Apt-get :: Installing AbiWord with apt-get/Synaptic BAD move!

I did this with a new installation (1.4) after enabling apt-get and Synaptics per the "getting started" guide that pops up when first starting X. And I did that because when I tried to use the MyDSL button to install the DSL version of Abiword, it popped up a cryptic message like "Non DSL user error" - absolutely mystifying (figured out after re-install - glad it's so quick due to smallness - that it means "not THE 'dsl' ID", which apparently must be used instead of root).

I figured if the guide said I could do it, it was "safe" - WRONG. When I selected the AbiWord common install package from the Debian repository, I noticed it had something about removing 44 items, and the detail showed all kinds of basic stuff like X, but I figured I could ignore that since I was doing what the guide suggested - WRONG. It really did remove all that stuff, and pretty much broke my installation (on HD).

Live and learn ...

Anyway, the DSL Abiword seems OK for my wife who was willing to try it for the 1st-graders she teaches once we found that Gothic Chancery font would show "a" and "g" the way they should write them (instead of the weird form that most fonts use, and likely appears here ;-). This just may work for weaning the teachers and kiddies away from Windoze and Macs if I can get enough useful packages installed on older low-end PC's (still Pentium, but 40MB of RAM seems to run DSL much faster than Win98) that can be educationally useful. I just have to keep in mind the restriction to DSL's own set of packages instead of Debian's - unless there is some "safe" way to use apt-get/Synaptic???

FWIW

There are two versions of the abiword word processor in the DSL repository.
The older abiword.dsl , found in the /apps section , seems to run OK for me
in a hard drive install. This ends your problem of having stuff removed
by apt-get, and is much leaner in size than the apt-get version.

It is a little older version, but may still may serve you well.

The cryptic message you saw is usually caused by trying to run
the mydsl icon as some other user besides userdsl, like root, or
another username you set up at boottime.

You could always get it here from one of your browsers..
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....ord.dsl

Then open up emelfm, highlight the file, and click the mydsl button on the top center.
You still must be userdsl to do this..

The normal way would be to: ....
Use the mydsl icon on the desktop, select the apps section,
click on the abiword.dsl.info file from the list,
read the docs..
download to /tmp.

It installs automatically, and you should have both a menu option, and an icon.

Normally, extensions are used for frugal/liveCD use, and apt-get for hard drive installs..
But this one seems to behave fine here on my HDInstall I made for testing..

Let us know.

73
ke4nt

Thanks for the info.

That's what I meant about figuring it out after re-installing (to HD), and my wife ok'ing it - the DSL Abiword "extension" is what I installed after the HD re-install once I figured out that "dsl" is the user ID that the install sets up (for 1.4 anyway), and that Id MUST be used, otherwise it's the "error" of runnng as the "non dsl user", not "... user error" of the "non DSL" persuasion - see what I mean about cryptic?

That still leaves me wondernig why following the "getting started" suggestion of enabling and using apt-get/synaptic to install a package (to the HD installation) removed so many components as to trash my first HD installation.

TIA

original here.