Today I "rescued" my laptop (temporary measure as it needs the hard disk replaced) by installing Ubuntu Hoary over what was SuSE 9.3. 1. Yes, I know I could get breezy. It would take <5 minutes to download on my connection here (Yay for 40 megabits). 2. SuSE 10 will be going on the new hard drive, anyway. [That DVD ISO took around 2 hours] Here's why I'm a bit frustrated at the moment with Ubuntu: I wanted to install Skype. Skype is a KDE app, (and it looks ugly in Gnome - there are workarounds, but aside from that). It requires libqt3-xxxxxxxx. Firstly, I was trying to install it from the .deb package distributed on skype.com <http://skype.com> (skype_1.2.0.18-1_i386). Err, no - turns out I needed libqt3c102-mt_3.3.4-3_i386. So I download it. I read that I can use libqt3-mt_3.3.5-1_i386 instead, which is supposed to be a better way... I thought hrm... I should only need this package and maybe one other... but no. Next, it tells me that I need (insert several GCC-related libraries and supporting packages * 6) Why is none of this mentioned on any of the forums I ended up going to? Long story short: Here is what I ended up downloading and installing with dpkg (and for some parts I used Synaptic, but I couldn't make a local repository? What about apt-get? Would that have made life easier?): cpp-4.0_4.0-0pre6ubuntu7_i386 gcc-4.0_4.0-0pre6ubuntu7_i386 gcc-4.0-base_4.0.2-3_i386 initrd-tools_0.1.81.1_i386 [and Ubuntu versions of initrd-tools 0.1.77 and 0.1.78; however they wouldn't work with libc6] libc6_2.3.5-6_i386 libfontconfig1_2.3.2-1_i386 libgcc1_4.0.2-2_i386 libqt3c102-mt_3.3.4-3_i386 [which was replaced with libqt3-mt_3.3.5-1_i386] libqt3-mt_3.3.5-1_i386 libstdc++6_4.0.2-3_i386 libxrender1_0.9.0-2_i386 nscd_2.3.2.ds1-20ubuntu14_i386 and of course skype_1.2.0.18-1_i386 Not only did I have to get the required versions of these files from ftp.fi.debian.org/ <http://ftp.fi.debian.org/>, but the Ubuntu versions were "outdated" in terms of version numbering. According to most of what I read, I should have just needed to resolve 1 or 2 things (ended up downloading the repackaged skype .deb from a link posted on the Ubuntu Forums). Now, aside from all that, when I went to install libc6_2.3.5-6_i386, I found it conflicted with initrd-tools. Which is a vital part of the OS, if I am not mistaken. However at some stage over the several hours I was installing and figuring all this out, it installed. At some stage Synaptic decided that it would be a good idea (well, it asked, and there didn't appear to be any "argh! don't do that!" option) to remove most of the base system because I no longer had initrd-tools. So I downloaded initrd-tools 0.1.81, installed that, but now I want to install things like locale, but it won't because it needs a whole lot of other things. I think if I reboot this machine it... well... won't. Perhaps I will download and install Breezy and give the same task a go. As I mentioned originally, installing Ubuntu on this hard-drive was just a temporary measure so that I could at least browse the net. I like Ubuntu, but I felt that I really had to stuff around to get this app installed (and even then it doesn't seem to quite work correctly). Did I just have a bad experience (that perhaps I shouldn't have?) Maybe I have been somewhat spoiled by SuSE, and I don't use Debian-based Distros that often, so I'm not as used to them, but has anyone else experienced similar problems? This is the part where you all go: you didn't need to do all that, you should have .... :-) -- Regards Mathew Carley HostENZ Data Services A Carley Network Media Ltd. (NZ) Company http://www.hostenz.co.nz mathewc(a)hostenz.co.nz Office Phone (Helsinki): +358 9 2316 3712 Cell Phone (Finland): +358 4 0816 2816 Cell Phone (France): +33 6 1811 9475 Skype: mgcarley The information contained in this electronic mail message and any attachments are confidential to Carley Network Media Ltd and it's subsidiaries, and may contain proprietary information or may be legally privileged. See http://www.cnmltd.net/email/ for our standard email disclaimer. Errors & Omissions Excepted. Prices in this email do not include GST unless stated otherwise.