Debian made easier for newbies

[philwebs]

This posting is to help those like me who have struggled to get anywhere with Debian without going to Ubuntu or similar. The tips below have helped me to use a Debian machine going without too much pain and delving into arcane shell commands. Still got lots of problems and anyone with some ease-of-use tips please advise.

I tried to install Debian in September 2005 using the Linux Format disks, and failing to even configure a network card gave up in disgust.

I noted the thread by Blackbelt_Jones " Beginners: What to do after you've installed Debian" and posted something like "I tried it, got nowhere, binned it".

Not being one to give up and still curious as to what all the fuss is about I purchased a copy of the book Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Bible. Highly rated but looks fairly simplistic and still doesn't answer a lot of my questions.

I have now got a functioning Debian box and I can manage it fairly easily using useful tools. This is how I got here.

1. Still had problems with the configuration/use of the network card during the install from cd process.

Applied the following to my No.2 play box during the install:

IP 192.168.0.2
Netmask 255.255.255.0
Gateway 192.168.0.1 (My No1 SuSE box)
Address Server my local ISP DNS
Hostname debian
Domain linux.net

I used my No1 SuSE box to ping and test connections and found which of the No2 box network cards worked, ping 192.168.0.2. This was also done during the install. Used a crossover cable to join the two machines together.

This meant I could connect to the internet for the first time.

(Note I did try playing with /etc/network files and the ifconfig command but this ended in disaster)


2. Hot Tip #1 - Install Synaptic the front end for apt.

(This tip is courtesy of Shep the Debian Addict in the Blackbelt_Jones thread)

First of all use the base-config command to add a repository to the apt sources list.

Now in a terminal/console type:

>whoami
>you are justauser
>su
Passwd: myrootpasswd
#whoami
#you are root
#apt-get install synaptic

Job done. Now fire up synaptic using the command as a user kdesu synaptic or as root synaptic.

Synaptic makes package searching and installation a delight. Easy to edit the repositories using the preferences in the proggy.


3. Hot tip #2 - Webmin

Using synaptic install webmin and the various webmin modules. Just search in synaptic for webmin. (If you install using apt-get install webmin you end up with a pigs ear ssh webmin....)

To use webmin fire up your fave browser and in the address bar type localhost:10000

Webmin is a nice easy to use configuration utility along the same lines as Yast in SuSE. Just makes life easier. If there is a module for a particular proggy it may help.



Things I haven't sorted out yet:

How to configure a modem. The No2 Debian machine is networked to my No1 SuSE box so this problem has not arisen. I have not seen an obvious way to configure and use a modem (book not much help) Wild guess it would need kppp, ppp-config, webmin or perhaps wvdial to configure a modem and kinternet to use it.

Firewall - I will need to read to RTFM on shorewall. Webmin doesn't appear to work from a cold start. Something in the book.

Sometime I will delve into the Debian manual and read a few docs. Yes I should do this first.

That's it. Hope this helps somebody. Any easy-to-use pointers gratefully received,

Regards,

Philip Webster

[LNXchd]

Thanks, philwebs; nice post...something I would like to add for references if you don't mind...

Debian Survival Handbook (http://www.togaware.com/linux/survivor/Contents.shtml)
http://linuxcommands.org- nice reference..still in the works, though
Superman Pages (http://linuxcommand.org/superman_pages.php)

...some say Debian is difficult to install and run...when I was using it, must've been lucky as I had an easy time with it using netinstall cd. :o

[philwebs]

Additional Info:

Firewall - I tried shorewall. Installed it, installed the webmin-module, read the docs, read the website, tried to get it to work, failed, binned it.

Tried Kmyfirewall which looked much better.

Ended up using the easy-peasy webmin linux firewall module. Its in place.


Not done anything on the modem. Alternatives look like:

webmin-ppp, pppconfig, kppp, gnome-ppp or perhaps wvdial with the webmin.wvdial module.

Whether any of the above software is on the install cd I dont know. Give it a go.

Thats it. Got an easy to use Debian system,

Phil

[lugoteehalt]

Let's not give Debian a bad reputation. Arguably the installer's a bit forbidding, but Debian's a pussy cat once it's installed.

Vis modem, I've never tried this so probably nonsense, but how about running the Knoppix or Ubuntu live CD and ripping off relevant sections of their config files. This works like magic with X.

[IsaacKuo]

I only played with Synaptic once or twice and ran back to plain old text based apt-get. I like being able to just type in a bunch of software packages to install all at once--or better yet, just type it in once into a simple script so I can install my favorite packages all at once whenever I set up a Debian machine.

That said, here's the number one best Debian apt tip:

apt-cache search <whatever>

Before I learned about "apt-cache search", apt was merely very useful. After I learned about it, it was the best thing since sliced bread!

[lugoteehalt]

Also:

apt-cache search --full <whatever>

[mrrangerman43]

I'll 3rd that motion, apt-cache search <whatever>
I was trying to install kernel headers for a program, and I would type apt-get install kernel-headers-$(uname -r) and it would tell me it couldn't find them, mind you this was with a new install, so I knew they were there. So someone gave me the advice of doing apt-cache search and what I found out is they weren't called "kernel-headers" they were called "linux-headers" changed the command and didn't have a problem after that.

Dan