Re: I'm so lost
On 05/13/01 09:46:28 -0600, thedoghouse@sunvalley.net wrote:
> Hi guys. I'm sure you get sick of fielding questions from people that
> must seem braindead but I need some suggestions.
>
> I have made the big leap for me and installed Debian. I had a few
> problems (once it crashed during install) but I'm there, I'm at bash
> and I don't know what to do. I thought that installing the
> home/stand alone package would get me to something a little more
> familier than bash (like some sort of GUI) but I was wrong. I am
> trying to understand the book that I bought, but I fear it was
> intended for someone a little more advanced then me. (The book is
> Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 Unleashed-From Knowledge to Mastery) My
> goal would be to get something like GNOME installed along with
> some user applications. I simply do not know where to start.
> Currently I am not logged in as root and I do not even know how to
> shut down the system. One other problem I noticed during install
> and in bash is that the keyboard is a little trigger happy. When
> trying to press one character, I would press multiples, which
> caused a lot of frustration when trying to come up with a root
> password.
Hi there,
I'm not sure how much can be done with Debian 2.1 (is that slink?).
Debian 2.2 (the latest/stable release, code named potato) has some
packages that are task oriented, making the installation of packages
pretty easy.
I don't know how fast of an Internet connection you have,
but if you have a quick connection, or know someone who does, you can
download the ISO images and burn them to a CD-R, if you have access to
a CD-Recorder. If not, you can get an inexpensive Debian 2.2 CD from
places like http://www.lsl.com, http://www.cheapbytes.com and others.
Check out http://www.debian.org/distrib/vendors for more info.
I suggest moving to 2.2 for various reasons, but mostly because that's
what I'm familiar with. With 2.2, you could easily install the
X-Window system, if you forgot, by typing the following at the command
prompt:
# apt-get update
This will update the package lists for you. Then type:
# apt-get install task-x-window-system
This would then download (or pull from your CD) all the required
packages needed to run the X-Window system. You'd probably want to
install another window manager, cuz I believe that you only get twm
(tabbed window manager) with that order, and it's a little primitive.
I use WindowMaker.
You might want to read through the man pages for dselect, apt, and any
of the man pages for programs they reference in the SEE ALSO section
at the bottom. Too view a man page, you would type:
# man apt
If you don't know the name a program/package, but you're looking for
some info on it, try:
# man -k <program/package/keyword>
So if I typed:
# man -k apt
I'd get a list of man pages with the word "apt" in them. you could
then check them out at your leisure.
Other great sources of information (besides this list) are the Linux
Documentation Project at http://www.linuxdoc.org and the Linux Gazette
at http://www.linuxgazette.com. Check the dates on the guides and
HOWTOs because they can become dated really quick.
I hope that my ramblings have helped to head you in a right direction.
Good luck with your Debian experience.
--
Mark Wagnon <markwagnon@yahoo.com>
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