Hey Roberto-
Im not a big fan of doing all the dpkg syntax for package installation either. But, I wouldnt use the graphical package manager either regardless. Personally, I would download a full Debian CD image (since you arent on the net), add your CD's to the sources.list for apt-get, and use the apt utilities. apt-get is awesome. "apt-get install [package name]" is as simple as it gets. I would add all the possible hard drives/ CD drives you could possibly end up using to /etc/fstab and make a script for an mounting and an apt-get of all the packages you might need.

Im not sure about your SCSI driver with the aic7xxx... but i get a slight hang with that one myself for my scsi card.

hope thats helpful -Matt