Debian Weekly News - email

Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2000 23:05:19 +1000
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
From: Andrew Lau <amlau@one.net.au>
Subject: Volunteers needed for MashPotato tech support crew in #Debian
  on irc.debian.org around August 15.


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Hello, this is Andrew "Netsnipe" Lau from #debian at irc.debian.org calling
out for volunteers who know a bit of Debian GNU/Linux and can offer a part
of time to help others. As many of you are well aware, the third test cycle
of Debian is about to end soon, schedules on August 15 (no guarantees or
leaks here), and quite possibly, if we're lucky will officially become stable.

Debian itself, unfortunately, despite progress in this area over the last
year or two, has never been an easy to install or configurable distribution
for the beginner. Remember the first time as a Linux newbie when you
installed Debian and were intimidated by dselect (thank goodness tasksel
has been introduced). How long did it take you to get X or sound running on
your own, or even when you switched distributions?

We here at #debian, the official IRC chatroom of Debian have decided that
when Potato 2.2 does officially become stable, that we will provide the
most comprehensive Debian GNU/Linux support service that we can to users
both new and old. However, being the official IRC room, #debian will be
overwhelmed with literally hundreds of users seeking installation and
configuration help. The task would be quite daunting for regulars there as
we already handle several dozen help requests a day.

Hence the Potato release now has a dedicated IRC tech support crew
nicknamed the Mobile Array of Support Helpers for Potato (MashPotato) which
serve around the clock for users around the world. To make things easier,
we will also divert users to different channels from #debian to for example
#debian-install and #debian-x, #debian-sound, #debian-gnome. However, we
will be lacking in numbers of people to answer the multitudes of help.

To sign up for the roster list for MashPotato, just come into #debian and
type in "apt roster" for further details, and return over the next few days
for more details. You don't need to be using Potato, but any Debian-based
help provided will be greatly appreciated.

So please, for the sake of new users, please volunteer for MashPotato and
help promote the Debian GNU/Linux community to new users as well. Debian is
much more than yet another Linux distribution. It has a fine tradition of
being a community  which distinguishes it as one of the best Linux
distributions out there. Let's keep it that way.

Yours sincerely,
Andrew "Netsnipe" Lau
netsnipe@hotmail.com
ICQ: 2194697

PS: MashPotato is not an official organization or division of the Debian
GNU/Linux project, however we do have members and links with those who hang
around at #debian. MashPotato is a volunteer group run by people at #Debian
in the spirit of the project.
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Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 20:10:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Aaron Maxwell <amaxwell@phy.ucsf.edu>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Corel to Debian micro-howto

Someone asked, so here's how I transmuted my version of CorelOS to
more or less "pure" debian.  Though this worked for me, it might be a
good idea to read any comments made on this post before doing this,
since IANAG (i am not a guru)

1.  Establish a net connection, if it's not already up.  (i.e., so you
    can ftp)
2.  If you're at not at the command line, go there.  Log out of the
    window manager, and press Ctrl-Alt-F2; you should go from the KDE
    login screen to a command line login prompt.  Log in as root.
3.  Remove all packages with the string "corel" in them.  You can get
    a list of these by issuing the command: [1]
      dpkg --get-selection | grep corel
    You'll get two columns; the names of the packages you want to
    remove will be in the left column.  Remove them with the following
    command, as root:
      apt-get remove pkg1 pkg2 ...
    where the pkgN's are the names of what you're removing.
4.  Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to point to where the new packages are
    located.  If you're not sure, I recommend commenting out all the
    lines in there (put a '#' as the first char of the line), then add
    this line:
      deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian frozen main contrib non-free
    This will upgrade your system to potato, Debian's 'frozen'
    release.  CorelOS is based on slink, Debian's 'stable' release.
    If you'd rather update to the latest version of slink, replace the
    word 'frozen' with 'stable' in the line above.  You can then
    upgrade to frozen from there if you like.  I just went straight to
    frozen with no problems, but ymmv.
5.  As root type:
      apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
    Your quasi-debian system will start downloading stuff and asking
    you questions as it installs and configures packages.  It may have
    to download a lot of stuff, especially if you're upgrading to
    frozen.
6.  KDE is now gone (CorelOS comes with a Corelized version of KDE,
    which you removed a few steps ago).  In its stead, I installed
    gnome.  [1] Install the necessary gnome stuff with this command:
      apt-get install gdm gnome-bin gnome-panel gnome-panel-data
              gnome-core
    (that's one long line).

That should be it.  'gdm' is the name of the program that provides the
nice graphical login.  If it doesn't automatically start, start it by
typing as root
  /etc/init.d/gdm start

[1] I don't know how to install the non-Corel KDE; if
    you want that instead, please search the list archives.
    (https://lists.debian.org/#search -- just search the debian-user
    list, ignore the 1.4e12 other lists)

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This issue of Debian Weekly News was edited by Joey Hess.