Re: I'm so lost
On Sun, 13 May 2001, 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.
Another way to upgrade to the latest stable (which does make life easier) is to change your /etc/apt/sources.list (emacs /etcc/apt/sources.list) - change the word slink to potato. Then run apt-get update, followed by apt-get upgrade. The first (update) updates the list of available files in the database, the second downloads and installs the updates.
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.
>
If you mess up typing a password, or even think you did, ctl-u will clear anything you've typed so far.
> My system is:
> AMD Thunderbird Athlon 700mhz
> 256 mb ram
> 6.4 gig hd (all Debian)
> internal modem that was not found when installing some automatic
> package.
Since you sent this, I'm assuming you're still managing to get the machine online somehow.
> Sony rewritable drive on primary/slave
> installation was from the cd contained in the book
>
> I'm sorry to burden the list, but I need someone to speak real slow
> and use little words.
>
> Thank you for taking the time to look at this message! -Jeff H
>
Once you've installed the X packages, you may want to install another window manager besides twm. I guess the easiest way to look at this is that the X packages allow for the possibility of a GUI, while the window manager controls your interface. Take a look at the packages.debian.org site, it will let you know what window managers are available for download - this is the easiest way to begin. Then you'll want to run (as root) a program called xf86cfg or xf86config, depending on what version you have installed. This will let you input the information about your hardware - make sure to have things like your monitor manual and information about your video card handy. Once that's all done, you'll need to create a file called .xsession in your home directory (touch .xsession) then edit it (emacs .xsession) so that it has the path to your window manager, and any other programs you would like to run when it starts up, e.g, screensavers, clock, whatever. A sample might look like:
#put your programs here, followed by &:
xscreensaver &
gnome-panel &
#put your window manager here (absolute path):
/usr/bin/enlightenment
Then, as a normal user, type startx. This !should! put you into a lovely GUI, and you can peruse the system and play around a little more comfortably. If you get a grey screen and a moveable mouse, but nothing else, ctl-alt-backspace will get you back to a command prompt, and this usually only means you either forgot to list a window manager, or it didn't find it where you told it to look - locate <window manager> should give you the location, usually it's in /usr/bin/.
Good luck,
Steve
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