After Ubuntu hosed itself down just after installation, again, I took it as an opportunity to try several different distributions, first on my list, Debian. Thus proving once and for all I enjoy pain more than is socially acceptable.

This time it worked. Fortunately for me, last time was a fluke. Or maybe because I tried a network install this time instead of relying on previously downloaded cds.

Installation

Firstly, I tracked down the reason for the missing dependancy issue. When you insert the package cd's during a normal install, and fail to set up a networked repository, Debian only refers to the present packages on the cds. Which apparently may not be sufficient, depending on how many discs are configured. Setting up apt-get is also complicated because it fails to detect the network cabling, whichever plug I insert the cable into, Debian defaults to the other one.

One

# ifconfig eth0 down
# ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.2
# route add default gw 192.168.2.1 eth1

later. Networking was up, after which the install proceded perfectly.

Usability

By default the desktop install comes with everything. I mena everything too, it's amazing what can be packed into 700MB worth of archives but Debian has both desktops (KDE & GNOME) and can be configured to select one on login. The desktops themselves come with every available browser (3), word processor (7), media player (8) and pdf veiewer (3). Then there are the downsides, really I felt like I was back with Gentoo, only faster and more stable.

Firstly I had to select the 2.6 kernel at install time because the 2.4 didn't work with the usb drivers for this motherboard. Based on this, I got the 2.6 kernel after install. I had to install the 686-smp to get all my 2GB of RAM and both processors working, and then again because after numerous attempts to compile the nvidia modules, it turns out the source code is for 2.6.8.2 instead of my own kernel which was 2.6.8.3. I also had to manually compile the alsa drivers to get sound working. Still, it was no problem since the source is available through apt-get.

Also, in order to use the full 1024x768 resolution I had to run "dpkg-reconfig xserver-xfree86". Still, hardly a problem.

Beyond that, once I added in the multimedia sources, everything worked perfectly and reliably. Really, I'm very impressed. The stable software is a bit old but it's not something you'd notice unless you keep track of changing default themes and make it a point to check the version numbers.

Overall

As long as these guys don't make a patent protection deal with Microsoft, or start an internal war over binary drivers (Protecting freedom by making my computer run on broken VESA). Or for that matter include crippled vesa drivers with their next version, I'll stick with Debian. Installation issues aside, it works very well.