The message 200511061329.21183.berriep@btinternet.com from Peter berriep@btinternet.com contains these words:
installing Debian is like being greased, and wrestling with an eel.
This is completely mad.
I have installed Debian and derivatives of Debian many times (on a little Dell that I bought for £50, specifically for the purpose of playing with distributions, and on a couple of other boxes, one a 200mhz MMX, one a home assembled Shuttle).
Debian Pure (now another name) installed over the net or from a Debian DVD with no problems.
Debian Sarge, from a magazine cover DVD booted and installed with no problems.
Please pay attention at the back, there!
Mepis installed with no problems.
Ubuntu installed with no problems (though using it, the old version I tried a year ago, was a different matter).
Knoppix has an install option - it just went in and worked.
I have had some problems installing things. I couldn't get Dragonfly to work at all. I had problems with one of the BSDs, or at least, problems figuring out how to get to a proper desktop. I've had temporary difficulties with Slackware, largely owing to the lack of a 'go back' option at various critical points. I had trouble with Mandrake 10.x on some machines. The first issue of elive wouldn't work properly. I never could get Woody to work.
Quite.
So, its not that I can do everything perfectly and easily, and I'm not at all expert in this stuff, but recent Debians are SIMPLY NOT A PROBLEM.
No need to shout - we aren't talking about recent Debians.
We were discussing Woody.