X Windows...

["Dos Rios." <azsxdc9@yahoo.com>]

Hi,

Why is Debian a two, or three, day project when others
instal and boot in minutes?

It seems that X windows has given a bad name to Linux
for long enough. Of course Debian can direct their
attention to the experts if they want; but confronted
with the amount of research a beginner must do, he
will just go back to winXP.

It is hard to imagine that the computer elite have so
little interest in promoting Linux that they don't see
the reason that Linux has not kicked Bill Gates out.

Read the attached - at least the last lines.

Dick.


 
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Title: The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ

For a conclusion of the comments added to this faq, skip to the very bottom.

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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ

For a conclusion of the comments added to this faq, skip to the very bottom.

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Abstract: Debian gives Linux a bad name.

This document answers questions frequently asked about Debian GNU/Linux.

The question I ask, most frequently, is "How do I get X windows?"

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Copyright Notice

Copyright may be important, but How do I get X windows?

Copyright © 1996-2005 by Software in the Public Interest

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this document into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English.

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Contents

• 1 Definitions and overview
• • 1.1 What is this FAQ?
  • 1.2 What is Debian GNU/Linux?
    

    I'm trying to instal from the CD this faq is on and can't read this FAQ unless I do it in some other OS (Microsoft, maybe?) unless I can get the installation done. - - - - How do I get X windows started?
    PS: Nice to know it was "created by Ian Murdock in 1993;" but how do I configure X? And how come other distributions, on one CD, can configure automatically and Debian can't do it with 15 CD's?

    Maybe I should go to the net for more info. What operating system should I use to do that? (Microsoft, maybe?)

  • 1.3 OK, now I know what Debian is... what is Linux?!
  • 1.4 Does Debian just do GNU/Linux?
  • 1.5 What is the difference between Debian GNU/Linux and other Linux distributions? Why should I choose Debian over some other distribution?
    

    Debian doesn't boot to a desktop while others do. - - How do I get X windows started?

  • 1.6 How does the Debian project fit in or compare with the Free Software Foundation's GNU project?
  • 1.7 How does one pronounce Debian and what does this word mean?
• 2 Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux
  

  Ah. Finally I'll be told how to get X windows started! ! !

• • 2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?
    

    Ooooops. Not here.

  • 2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?
    

    Ooooops. Not here.

  • 2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?
    

    Ooooops. Not here... And I am reading this from the installation CD's FROM WITHIN ANOTHER OS - GREAT ADVERT FOR DEBIAN.

  • 2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?
  • 2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!
  • 2.6 I have my own CD-writer, are there CD images available somewhere?
  • 2.7 Can I install it from a pile of floppy disks?
  • 2.8 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?
  • 
    

    Debian struck out again in Chap 2.

• 3 Compatibility issues
  

  The title of Ch3 shows little promise. How do I boot to a destop gui?

• • 3.1 On what hardware architectures/systems does Debian GNU/Linux run?
  • 3.2 How compatible is Debian with other distributions of Linux?
  • 3.3 How source code compatible is Debian with other Unix systems?
  • 3.4 Can I use Debian packages (".deb" files) on my Red Hat/Slackware/... Linux system? Can I use Red Hat packages (".rpm" files) on my Debian GNU/Linux system?
  • 3.5 Is Debian able to run my old libc5 programs?
  • 3.6 Can Debian be used to compile libc5 programs?
  • 3.7 How should I install a non-Debian program?
  • 3.8 Why can't I compile programs that require libtermcap?
  • 3.9 Why can't I install AccelX?
  • 3.10 Why do my old XFree 2.1 Motif applications crash?
    

    No help in Ch3 - But the person in 3.10 appears to have gotten into X.

• 4 Software available in the Debian system
• • 4.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?
    

    Is X windows part of it?

  • 4.2 Who wrote all that software?
    

    Interesting. But Debian should consult more with Jim Gettys and Dave Carver so they can detect and boot to X.

  • 4.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?
  • 4.4 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?
  • 4.5 Why do I get "ld: cannot find -lfoo" messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?
  • 4.6 (How) Does Debian support Java?
  • 4.7 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?
  • 4.8 How does Debian support non-English languages?
  • 4.9 What about the US export regulation limitations?
  • 4.10 Where is pine?
    

    Pine is fine, but X is more important.

  • 4.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?
• 5 The Debian FTP archives
  

  I doubt it is here.

• • 5.1 What are all those directories at the Debian FTP archives?
  • 5.2 How many Debian distributions are there in the dists directory?
  • 5.3 What are all those names like slink, potato, etc.?
  • • 5.3.1 Which other codenames have been used in the past?
    • 5.3.2 Where do these codenames come from?
  • 5.4 What about "sid"?
  • 5.5 What does the stable directory contain?
  • 5.6 What does the testing directory contain?
  • • 5.6.1 What about "testing"? How is it `frozen'?
  • 5.7 What does the unstable directory contain?
  • 5.8 What are all those directories inside dists/stable/main?
  • 5.9 Where is the source code?
  • 5.10 What's in the pool directory?
  • 5.11 What is "incoming"?
  • 5.12 How do I set up my own apt-able repository?
    

    Not here in Ch5 either.

  
  

  Well, it looks like there is no help until Ch10.

  I'm glad I have another OS to read it.

• 6 Basics of the Debian package management system
• • 6.1 What is a Debian package?
  • 6.2 What is the format of a Debian binary package?
  • 6.3 Why are Debian package file names so long?
  • 6.4 What is a Debian control file?
  • 6.5 What is a Debian conffile?
  • 6.6 What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?
  • 6.7 What is an Essential Required, Important, Standard, Optional, or Extra package?
  • 6.8 What is a Virtual Package?
  • 6.9 What is meant by saying that a package Depends, Recommends, Suggests, Conflicts, Replaces or Provides another package?
  • 6.10 What is meant by Pre-Depends?
  • 6.11 What is meant by unknown, install, remove purge and hold in the package status?
  • 6.12 How do I put a package on hold?
  • 6.13 How do I install a source package?
  • 6.14 How do I build binary packages from a source package?
  • 6.15 How do I create Debian packages myself?
• 7 The Debian package management tools
• • 7.1 What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?
  • • 7.1.1 dpkg
    • 7.1.2 APT
    • 7.1.3 aptitude
    • 7.1.4 dselect
    • 7.1.5 Other package management tools
  • 7.2 Debian claims to be able to update a running program; how is this accomplished?
  • 7.3 How can I tell what packages are already installed on a Debian system?
  • 7.4 How can I find out what package produced a particular file?
  • 7.5 Why doesn't get `foo-data' removed when I uninstall `foo'? How do I make sure old unused library-packages get purged?
• 8 Keeping your Debian system up-to-date
• • 8.1 How can I upgrade my Debian 1.3.1 (or earlier) distribution, based on libc5, to 2.0 (or later), based on libc6?
  • 8.2 How can I keep my Debian system current?
  • • 8.2.1 aptitude
    • 8.2.2 apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom
    • 8.2.3 dpkg-ftp
    • 8.2.4 mirror
    • 8.2.5 dpkg-mountable
  • 8.3 Must I go into single user mode in order to upgrade a package?
  • 8.4 Do I have to keep all those .deb archive files on my disk?
  • 8.5 How can I keep a log of the packages I added to the system? I'd like to know when which package upgrades and removals have occured!
• 9 Debian and the kernel
• • 9.1 Can I install and compile a kernel without some Debian-specific tweaking?
  • 9.2 What tools does Debian provide to build custom kernels?
  • 9.3 How can I make a custom boot floppy?
  • 9.4 What special provisions does Debian provide to deal with modules?
  • 9.5 Can I safely de-install an old kernel package, and if so, how?
• 10 Customizing your installation of Debian GNU/Linux
• • 10.1 How can I ensure that all programs use the same paper size?
  • 10.2 How can I provide access to hardware peripherals, without compromising security?
  • 10.3 How do I load a console font on startup the Debian way?
  • 10.4 How can I configure an X11 program's application defaults?
    

    This section looks a little small; but I will read it, and following sections, before I reboot to the Debian cmd line to see if I can accomplish the mission with something in the /etc/X11/app-defaults/ directory. A quick skim of Ch10 says there may not be enough specifics in it.

    And I'm glad that I could get this far with the help of another Operating System! ! !

  • 10.5 Every distribution seems to have a different boot-up method. Tell me about Debian's.
  • 10.6 It looks as if Debian does not use rc.local to customize the boot process; what facilities are provided?
  • 10.7 How does the package management system deal with packages that contain configuration files for other packages?
  • 10.8 How do I override a file installed by a package, so that a different version can be used instead?
  • 10.9 How can I have my locally-built package included in the list of available packages that the package management system knows about?
  • 10.10 Some users like mawk, others like gawk; some like vim, others like elvis; some like trn, others like tin; how does Debian support diversity?
• 11 Getting support for Debian GNU/Linux
• • 11.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?
  • 11.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?
  • • 11.2.1 Mailing lists
    • 11.2.2 Maintainers
    • 11.2.3 Usenet newsgroups
  • 11.3 Is there a quick way to search for information on Debian GNU/Linux?
  • 11.4 Are there logs of known bugs?
  • 11.5 How do I report a bug in Debian?
• 12 Contributing to the Debian Project
• • 12.1 How can I become a Debian software developer?
  • 12.2 How can I contribute resources to the Debian project?
  • 12.3 How can I contribute financially to the Debian project?
  • • 12.3.1 Software in the Public Interest
    • 12.3.2 Free Software Foundation
• 13 Redistributing Debian GNU/Linux in a commercial product
• • 13.1 Can I make and sell Debian CDs?
  • 13.2 Can Debian be packaged with non-free software?
  • 13.3 I am making a special Linux distribution for a "vertical market". Can I use Debian GNU/Linux for the guts of a Linux system and add my own applications on top of it?
  • 13.4 Can I put my commercial program in a Debian "package" so that it installs effortlessly on any Debian system?
• 14 Changes expected in the next major release of Debian
• • 14.1 Increased security
  • 14.2 Extended support for non-English users
  • 14.3 More architectures
  • 14.4 More kernels
• 15 General information about the FAQ
• • 15.1 Authors
  • 15.2 Feedback
  • 15.3 Availability
  • 15.4 Document format

• Debian may be GREAT for experts.

  Competing with Microsoft, Debian gives Linux a bad name.

  How do I boot Debian to an X Windows desktop gui?

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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ

version 3.1.3, 25 April 2006

Authors are listed at Debian FAQ Authors

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