reduce downloads

[Marv]

just a thought.
i'm a bit of a linux whore. i try one distro; go back to that other os for a while; hear good things about a different distro and try that. this means that whenever i decide to try debian i need to dl, currently, 14 cd's whereas with most other distro's it would only be 1 cd.
would it not be possible to produce a version of debian, yes without the majority of packages, which only came on 1 or maybe 2 cd's so that users who wanted to try, or compare, the latest version of debian could do so a little less painfully. heck, it would even save a whole stack of your bw too cos i know i'm not the only person in the world who hasn't found their *nux home yet.

[Guest]

Well i only needed one CD, and about 30 min. to install a complete linux Desktop using the Net Install CD which is about 140 MB. They even recommend that you DON'T use the package CD's, because their out of date, and it's just more downloading for you. Try the net-install CD, and have it install the Desktop, and you'll get KDE, Gnome, music players, anything you might need.

For anything else, just su. apt-get install packagename


Hope that helps, and good luck with Debian.

[sprucio]

Do you not have access to the Internet?

I download the first CD and do a bare minimum. Then I install the packages I want.

Since when was Debian 14CDs? I thought it was 8. Are you downloading the src CDs as well?

[Marv]

yes, i do have access to the net with a small home network for the kids and myself (3/4 machines online). that's why i dl'd the entire package.
as i understand a net install, it puts a small system on a computer then dl's everything else it needs. if that's the case then surely it would dl all the packages for each machine and, as i've got more than 1 machine, that would mean more to dl. in my case that would be dling virtually the same stuff 3 or 4 times.
also, just to add a little bit more complication, i also have one machine which i don't have connected to the net.
all i'm suggesting is making available what most users would consider to be a fully functioning gui system with a selection of the packages included in other distros, such as wp, spreadsheet, web access, email, but without all the miriade of packages available in the full dl.
another good thing if you did this would be that i could easily carry such a distro about with me so that i could offer it to users so that they to could quickly test a debian system.

[Terje]

Hm well downloading the 14 cd's is still more trafic than just using the netinstall disk + 4 times the software you need.

But if you wanne save yourself a lot of traffic, just buy a dvd of debian online or try to keep an eye on linux magazines if they include one.

[Marv]

i really don't want to go down the waiting for it on a mag street. if i was into that i'd be a little happier with windows ... well, maybe happier isn't the right word.
i'm not short of hd space, in fact, i install the larger distro's to a 10 gig partition and even use a 4 gig partition for the single cd ones. rightly or wrongly, i also install the entire distro plus everything that it comes with.
i don't wish to question your obvious expertise but i would have thought that doing a net install plus every package on just one machine would be approx the same amount of dl to the entire 14 cd set. am i wrong? if i am, what would a net install not give me that the cd's would?
even if my basic maths are out, how would i do a net-installation to my non-networked machine?
not to mention being able to carry a cd or two around to offer as an alternative to windows ...

[Garda]

all i'm suggesting is making available what most users would consider to be a fully functioning gui system with a selection of the packages included in other distros, such as wp, spreadsheet, web access, email, but without all the miriade of packages available in the full dl.

all that comes on just the first mabey second cd.

the others are mostly just programs which all do the same thing
as some other simular program in one of the earlier cds,
or special packages for obscure uses that you rearely need.

you could just download the first cd and use the internet for any other
extra packages that you need, but most of the ones you're going
to use are on the first cd.

Since when was Debian 14CDs? I thought it was 8. Are you downloading the src CDs as well?

since sarge debian is now 14 cds not including the source cds.

[Marv]

brilliant! saves me burning 14 cd's too.
thnkx garda.
p.s.
garda, isn't that irish for police?

[Garda]

garda, isn't that irish for police?

might be. not being Irish i wouldn't know.