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Debian Software Linux

Etch Goes Beta 31

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the shift-your-labels dept.
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Debian 'etch' has finally hit beta (testing) complete with graphical installer. The new version includes a default 2.6 kernel, auto laptop detection, secure apt to verify downloaded packages, improved log file and bug reporting, added language support, and much more.
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Etch Goes Beta More

Etch Goes Beta

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  • Seems not so long ago Sarge came out after an eternity of waiting. Good to see things speeding up a bit.

    First post?

  • debian-installer for etch hits beta (Score:3, Informative)

    by free2 ( 851653 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @06:05AM (#14019436) Homepage
    "debian-installer for etch hits beta" would be a more accurate title.
    etch is "testing" ever since sarge was released as "stable"
    • Exacty, as is plainly stated on the referred page. I do understand Etch in beta makes better news, but this is just ridiculous misreporting. Could please Slashdot editor fix the article: -> Debian Installer for Etch goes beta would be much better, thank you! :-)
  • So, effectively there's a Debian release that's caught up to distributions that's had some of this technology for years?

    Don't get me wrong - it's great news. I've always believed that having different distributions has always been a strength of GNU/Linux.

    But hey - Debian's only just finally caught up. Why's it taken so long? (low priority I'm guessing?) Where is this new release leading to? A new way of installing and managing Debian in general?

    I'll personally be much more inclined to use Debian for certain
    • This is news because Debian is ahead of the field in some ways, but is always tarnished by it's outdatedness. This outdatedness causes people to think things like "Debian is only for servers you don't have physical access to" etc.
    • I also always believed, that having different distributions is a real advantage for GNU/Linux. But as you can see in many forums, there are many flamewars about the "best" distribution. I think, technically it is really a strengh, but many people just don't get the point, and weaken the whole GNU/Linux Community against Microsoft. Why should they fight GNU/Linux, when they do it by themselves?

    • Re:Woohoo! Sorta ;) (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tom ( 822 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @09:06AM (#14019792) Homepage Journal
      Why's it taken so long?

      Because a huge part of Debian users couldn't care less about a GUI installer and want more important stuff done first. Most of the machines I put Debian on never switch out of text mode in their entire life, for example, and I'm still happily using dselect and apt-get because it gets the job done and that's all I care for. It'd take longer to find a mouse to plug into that server than it takes to go through a few menues.

      Debian isn't behind, Debian is way ahead of most of the other distros in many ways. And it has other priorities. That's why I use it, that's why most of the people who use Debian use it.
      • I think it's got less to do with who uses Debian for console only applications like servers, and more to do with the fact that one needs only install Debian once. The Debian Developers, the people in the best position to introduce such a software haven't done so in the past because it isn't their itch. Even if you look at the beta screenshots, it's the same procedure and installer done up in GTK. Compared to Fedora's installer, this is pointless.

        And it's not like Debian doesn't have a great chance to improv
    • To be honest, I've used the Sarge (current Stable) net install image exactly twice. The first was mostly out of curiosity and then I bumped the install to Sid and built up the partition as I wanted to try Xorg. The second was just a week ago when I built up a partition on a laptop that I wanted to use as a network monitor. It was perfect as I wanted to control the packages I installed.

      The graphical installer would probably be fine as it should give the administrator confidence that Xorg will be correctly
      • The gtk frontend to the installer doesn't use Xorg, but gtkfb on directfb instead. So you still won't be certain that Xorg will be correctly configured while you're installing. Sorry.

  • Screenshots (Score:5, Informative)

    by xgamer04 ( 248962 ) <xgamer04@NosPam.yahoo.com> on Sunday November 13, 2005 @06:21AM (#14019469)
    This is one time I wish we did have some screenshots :(

    PS [osdir.com]

    • Re:Screenshots (Score:3, Informative)

      by abdulla ( 523920 )
      You can check out screenshots of the new graphical installer here [osdir.com].
    • OMFG! it's d-i with a mouse. so they put a different interface on the same friggin' questions. whooop-dee-friggin-do. if you couldn't navigate the sarge installer, what the hell are you doing with linux in the first place. go play in an open window instead.
      • if you couldn't navigate the sarge installer, what the hell are you doing with linux in the first place.

        Ignoring your baseless accusation, improving Linux usability will only come from clueless users using it. Seasoned computer users usually don't get very confused when it comes to interfaces. They just poke around. And wanting to see screenshots of something new doesn't make anyone a newbie. It shows they are curious, which is a much more-needed attribute in the free/open source world than being a dic

  • Story gets it terribly wrong (Score:5, Informative)

    by Florian ( 2471 ) <cantsin@zedat.fu-berlin.de> on Sunday November 13, 2005 @06:53AM (#14019534) Homepage
    The installer for Etch has gone Beta (as it clearly states on the page the story links to), not Etch itself. The Etch release is scheduled for late 2006, which is still an ambitious goal given the amount of necessary work - such as moving all documentation that doesn't meet the Debian Free Software guidelines into non-free.
  • Sigh, another misleading Slashwank headline (and another post whining about same).

  • Ubuntu? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by charlie763 ( 529636 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @11:52AM (#14020309)
    Can we expect this in the Ubuntu Dapper release? Many people have been asking a graphical installer while other prefer the non-graphical installer. I just want the option.
    • This installer is only graphical in the most technical sense of the term. The screenshots of Etch's beta installer I've seen will not satisfy most users who want a "graphical" installer.

      To my eyes, Anaconda is looking like a more approachable installer for those who aren't technically inclined. But Anaconda could ask fewer questions and place technical stuff behind "Advanced..." buttons.
  • A little off-topic, but I'd appreciate insight from any Debian devs reading this discussion. I've been trying to upgrade to KDE 3.4 in testing for a while now, but I can't make the upgrade without a whole lot of stuff being uninstalled. From what I've read this has to do with the switch to GCC 4.0 and getting all the apps and their dependencies compiled against it, just wondering if there's any timeline (including guesstimated ones) for when things should be settled down.
  • How are they going to solve the license issue with various drivers of the linux kernel? I was quite scared that the official Debian packages for Kernels > 2.6.8 did not contain those disputed drivers, leading into losing my network connectivity on my system. It will get pretty scary of netinstall disks do not have the network drivers required for installation :-/ I know that there are non-free-modules-packages, but I had the experience that they were not looked after enough.
  • The story does not mention that the graphical installer is still considered alpha/experimental. The graphical installer is in its early stages at the moment. I think Ubuntu Dapper Drake will have the graphical installer as it is always based on Debian Sid. Andrew

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