[vox-tech] Debian download - 8 disks?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Mark K. Kim (markslist@cbreak.org):

> 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
rick@linuxmafia.com