On Sat, Jun 10, 2000 at 02:16:45PM -0700, John McBride wrote:
> Yes, you too can experience the thrill of installing and upgrading the
> Debian distro!
Been there, done that, got the evil grin plastered all over my mug.
> You'll impress your neighbors with your buff pinky muscles, built after
> hours of banging the living bejeesus out of the enter key to accept the
> default configurations for a plethora of programs you never use or asked
> to install! You're provided with about 5 base configurations -- which
> give you a machine with 40 mb. of packages, 120 mb. of packages, or 400+
> mb. of packages! The essence of flexibility! Of course, you *could*
> choose "custom"...go right ahead...
Far recommend "custom" and then install what you really need. Best to
install a few packages at a time and get everything stable. It is a bit
more time-consuming to set up than RPM, but the system generally works
far, far better. Realize that the alternative to telling your system
how you want it to set itself up is for it to assume and make decisions
behind your back.
You can then do:
dpkg --get-selections [<pattern> ...] get list of selections to stdout
...to get an audit of what's on your system, and run this to
dpkg --set-selections set package selections from stdin
...on a second system to clone the first.
> You'll ohh and ahhh as apt-get fails on package name lengths that are
> too long!
Sorry? Details? Never seen this.
> You'll quiver as apt-get begins returning "E: pre depends" messages!
Sorry? Details?
> You'll dance as gdmconfig refuses to save a custom append line, forcing
> you to edit /etc/gpm.conf by hand!
Well, that's why it's a textfile. Actually, gdm is considered harmful
<g>.
> You'll writhe as gdmconfig tries to test your mouse and locks up the
> keyboard!
...see <g>
> You'll telnet in from other machines repeatedly to kill gdmtest!
Tsk, tsk. ssh. Telnet considered evil and twisted.
> You'll install xf86setup and find the actual command name is XF86Setup!
> Of course, when you install xf86config, the name is xf86config (this is
> an xfree thing, I know).
Debian package names are uniformly lowercased. Linux is a
case-sensitive OS, command names *are* case sensitive. Besides,
XF8Setup works. Mostly.
> You'll visit the debian.org site approximately 3,596,391 times finding
> out what package provides a command you need...since apt-get doesn't
> have "what-provides" or query options.
apt-get -S
> Sigh. I know it's good stuff, but the initial and post-installation
> configuration details are mind-numbing. Somehow, someway, people need to
> be able to pick from more base installs, and there needs to be a higher
> quality post-installation configuration system.
RedHat is a system you install many times (note: biased opinion, but
based on upgrades 4.2 -> 5.0 -> 5.2).
Debian is a system you install twice (once to learn how, once to get it
right).
> I'm almost there, but this is heinous. Maybe after installing SVGA16
> XF86Setup will start working right. Main problem now is that when I log
> in through gdm/helix gnome, there is no wm started -- just a gray
> stipple and a single button 2 menu. sawfish is installed and configured,
> but not launching I guess. Any help is appreciated.
Yes, XF86Setup requires the SVGA16 X server.
WRT gdm: I far prefer startx from the command line. More control, fewer
problems. Generally, it's better to get X set up and running from
startx, *then* deal with your X display manager configuration.
You might want to check:
- /etc/X11 in general
- /etc/alternatives/x-window-manager
- /etc/X11/<x display manager>/Xstartup
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://www.netcom.com/~kmself
Evangelist, Opensales, Inc. http://www.opensales.org
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Debian GNU/Linux rocks!
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ K5: http://www.kuro5hin.org
GPG fingerprint: F932 8B25 5FDD 2528 D595 DC61 3847 889F 55F2 B9B0
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