Hi Jitspoe,
It looks like somewhere along the line you have been using the Debian testing repo..
This could mean you now have a mix of stable/testing packages (this is often not good)
When using debian/ubuntu it is best the specify the name of distribution in the sources.list file rather than stable/unstable - i.e lenny.
As an attempt to fix your distro as it stands at the moment you could try.. (this may not work due to using testing repo previously but as your system isn't working you have nothing to loose....)
remove any files in
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/
edit /etc/apt/sources.list and make it as below (without the lines) backup original first
------------------------------------------------------------------
deb
http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb-src
http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb
http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates contrib non-free
deb-src
http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates contrib non-free
------------------------------------------------------------------
then try
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
- if it gives any errors post back.
(I have found Debian Lenny to be o.k - just install the kde3 dvd.)
If you are choosing a new distro Ubuntu is stable more designed for the desktop and more user friendly than Debian - it has a lot more hardware support - however I find it uses more memory than most distros (including debian) - the amd64 version seems better -If you do choose Ubuntu and still want kde3 see -
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu/Kde3/Jaunty - I would say that gnome is now more usable than it used to be.
KDE4 is fine now I would say (at least when you turn off the 3d desktop excrement)
If you do not care about not being able to upgrade to the next version and want a user friendly distro I would recommend Mandriva - they have just released a new version .
http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free- the link is the mandriva one version (has non oss stuff on too)
- This distro has a complete control panel - i.e not loads of different apps just one tool which is good - it also supports a lot of hardware.
Opensuse is a nice looking Desktop system but their package manager is complete FAIL.
Remember you can easily check one out to test it more have a live cd mode so you can test your hardware works before installing.
Personally I use Arch linux (as well as others - i normally have about 3 distros installed so I can see which plays paintball the best ) purely as this has no versions just constant stable upgrades (you pretty much always have the latest stuff on the day it is released ie KDE4.x ...)
Arch is also very fast and very non bloated - it is however not newbie friendly at all and will require tinkering to start with
If you have any questions about any distros I have mentioned (I also use gentoo sometimes...) feel free to message me / post back I don't login everyday but am happy to help anything that will help the linux client.)
- if you choose mandriva / ubuntu then make sure you use EXT4 when you partition - it is not the default in Ubuntu but you can select it when partitioning (not sure if it default fs in mandiva)
- Also if you do choose a new distro let me know which one you have picked - I will possibly know I few tips to possibly make your life easier (i.e codecs,etc..)
