After some digging....the answer was burried along with some R5.5 discussions.

Edit the file: /etc/apt/sources.list

Change the lines:

deb http://ftp.debian.org stable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org stable main contrib non-free

To read:

deb http://ftp.debian.org etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org etch main contrib non-free

Then you can apt-get additional software from the repos.

Hope this helps out others that may be searching in the future.

---------------

Original Post below:

hey gang,,,,,

I've just completed reloading my failed MBE with R5F27, and it seems that I can't install mozilla and such using the current debian repositories...they want to upgrade too many things....and mess up the base install.

What can I do to point 'apt-get' to the right places to install mozilla and such??

Before you ask... NO. I'm NOT interested in R5.5 or even R6 Preview. NO UPGRADES. I want my system back to where it was working, and nothing more.

This IS one of the beefs that I have with Linux. My other systems with Slackware 10.x or earlier.....will update. There are archived updates. WHY is debian different in this regard? I hate chasing down old files and such.

The new TV season is approaching, and my LinHES network needs a working backend.

You don't want any upgrades whatsoever, but you want the latest firefox (I assume you meant firefox)? I can't imagine apt-get will work for you since you don't want to upgrade anything. Install old versions of browsers and you will have a lot of trouble.

No upgrades means you are probably asking the impossible. Why would it need a web browser? I'd use lynx or elinks, I can't imagine why you would need a graphical web browser on a backend system. Knoppmyth was never intended to be a desktop OS. Linux is as it is: It's always been cutting edge, and if you want a completely unchanging system, you may have to switch your OS.

Even if you install that highly money-oriented OS you'll still have to upgrade a million things.

_________________
*********************
LinHES 7.4
Australian Dragon
*********************

Mike,

I'm just looking for the OLD etch archives. I don't need the latest version of mozilla, just one that installs and works on the R5F27 release, without any additional changes to the base system core. I just want a graphical browser in my system. I DID mean Mozilla (aka: Seamonkey/iceape in debian speak), not Firefox.

I'm sorry that I was misunderstood. I'm just looking for a way to have apt-get look at some archives for the etch debian release. IS R5F27 based on etch? I think so. I could be wrong. Very wrong.

FYI: I used to 'manage' about 400 of those other OS systems in an academic environment....I walked away from that with my sanity in some order.

I found some links about debian archives, but I admit that I'm still pretty green with linux package management.

Probably my issue is the 'appliance' nature of KM, and IF I reinstall it, even an older version...I should still be able add an application if I need it from somewhere.

Since R6 isn't golden, I'll stick with R5F27 for the upcoming TV season. It has been glitch free for TWO+ years. Hardware failures just get the best of me, and I find out too late that I didn't backup something I should have.

I'm testing R6, but don't want to chance messing up my 2TB of videos/music yet.

One thought.... IF there wasn't the potential for KM (or any other MythTV platform) to be a 'desktop OS,' I think we'd all have Tivos. I'd rather cling to my VHS deck instead!

I'll follow up with some relevant info...

I did some searching on my SBE, and found a handful of deb's in /var/cache/apt/archives.

Can I copy them over to my recovered system and install?

I learn something new everyday...

A bumper sticker reads: "Stupidity should be painful."

Back to the grind.