Perhaps you should try Slackware, I understand from having bought the disks and scanned the various web-sites on installation and configuration, that it's even more complicated/difficult than Debian, (I've put it to one side until I understand what I'm trying to do with what I've got). Note that the one recent mention of Slackware 8 was from someone who wanted to buy it with the manual! It could provide a challenge even greater than abseiling!

And no don't ask me I can't even work out how to get at my second disk!

John Seago