Re: First Debian Installation: totally brain-dead. Where do I go from here?
Thanks Guys:
Looks like a serious operator malfunction on my part. My first time
with an internet install. In the past, I had a CD with the whole
distribution on it.
First, Sorry. I did not wish to infer that Debian itself is
brain-dead. I meant the minimal installation that I myself created
with almost no applications installed is brain dead.
I wrongly assumed that once installation was complete, I would easily
find a package manager that would finish downloading all packages that
I need.
I spend most of my life on Windows, but prefer to use Open Source
software that runs everywhere. Firefox and Thunderbird do have
copyrighted stuff, however, Iceweasel did not have a Windows
installation, otherwise I would be using it on Windows.
Looks like the only solution is to blow things out and try again from scratch.
Sorry if I broke web-protocol. I do not know what the protocol is here.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
Keith.
On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 9:03 AM, Alan Chandler
<alan@chandlerfamily.org.uk> wrote:
> On 02/07/10 08:46, Andrei Popescu wrote:
>>
>> [Please reply to debian-user only. If you are not subscribed please ask
>> for CCs]
>>
>> (full quote for context)
>>
>> On Vi, 02 iul 10, 00:49:53, Keith Mitchell wrote:
>>>
>>> I decided to build a Linux box instead of emulating Linux using
>>> VM-Ware under Windows. I heard Debian was the way to go. I have
>>> created Red-Hat and Ubuntu Linux boxes in the past with no problems.
>>>
>>> This, my very first Debian installation, and it has been a total
>>> nightmare! I created a dual-boot installation on my ancient Gateway
>>> dual-processor workstation as I used to have in the past. This time it
>>> is XP and Debian. I reassigned one full 70-GB SCSI drive previously
>>> formatted with an XP NTFS file system to Linux plus another 5-GB of
>>> swap-space on another physical SCSI drive (for performance). This I
>>> know is OK.
>
> What network connection do you have?
>
>>>
>>> I then followed the instructions on the web-site for installing Debian
>>> with internet connectivity.
>>
>> Did the network setup step during the installation work?
>>
>>> The web instructions said burn a minimal CD, and download what you
>>> need from the internet.
>>>
>>> 1. I downloaded the .iso file, and burnt a bootable-CD (not DVD).
>>> 2. I used that CD and installed Debian. I now have a minimal and
>>> totally brain-dead Linux installation.
>
> I don't know what you mean by "brain-dead". Does it connect to the
> internet?
>
> Can you look in /etc/apt/sources.list and tell us what is there. There was
> a question during installation about selecting network mirrors, and it
> should have written the info into this file.
>
>
>>
>> It very much depends on the answer to the question above. If your
>> connection worked during install you probably didn't select any "task"
>> (like "Desktop"). If your connection didn't work if couldn't have
>> downloaded all the needed packages and you might need DVD1 to get a
>> decent install.
>>
>
> To be a bit clearer. There is a process during install to select some
> standard configurations - if you did this you should have a lot of what is
> missing. If you didn't - no matter - you can select additional packages
> later. If your /etc/apt/sources.list file is sensible then you just run
>
> aptitude
>
> Once this is running - you can then search for packages by typing '/'
> followed by a pattern (normally just the name or partial name of a package
> you are searching for). Aptitude should pick up and find the next entry
> that matches as you are typing. Hit Enter to finish the search and then 'n'
> to just to the next entry matching the search.
>
> To install the ENTIRE gnome desktop for instance you just select 'gnome'. It
> then picks up all the dependencies and installs it for you (there is a much
> more normal subset called gnome-desktop-environment and I think there may
> even by a minimal)
>
>
>>> 3. There is no gcc compiler. There is no Firefox web browser.
>
> Firefox is called Iceweasel in Debian because of licencing issues. Both
> would have been installed in a normal standard install if you had a network
> connection.
>
>>> 4. I went back to the Debian web-site for instructions on how to
>>> proceed from here. There were no instructions for how to proceed from
>>> here. Even MinGW on Windows has a minimal Linux working set. How do I
>>> download a file working-set without requesting each file one by one?
>>> 5. Right now it seems my only option is using Gatesware Windows to
>>> download an Ubuntu distribution, a distribution that does work, use
>>> the .iso file to create a CD or DVD, and blow away the Debian crap
>>> that does not work.
>
> Once you have even a minimal installation (which should not normally be the
> case) you can easily work from there. No need to download anymore CD or DVD
> files provided the machine is connected to the internet. It is only when it
> is not that you have to rely on these other things.
>
>>>
>>> Any suggestions before I blow Debian away?
>
> Two
>
> 1) Ask for help on this list
> 2) Calm down and don't start with the assumption that Debian is brain dead.
> Normally it isn't.
>
> --
> Alan Chandler
> http://www.chandlerfamily.org.uk
>
>
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