configuring aptitude to download packages

[abrtlt]

I have an etch system installed from a CD set . I have used aptitude to install packges from CDs. I now would like to get packages from the web and added to sources. list

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main

aptitude complains "Couldn't stat source package list http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_dists_.....) -stat (2 No such file or directory)

I know it must be a silly mistake, but it's the first time I use aptitude to download.
(At the same time that aptitude complains I have an ipppd connection an I am online with a browser).

Thanks for any advice.

Andrew

[aj123]

Did you run update first? After any changes, you must update.

# aptitude update


You can also add "contrib" and "non-free" if you want to install something from there:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free

Security updates:
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security etch/updates main contrib non-free

Update after changing it.