Etch Goes Beta

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Debian 'etch' has finally hit beta (testing) complete with graphical installer. The new version includes a default 2.6 kernel, auto laptop detection, secure apt to verify downloaded packages, improved log file and bug reporting, added language support, and much more.

Comments

debian-installer for etch hits beta

[free2]

"debian-installer for etch hits beta" would be a more accurate title.
etch is "testing" ever since sarge was released as "stable"

Screenshots

[xgamer04]

This is one time I wish we did have some screenshots :(

PS

Story gets it terribly wrong

[Florian]

The installer for Etch has gone Beta (as it clearly states on the page the story links to), not Etch itself. The Etch release is scheduled for late 2006, which is still an ambitious goal given the amount of necessary work - such as moving all documentation that doesn't meet the Debian Free Software guidelines into non-free.

Re:Woohoo! Sorta ;)

[Tom]

Why's it taken so long?

Because a huge part of Debian users couldn't care less about a GUI installer and want more important stuff done first. Most of the machines I put Debian on never switch out of text mode in their entire life, for example, and I'm still happily using dselect and apt-get because it gets the job done and that's all I care for. It'd take longer to find a mouse to plug into that server than it takes to go through a few menues.

Debian isn't behind, Debian is way ahead of most of the other distros in many ways. And it has other priorities. That's why I use it, that's why most of the people who use Debian use it.

Ubuntu?

[charlie763]

Can we expect this in the Ubuntu Dapper release? Many people have been asking a graphical installer while other prefer the non-graphical installer. I just want the option.