Re: how to... (newbie questions)
Jeremy C B Nicoll wrote:
I've a HP B132L which someone else put woody on for me, but I'm nearly
totally ignorant of how things work in linux. Can anyone tell me how
to:
a) find out precisely which version of woody it is (if there are
different versions or patch levels or whatever)? I don't know
how to relate "woody" to posts I see naming particular kernel
levels etc.
cat /etc/debian_version
will tell you which "version" of Debian you have. You can have various
versions of kernel and other software on top of that Debian version. To
see the version of your kernel, "uname -a".
b) when it boots it automatically starts X and then KDM; I think I'd
like none of the GUI stuff to start automatically but instead to
start them by command if/when I want to. How do I do that?
There are a multitude of different ways to do it. If you don't want a
login manager at all, you can simply remove it with a command like
"apt-get --purge remove kdm". If you want to simply deactivate KDM for
the next few boots, I'd add "exit 0" as the first executable line of
"/etc/init.d/kdm". You could also move/rename/delete the symlink to this
file (ie "mv /etc/rc2.d/S99kdm /etc/rc2.d/NOS99.kdm", etc). You could
use the "update-rc" tool. You could exit X and switch to a console and
stop KDM with "/etc/init.d/kdm stop". Etc etc etc.
c) If I manage to have KDM not start, will the command: gdm
start GDM up instead, assuming it is installed?
No; assuming it's installed, the system checks to see which is the
default login manager. You can change this by running "dpkg-reconfigure
gdm" (where gdm could be any of the installed login managers, kdm, xdm,
wdm, etc); this procedure, which manipulates the symlink
"/etc/alternatives/x-session-manager".
d) how do I find out what software is installed? Eg *is* GDM/Gnome
in my system, and if so, where are its libraries, if I want to
explore its parameter files etc?
Again, lots of different ways. "dpkg -l" is probably the quickest, but
you can use aptitude or dselect or synaptic to browse the Installed
list, etc. Below you can see that I have kdm installed on my system, but
not gdm. You can also see that gdm is installed, but the "apt-get show
gnome" command indicates that it's a meta-package (which just exists in
order to depend on other packages, so that those packages get installed).
westk[@westkent]:/home/westk:> dpkg -l gdm
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
un gdm <none> (no description available)
westk[@westkent]:/home/westk:> dpkg -l gnome
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
Mon Mar 29 14:24:17
-------------
westk[@westkent]:/home/westk:> dpkg -l kdm
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err:
uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-==============-==============-============================================
ii kdm 3.2.1-1 KDE Display Manager
Package: gnome
Priority: optional
Section: gnome
Installed-Size: 16
Maintainer: Jordi Mallach <jordi@debian.org>
Architecture: all
Source: meta-gnome2
Version: 48
Depends: gnome-desktop-environment (= 48), gnome-office (= 48),
bluefish, evolut ion | balsa, gnome-themes-extras, netspeed, rhythmbox,
synaptic | gnome-apt, xsc reensaver
Filename: pool/main/m/meta-gnome2/gnome_48_all.deb
Size: 8162
MD5sum: 300fbe1ee569b979ab78f1b590111fa4
Description: The GNOME Desktop Environment -- extra components
This the GNOME Desktop environment, a graphical interface to use on your
Debian system. It includes a wide range of applications, including programs
for email, messaging, word processing, financial accounting and more.
Task: desktop
--
Kent
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