Re: Greetings !! Debian /laptop newbie
On Tue, Nov 12, 2002 at 05:32:11PM -0500, Jeremy Petzold wrote:
> Mark Banschbachm spake:
>
>
> > Greetings all !
> >
> > I am new to Debian although not new to Linux.. and I
> > just did my first Debian in stall on a Toshiba 486 -33
> > T4700CT Laptop. It has a 800 Meg HD 24 Megs Ram.. No
> > CD.. No NIC/Modem Just a floppy and HD.. thats it.
Welcome aboard!
> > I downloaded all the floppies (26?) and did the
> > Woody Base Install. I always heard Debian was harder
> > to install and configure but once in was rock solid.
> > I got encouraged by going to a presentation at my
> > local LUG and decided to give Debian a try.. Now the
> > base is in.. I will be needing help to get the rest
> > done I am sure. I need an X window.. and productivity
> > software, ( basic office suite.. or componenets
> > thereof).
Twice welcome, getting this far merely on seeing someone
show you that it's cool.
> > I just wanted to introduce myself and my
> > situation.. I look forward to talking with you all
> > more.
Mark, I recommend running
apt-get install aptitude
We'll be quite pleased to tell you things to apt-get that you'll
find handy, but there's nothing to beat a little while looking at
the descriptions while walking through some of the offered software.
We have quite a lot and you won't want most of it, because 24 MB
RAM is a bit of a tight fit. (You should do okay running one major
app at a time, though.)
> Do an apt-get install x-window-system it will take you throught he
> configuration (fairly simple) I suggest you use XDM as your display manager
> as you have very limited resources.
Or better yet, don't use a display manager (XDM, GDM, KDM) a.k.a.
graphical login. Just login at text mode, and run startx when you feel
like running X. You'll save a tiny amount of memory and may gain some
stability... since anything going wrong with X can hose your ability to
login, if you use XDM, at least unless you are fast on the virtual
console.
> then do an apt-get install fluxbox (also a fairly lightweight window
> manager, but if you want somthing a bit more beefy and fun you can do
> apt-get install wmaker to get windowmaker)
I use fvwm for lightweight-but-interesting setups myself; I found its
menu files easy to tweak, its button logic comes with it and is
tweakable the same way, while it doesn't go quite down to the level of
tossing out menus and making me flail on my own to find even xterm.
However, making X non-automatic gives you freedom to try some of the
"lightweight" wm's one at a time and see if they suit you. (metacity?
lwm? oroborus?) Any that you hate, get rid of with
apt-get --purge remove badwm
The --purge isn't *really* needed, but it's important if you want to
get rid of the config files too; 800 MB is okay, but isn't really big
to ignore such details without thinking about them.
Even a known heavyweight like enlightenment may not weigh too much if
you use a theme which costs less memory than the ones it comes with.
> I forget the name of the pannel app but there is a pannel app thet you can
> get so you can get basic menu functions.
In fvwm it is a module, fvwmbuttons, that comes with it and can be
configured by editing files either in your home .fvwm directory or in
/etc/X11/fvwm.
In blackbox it is an extra app to install, to provide the extra feature.
> as far as a basic office suit, I suggest getting the GTK+ stuff like abbi
> word and gcalc as you can use those with out getting Gnome or KDE (koffice
> requires KDE AFAIK and OO.org is WAY to much for your lil ol computer.
hear, hear :) abiword is a very nice wp, worth your disk space. For
many contexts, I find HTML is a decent word processor... with enough
knowledge to make the difference, you could do it all in text mode.
I really like nedit for a GUI mode text editor. Feels like notepad,
syntax highlights like vim, doesn't inhale resources too badly like
emacs.
> I amm sure some folks will mention screen as well for a WM. that one is cool
> , you have a comand prompt on top or on the side or where ever you like and
> then you type the app you want and it loads int eh other part of the
> screen,....no menues and such but you get to have graphical apps with very
> little resources used.
It's important to mention that screen is for window-izing text mode, not
GUI mode. You can easily reattach to a screen setup from inside an
xterm, though. There is a wm modelled after screen's beahviors though.
Oh, and you almost certainly do want to install menu, which
auto-generates menus.
Hope you have fun here
* Heather Stern * star@ many places...
* Starshine Technical Services -*- 800 938 4078
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