Dr. Sharukh K. R. Pavri. wrote:
The second machine is at my clinic and I cannot afford to mess with it too much. It's still running kubuntu 8.04 and is not much trouble but I'd rather run one distro on both my main machines.
If you're trying to get rid of driver issues or configuration / broken packages then Debian isn't the best choice for you. Yes Lenny is good but its like almost a billion years behind todays most bleeding edge packages - the most essential of them all is the kernel and the drivers which you so dearly need for your wifi card. If thats not an issue, please do go ahead using Debian.
I am a debian user and I'm currently using Sid. I switched one of my laptops to Ubuntu 8.10 ( note: Ubuntu! and not Kubuntu! ) and many issues with drivers, packages were solved. I needed some tweaks but what the heck! :)
As for your initial query, I think you should install your second machine offline. Just do a base install. I think the ISO you've got should allow you to do that. Next what you do is install apt-on-cd on the first machine. Create an apt CD/DVD. Connect the second machine, install apt-on-cd, restore the apt cache using the apt-cd/dvd that you created and then just install whatever you installed on the first machine. I think theres an option where apt-on-cd will allow you to automatically install everything from the apt-cd.
- Dinesh