Re: First Debian Installation: totally brain-dead. Where do I go from here?
On 07/02/2010 02:38 PM, Keith Mitchell wrote:
Thanks Guys:
Looks like a serious operator malfunction on my part. My first time
with an internet install. In the past, I had a CD with the whole
distribution on it.
First, Sorry. I did not wish to infer that Debian itself is
brain-dead. I meant the minimal installation that I myself created
with almost no applications installed is brain dead.
I wrongly assumed that once installation was complete, I would easily
find a package manager that would finish downloading all packages that
I need.
I spend most of my life on Windows, but prefer to use Open Source
software that runs everywhere. Firefox and Thunderbird do have
copyrighted stuff, however, Iceweasel did not have a Windows
installation, otherwise I would be using it on Windows.
Looks like the only solution is to blow things out and try again from scratch.
Sorry if I broke web-protocol. I do not know what the protocol is here.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
I haven't been following this thread, but I doubt that you broke
web-protocol.
And you don't need to blow things out and try again from scratch.
You simply have a minimal install. It's easy to add stuff.
For example, to add a text-based web browser, do (as root):
aptitude install lynx
or
aptitude install links
To install a text-based email reader:
aptitude install mutt
(Then to connect to an IMAP server, run "mutt -f {imap.gmail.com}Inbox",
substituting your IMAP server's address (actually, gmail won't work this
way, but some other IMAP servers will).)
To install a minimal X Window System:
aptitude install x-window-system-core
or to install a bit more complete X system:
aptitude install x-window-system
Then you can install a window manager:
aptitude install icewm
Maybe install another one:
aptitude install xfce4
and then configure X to start with one or the other by creating/editing
~/.xinitrc with the single line in it of:
icewm
or
xfce4-session (I think this is the correct line)
Or you can keep both in the .xinitrc file and just comment out the one
you don't want. (Don't forget to restart X when you change your window
manager.)
Of perhaps you want a full-blown KDE setup:
aptitude install kde
Or Gnome:
aptitude install gnome
(Or you can get both at the same time with "aptitude install kde gnome".)
Either of these will also install a graphical login screen, from which
you can select whichever window manager/environment (from those you have
installed) you want each time you log in.
You can also just run "aptitude" to start aptitude in a point-and-click
(text-only, no mouse) method.
Once you have X running, you can even install a graphical front-end to
aptitude - synaptic (aptitude install synaptic).
(You'll sometimes see references to apt-get instead of aptitude; they
both do the same thing, but aptitude is a bit newer and "better" in my
estimation; dselect is the even older package management system, but
you'll pro'lly never see it.)
You want iceweasel?
aptitude install iceweasel
You want gimp, openoffice.org, icedove (Thunderbird), and gramps?
aptitude install gimp openoffice icedove gramps
You want to search for a package?
aptitude search print | grep drivers
will search for any package mentioning "print" and "drivers"
You want to see details about a package?
aptitude show gramps
Hopefully this will give you enough to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
--
Kent West<*)))><
http://kentwest.blogspot.com
Praise Yah! \o/
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