To move to the testing tree, all you have to do is edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file. For the most part you can just s/stable/testing/g, but you will have to remove the security.debian.org line that is near the end.
Once you have done that,
apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade
and you will have access to all the fairly recent applications. If you want to throw caution to the wind, you could run unstable, which isn't as bad as it sounds, but definitely more risky.
As for your X problems, this may help.
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-desktop/
Honestly, while I am a big fan of Debian, I don't run it on my desktop (I run OS X). I am surprised that selecting a desktop system didn't install X. It should be fairly simple, one command you will want to use is apt-cache, it allows you to search for packages that are available. So to find the exact name for X....
apt-cache search xfree
Which comes back with xfree86-common being what you want. But, if you know which window manager you want, you should be able to just search for them and install them and apt should install X as well.
apt-get install gnome-core or apt-get install kde
But ymmv.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
shawn
On 6-Nov-03, at 10:49 AM, Scott Balneaves wrote:
So, I started out my GNU/Linux life with the old Yggdrasil LGX distro (way way back in '93), and then proceeded (quite happily) for several year with Slackware. However, for the last 5 years or so, I've been a RH user.
However, with the end-of-line of RH, I'm doing my due-diligance, and not only evaluating Fedora, but other distros as well.
I keep hearing all this wonderful stuff about Debian. It seems every time you talk about rpm package woes on a list, some Debian afficionado immediately pipes up with "well, on Debian all you have to do is type apt-something install cokebottle, and nana nana boo boo everything works. Redhat Sucks!".
So, deciding that, perhaps, I should check into this, I grabbed some woody ISO's from debian.org, read the install manual, and dived in.
So, I've completed the base install, things are fine, and I'm onto the tasksel program. Gee, I'd like to be a desktop system, so that's what I pick.
Guess what? No xfree86 servers. No xterm. Turns out (at least from what I saw) the only way to do this is to either
a) Somehow guess (it wasn't listed in the installation guide) that I have to go into dpkg after the tasksel, scroll through 8517 (or whatever) packages, and find xserver-xfree86 and xterm packages, or b) Somehow guess I'm supposed to do an apt-get on these after the fact.
Am I missing something? I checked the Installation guide 3 times, and they don't seem to talk about X at all, and I couldn't find a "Setting up your graphical desktop on Debian" help file. I figured it out, but the answers didn't jump up and slap me in the face, either. :-)
Second issue: I know Debian's focus is stability, but I'm willing to risk bugs in exchange for something a little more, errr, this millenium, lets say :-) Is there an "apt-make-me-modern" command? I've done both apt-get update and apt-get upgrade, and basically that just gets me to the latest release stuff.
C'mon, Debian buffs @ muug! Here's your chance to show me up as the clueless Debian newb I am. I *REALLY* want to give Debian an honest try to see if it's worthwhile deploying here at Legal Aid. So warm up your LART cluesticks and wail away: I can take it! ;-)
Scott
-- Scott Balneaves | The aim of a joke is not to degrade Systems Administrator | the human being but to remind him that Legal Aid Manitoba | he is already degraded. -- George Orwell
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