On Sat, Apr 06, 2002 at 10:07:33PM +0000, gob wrote: > I am an absolute beginner (hadn't touched Linux two weeks ago). My brother > has installed Debian (kernel 2.2.19) on a partition of my laptop. I assume you have Debian 3.0 aka 'woody' by the version number on the xfree86 below. 'Woody' can be used with linux kernels in both series 2.2 and 2.4. > I am > trying to get X going, and through some research found that I need XFree86 > 4.1 for it to work with my LCD screen. He gave me a CD with > xfree86-common_4.1.0-14pre15v3_all.deb on it. I have tried to install this > package with no success: dpkg is the correct tool for installing a single deb like this. It is seldom used directly when have a working Debian system though, you are more or less supposed to aquire debs over the internet (or specially prepared CDs), and for that purpose the apt family of utils is extremely convenient. > #apt-setup > cdrom > 'Bad CD, Your CD drive was detected but it does not seem to have a Debian > CD in it.' > (I presume this is a Debian CD as he made it on a Linux machine) The CD did not contain a debian archive of .deb files (which must have a certain directory structure, a Packages.gz file etc), but rather ONE .deb file. > #apt-cdrom add > 'Scanning disc for index files..Found 0 package indexes & 0 source indexes > E. Unable to locate any package files, perhaps this is not a Debian Disc' > > I also copied the file to the partition (actually into /usr/X11R6/bin) and Uh. You should never touch files in /usr (except in /usr/local). Files in this location is handled automatically by the package management system, so any change you do WILL be overwritten when upgrading. Now is this case it will won't do any harm since you did not overwrite any existing file, but use your home directory (/home/<your_username>/) instead. > did the following: > #dpkg --install xfree86-common....deb > 'Preparing to replace xfree86-common...' > 'Unpacking' > 'Setting up' > 'Installing new version of config file' > (seems alright but:) > #XFree86 -version > 'XFree86 Version 4.0a / X Window System' > (indicating to me that the previous 4.0a version is still in place)(Is > there a difference between XFree86 and XFree86-common?)(X still won't work > after this) You are right. There are several X packages which need to be upgraded, the X server binary itself for example, is in the package xserver-xfree86. Since you was given that CD, I assume you don't have net access from the laptop in question. (If you actually do have net access then it is so much easier: apt-get update apt-get install xserver-xfree86 would have done it.) If your brother can deliver packages via CD to you, (or you can grab them via windows dial-up) the packages you want is probably: xserver-xfree86 xserver-common > I also tried dselect, choosing APT Acquisition, accidentally overwriting > the sources list I already had (sort that out another day), and put > file:/etc/X11R6/bin/xfree....deb stable non-free > onto the list. On update, it responded with > 'Err file:stable/non-free Packages > File not found' > (followed by a full screen of errors, ending in) > 'Information about 0 packages was updated' When you get dial-up working in Debian GNU/Linux, you will want to have something like this in /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ woody main contrib non-free -- Note that I use Debian version 3.0 Linux emac140 2.4.17 #1 sön feb 10 20:21:22 CET 2002 i686 unknown Hans Ekbrand
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