386), you can use the Progeny Graphical Installer image: http://archive.progeny.com/progeny/pgi/ Or (if on i386), you can use the Libranet installer: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/libranet/2.0/ Either of the latter two installers is simpler for the benefit of "desktop" users. The "Debian Way" is to regard installation media as just a means of getting a running system that you then keep current using Debian's advanced package-handling tools to follow one of the daily-changing "tracks": stable, testing, and unstable. All of my main machines including servers track "testing". My lumberyard of Debian tips: http://linuxmafia.com/debian/tips It's grown chronologically, mostly, so the most interesting stuff is closer to the bottom. Other Debian stuff in here: http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/ [1] The contents of Debian change daily. Debian is _not_ defined by what are on CD sets. CD sets of necessity are a snapshot of some subset of what Debian used to be, at some date in the past. -- Cheers, "That article and its poster have been cancelled." Rick Moen -- David B. O'Donnel, sysadmin for America Online [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
