[ILUG] Debian is a pain to install!

[Donncha O Caoimh]

No it's not, that subject is there to fan the flames of passion! err..
(pun intended)

This is a message for all those thinking that Debian is hard to install. 
I managed to get it up and running on my desktop machine here at work.

Within 40 minutes I was in X, using Window Maker, DHCP took care of the
network, and I had Mozilla M14 to browse with. 
Of course what I didn't install was gcc, and lots other other things,
but I rarely use my machine for anything other than connecting to other
boxes to work off.

The reason it took so long is because I was booking flights for a
holiday, and the drive I'm installing to is ancient, and horribly slow
:)

I installed from a 3-CD set I got off Proinnsias, though I know there's
a 4th CD floating around somewhere..

I do have a few questions and observations though. 
They're in a FAQ somewhere I'm sure, but I want to raise them anyway,
I've looked over the relevant documentation (man files, some websites)
several times too, but I might as well dig a hole for myself here with
the following!

How do I install/where do I find a deb for Netscape Communicator 4?
Netscape 3 is included but the configuration part groaks with an error
about /tmp/ and renaming files. Yes, I need the proprietary and evil
Netscape Communicator. Is it on the 4th CD?

The install reported lots of installation errors but when the Dialog box
came up at the end to ask to run the install again to isntall those
packages it didn't find any more debs to install. I think that after a
text warning about the install problems, the installer re-ran those debs
again itself.

How do I get a list of installed des. Dselect will let me do that, but I
want the same as "rpm -qa|grep" to find if something is installed.

How do I see the contents of a deb? Or find out what the contents of an
installed deb is? Or find out what deb a file belongs to? These are the
first things I as an rpm user can't easily find the apt/dpkg man files..
(I've looked them over several times at home, but of course may have
missed the obvious switches that everyone knows.)

If I want to add a kernel module(say, NIC driver installed from a
floopy..), or recompile the kernel, can I keep using the nice "modconf"
tool? Who do I recompile the kernel? Is there anything special to do
beyond the usual make dep; make clean; make bzImage; etc. procedure. I
found a kernel config program, but could only find the setup tool for
that. (It asked for the kernel version and maintainer, your name. Does
that ring any bells?)

Bottom line, if you've installed Linux on a certain computer and it
worked reasonably well. Debian should work on it too. Just remember to
take note of any PCI cards or devices that might need modules, as the
only hardware detection Debian does is to find your video card.

Questions, questions, questions. more fun :)

Donncha.