In article <90D75D20C42AD6118FB60060970F698CA001@cavern.tarcanfel.net> you write:

>I understand that apt-get is much better, but I suspect that it may be
>dealing with a significantly smaller database.

It is.  It's dealing with the "official debian" database for whatever
distribution you select.  The Debian package maintainer process is
designed to make certain that only competent people are uploading the
official .debs, and it works pretty well.

As long as you don't mind running the "unstable" distribution, you can
stay within shouting distance of the cutting edge, and upgrades are
usually pretty painless.  Whatever a .deb package needs, it simply
downloads and installs.  Debian's idea of unstable is more stable than
most distro's concept of "stable".

The downside is, apt-get makes you spoiled and lazy.  You will need to
know the basic dpkg functionality on occasion, but not very often.

Regards,

-Don