Unfortunately, rebooting may have been a terrible mistake! If you didn't get the new kernel installed, and you partially/completely removed the old kernel, then you have nothing to run your machine on.

You might be able to get into the filesystem through a live disk. The downloaded .deb files through apt are stored in /var/cache/apt/archives/, you might be able to find the new kernel in there, and try to install in with dpkg -i (name), although You'd have to be on the now down system to get it installed on that.

Peace,
JimBass

This is what the menu.list is saying

I am not sure how to check if the kernel actually is installed.

What can we do from here? Could I somehow install the net-isnt with the unstable sources like Jim gave me? So that the newest and unstable apps and progs will be ther from scratch?

Thanks!

The only place that kernel is likely to have come from is Stable (Sarge) which means you have your sources.list file screwed up again. Number one, you should not have been messing around trying to upgrade to Sid. That is for people with a little bit of experience.

It's possible that if you can boot at all, you can still salvage this installation by setting your sources.list to testing, installing the current testing kernel, 2.6.18-3, then doing a dist-upgrade, but your tendency to fly off into the unknown doesn't bode well for success.

Ok, maybe it was a mistake to mess with my repos and try to upgrade to the unstable Debian. But I am just a bit adventurous.. Excuse me if my wishes are against some Debian policy about what is "right" and what's not regarding use of repos. All I wanted was the newest progs and apps available for Debian. Could it be so hard to get them?

Score, lets back-up a few steps. First of all, the first source list you posted (the one with three listings of testing repos?) is the way to go. Etch, which is the testing branch code name, is bleeding edge enough for anyone much less a beginner like you. STOP! And get your feet wet before you jump into the unstable branch of Debian. Don't get all hung-up on going to the very edge of Debian. Or any distro.

Let me tell you, I've got two boxes. One is Etch (testing) the second one is Sid (unstable). Etch is rock solid and the apps and programs are up to date unlike Sarge (stable) which is OLD. While Sid (unstable) is fun to play with, it has it's own set of problems that will cause you to pull your hair out. And that is what unstable is all about. That why it's call UNSTABLE. Get it?

Ask yourself this question: Do I want an up-to-date Linux version or one that will cause me problems everytime I do an update/upgrade? Well, do you? If you have any sense, you'll pick the more stable version like Etch. Don't you want to do things with your computer? Or is trouble shooting all you want to do with it? Think about it.

craigevil gave you a very good link - machiner's site - http://www.debiantutorials.org/ . Visit it. Has a bunch of very useful tips on multimedia and other things. I've got it bookmarked, it's that good.

Have you heard of Automatix for Ubuntu? http://getautomatix.com/ While this autoscript is mainly for Ubuntu and it's derivatives like Mepis, here's another site that has a version of this autoscript for Debian Etch (testing). Installs most of what you need with very little effort. Java, Flash, multimedia codecs, Acrobat reader and many other things are installed with a flick of a button. I use it all the time. Go here http://debcentral.org/modules/newbb/...id=135&forum=8

To get back to my first suggestion, don't go hog wild with this. You're going too far, too fast. Slow down young man. Slow down! You will find Etch (testing) very modern and more than adequate for your needs.

Your system, at this moment, sound like a mess. Since you haven't invested much time or effort up to this point, I would suggest you start from scratch. Nothing make you feel like a new man like a fresh install (or a new woman)! Rather than dist-upgrade from a Sarge install, download the netinstall CD of Etch. Install it and then visit the sites I and others have suggested and go from there. And for GOD's sake, don't go crazy with this. Take it easy. Slow down.

Good luck.

Another neat tool similiar to the Debcentral automatrix is:
Pydpi Don't get frustrated. As far as I know you have to manually update the kernel it doesn't get updated by just doing apt-get update.

Use the Etch netinstall or if you want KDE or XFCE use one of the weekly build cds from here:
Index of /cdimage/weekly-builds/i386/iso-cd
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/we...s/i386/iso-cd/

Get a working desktop then install Synaptic, and use it to install the packages you want.

Took me about 3 hours last Tuesday to install Etch with KDE and to get everything the way I wanted it. And that was my first time installing Debian, I have been using Kanotix for the last two yrs.

Well, good news (for me at least): I installed the net-inst once more earlier today, added the testing sources given in this thread, did apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade - and now I am writing this from my new Debian install. I believe I have Debian Etch now? Correct me if I'm wrong.

The only little issue I have now is my mouse, I got a scroll button but it's somehow not enabled, probably because I did not configure it well enough when I configured X. Other than that it is how to add devices to the fstab list so that they will be automatically detected everytime I add/mount them. I am not so familiar with that procedure because the other distro's I have/have been using, has done it for me.

But anyway, I wanna thank all of you for guiding me and opening my eyes. I've truly learned more by this, big thanks to all of you!

Cool man! If you left the apt sources.list as testing, you would have done nothing with the dist-upgrade, but it also wouldn't do any harm. If you didn't alter sources.list, then you still have testing, which is fine.

I think if you search here for something like z axis mapping in xorg.conf, you'll find the way to make the scroll work. Scrolling works for me with this config:
The only important parts of that are the last 2, the protocol explorerps/2 (even though its a usb mouse) and the emulate 3 buttons (even though it has 5 or more)

Adding the devices might have a wizard help you. If not, post what you did and what did or didn't happen.

Peace,
JimBass

What is the output of $ uname -r

Score, please visit this forum and read this post http://debcentral.org/modules/newbb/...id=285&forum=4 It's in answer to your question: "I believe I have Debian Etch now? Correct me if I'm wrong.". Not very long. Just five posts. A quick read but worth reading. This addresses something I never thought about.

Good to hear you're on the road to enlightment. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a Debian, or Debian based system.

(Hold the fire folks, just my opinion.)

Either way you go, with code names, (sarge, etch, sid) or stabilty names, (stable, testing, unstable), anytime a new version makes stable, it shakes up the middle ground of testing.

Sid/unstable cares less. We always have hot off the presses software, and will continue to, as sid's name never changes, and sid never slides to testing.

Testing gets borked, as does stable when a new release comes out. Say you have the term stable in your sources.list for everything. When etch slides to stable, your next update/upgrade is going to be massive, new gcc, xorg replacing xfree86 (if you have that installed) tons of libraries upgraded to newer versions. But is using sarge any better than stable? Nope. Using sarge will keep you from having the big upgrade download, but then it puts you in the old-stable category. Something new came out, sorry, no way you can get it. Security fix, no sorry, your distro is no longer supported.

Testing is also screwed by this. Leave etch as the name in sources.list and when etch goes stable, then you go stable, which is only intended for servers. Stable, where nothing is new, ever. Stable is meant for servers that you don't want changes made to. It excells at that. You can cron apt-get update/upgrade on stable, and see no difference in a machine, as nothing much changes except the security team doing patches. If you leave the name testing in sources.list, then just like stable, one day your update/upgrade will contain massive changes, new libraries, new gcc etc. For a desktop system that will probably go smoothly, just be aware that things can all of a sudden be very different.

A further FYI, is firefox has been removed from Debian over what boils down to rights over the firefox logo, and really is a pissing contest between Debian developers and firefox developers. It has been replaced by iceweasle, which is a firefox clone, keeps all your bookmarks, history, passwords and such, but doesn't clone your desktop shortcuts. When I dist-upgraded one of my sid boxes a month or so ago, it just yanked firefox, took the desktop shortcut and toolbar shortcut, and didn't replace them. Minor nitpick, but still annoying.

So in short, there is no way to smoothly go through a change like this. Buckle your seatbelt, and be prepared for a bumpy week or 2 when etch hits stable.

Peace,
JimBass

Very nicely put JimBass, that pretty much sums up why I have ran Debian Sid for the last two years.

Including a brand new install of Etch last week that was apt-get dist-upgraded to Sid. Running Sid is very stable and has way fewer problems than the Debian gurus in #debian will lead you to believe.

Two years this month with no reinstalls or major problems.

@ rickh - you asked for a uname -r output, was it for me? Anyway it is: 2.6.18-3-486

@ alioop - thanks for giving me that thread.

So I should change "testing" to "etch" in my source.list? What will the mayor changes/differences be?

By reading the thread I got no clear indication of one thing: should I or should I not do an apt-get upgrade, or should I do apt-get update after I've changed my sources?

Thanks again.

Score, do change them to 'Etch'. No need to do a dist-upgrade. A plain apt-get update followed by a apt-get upgrade will do. Oh! and don't forget to do a apt-get clean after you're done. Most folks forget this last step.

I've made this change a few months ago with no adverse affect. My Etch is rock solid.

alioop, well you know me and source lists! I will give it a try and post back if any issues occur!

Thanks!