Debian 2.2r3 and Windows 2000 on Promise Card

[Cyber_Tuxman]

Okay, per Craig's suggestion I downloaded the UDMA66 diskettes and was able to get Debian installed, but like most potatoes, it's proven to be useless. First problem is it doesn't see my 3Com card, go figure, so I can't just update everything. Then it also has a version of Xfree that doesn't recognize my GeForce2 GTS video card. To top it all off, I can't get it to boot from the hard drive like it should, so I can use LILO to dual boot with Win2000. So, someone please tell me what to do! If anyone out there had Win2000 on their first(hde) physical drive on a Promise card, and Linux installed on the second physical drive(hdf) on the Promise card, please let me know how you set it up. Since XFree won't start, I can't even get KDE or Gnome to work. So should I just hold out until Woody? Should I install Mandrake first(since I got that to work once), and then when Woody comes out give that a whirl? I basically need something there I can learn from, I would actually love to do the Linux From Scratch book but need to get a flavor of Linux on there first. (Per the book's instructions)

If anyone can help me out, I would greatly appreciate it...might even name my first born child after you, much to my wife's dismay(She'll be on drugs during the process so she won't even notice :) ).

[bdl]

Well, like thousands of other Debian users, you'll most likely want to upgrade the system to 'Woody' with 'dselect' or 'apt-get' so you can run X4.1.0, linux-2.4.x and all the latest goodies. The running joke about 'Potato' is the fact that it's very outdated, which may be the case for alot of hobbyist users or desktop users, but not the case for someone requiring an absolutely rock-solid environment to work in, and that's what the 'Stable' release provides. IMHO, at this stage of the game, Woody is very stable as well and is moving towards a release.

At any rate, your options are (if you wish to continue with Debian, that is) to either upgrade to Woody or grab a copy of Libranet or Progeny. While not truly Debian, they are Debian based, but geared more towards the newbie and desktop user. Debian is not necessarily geared towards the first time user, and won't pre-configure much for you; your comment regarding the 3com card can most likely be remedied by simply loading the module for that particular card. If you need specific help on loading the module, getting your network up and running, please post the relevant information and I'm sure we can help you out.

[ 06 September 2001: Message edited by: bdl ]