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Re: Debian 7.x and desktop environments



On Sat, 3 May 2014 10:53:51 +0100
Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> wrote:

> If networking in d-i had been set up to use wifi the assumption breaks
> down as, without a DE, there is no connectivity for the booted system.
> This would most likely leave an inexperienced user completely stuck.

There are many places where an inexperienced user can become stuck. It's
an opportunity to become an experienced user.

> Even an experienced user might find it frustrating to have to deal
> with /etc/network/interfaces at this stage.

Do not be afraid of /etc/network/interfaces ;-)

In that case, just plug it in to the wired network, and make sure the
following lines are uncommented in /etc/network/interfaces

allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

and run:
service networking stop
service networking start

The time to get frustrated, is when the interface doesn't come
up because the card is not supported by the kernel ;-)

> 
> The benefit of not selecting a desktop task at the start of the
> install or accepting the Debian default DE during the install is
> unclear. 
> It implies the user is experienced enough to know where they
> are going;

You are correct, I am an experienced user who knows where he is
going.

I like to do it in stages. First get the operating system installed,
and worry about the applications afterwards. Otherwise, you can waste a
lot of time waiting for the application packages to install, and then
discover that you made a mistake during installation and it doesn't
boot.

> the objective might be "apt-get install xfce4", which
> gives a different set of packages from "apt-get install
> task-xfce-desktop".
> 
> 

tasks-xfce-desktop is a meta package that includes xfce, and also a set
of additional packages that are typically used on a desktop system,
like libreoffice and iceweasel. Also, I'm not sure if package xfce will
install a display manager for you. The desktop task packages do.


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