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---

Contents 1 Sharing a directory 2 Notebook and Debian 3 Aptitude - how to cancel upgrade 4 Documentation -- how to disseminate information 4.1 netinstall -- nforce ethernet 4.2 printserving -- debian as print server for XP machines 4.2.1 Solved 5 how do i install gnome desktop 6 Multiple group access to a user's home directory 7 Installing Debian on an existing Linux machine remotely 8 Holding and upgrading Debian packages 9 Hardware compatability 10 Checking Serial port condition/status 11 licensing issue: NewbieDOC's GFDL vs DFSG 12 Which version? 13 How to configure postifx + amavisd + spamassassin + clamav 14 Other distros 15 wifi - how do i install a wifi card? 16 where to put /sbin/modprobe eepro100 17 How can I access my ISP servers? 17.1 Network settings 17.1.1 Connections tab 17.1.2 General Tab 17.1.3 DNS Tab 17.1.4 Hosts Tab 17.1.5 Properties window 17.2 Network Tools 17.2.1 Devices 17.3 Broadband 18 Vista Dual boot Partioning? 19 How can you see/copy the content of the command line window? 19.1 Use a terminal window 19.1.1 to see 19.1.2 to copy 19.2 Use the "less" pager 19.3 Use the "script" command 19.4 Use dmesg 20 How to add flac and shntool to the Applications menu 21 networking wireless 22 Add New User - Cannot access other users 22.1 Switching to the new user 22.2 adduser - a better command for creating a new user 23 Two Questions in realationship to the installation 23.1 Multiple CDs 23.2 Installing X Window System 24 Wireless - How do I connect tot an existing wireless network? 24.1 How do I know whether my device is recognized by the system and whether a driver for it is installed or not? 24.2 How and where can I find the driver, and how to install it? 24.3 How to configure the connection? 25 i'm install debian on aspire L1500 but i can't install wireless 26 mke2fs- what is largefile? 27 What Debian Architecture is my system

new question

1 Sharing a directory

I want to create a directory to store family photographs. I want other users (members of my family) to be able to store and view the photos too. How do I do that?

--Neo Phyte 17:46, 31 January 2006 (CET)

1. Either create the new directory underneath your home directory, or create a user family and create a subdirectory in the home directory thus created. (See Manage users and groups.)
2. Create a group family. You do not need to do this if have already created the user family - it will have been created automatically when you created the user family.
3. Add the other users to group family.
4. Change the permissions of the new directory to -rw-rw---- (660). This allows the user (family) and group family members to have read access (can list the directory) and write access (can create, delete or rename files in the directory).
5. Optional: create a symlink from each of the users' home directories to the new directory.

--Chris Lale 18:07, 31 January 2006 (CET)

2 Notebook and Debian

How can I prepare my Windows XP notebook for a Debian installation?

--Neo Phyte 19:36, 31 January 2006 (CET)

Have a look at http://tuxmobil.org/ for HOWTOs and info about particular models. If your notebook is not there, try googling for 'linux manufacturer modelname'. --Chris Lale 19:40, 31 January 2006 (CET)

3 Aptitude - how to cancel upgrade

I have got a lot of packages marked for upgrade by mistake (U in Aptitude). How can I unmark them?

--84.9.93.80 12:21, 14 February 2006 (CET)

press ctrl+u = UnDo.

try hitting the = key not + but = it holds the package at it's current level.. you can then go back and select the ones you want individualy..

if you press mentioned "=" when you have highlighted line with name of group of packages (i.e. "For update") instead a single package, the operation is done with all packages in the highlighted group. It works with all keyboard operations (=,+,-,_,...).

4 Documentation -- how to disseminate information

I installed Debian six days ago and already I have wasted a great deal of time on two different issues when there was a pretty simple fix. Unfortunately, the information I was reading was from lists rather than wikis or I would edit each of them to reflect my experience. How best can I prevent people from repeating my mistakes (described below)? Ideally, I think I would create documentation that people would stumble across while Google searching for my problem. I know about newbiedoc because I stumbled across it while looking for information on one of these two problems, so maybe this is a good place... --Randall 18:34, 20 February 2006 (CET) (I forgot to sign these the first time, which was perhaps a couple of days ago.)

More about this on the discussion page (Talk:Questions)

--Chris Lale 11:28, 19 February 2006 (CET)

4.1 netinstall -- nforce ethernet

I installed Debian using the netinstall. I had no problems getting the software onto my machine, but my network card wouldn't work so I couldn't access the apt servers to really get things working. After spending many hours trying to get the nforce ethernet card to work (it's built into the motherboard of my HP Pavilion 522c) I remembered that I keep a spare ethernet card in a box in the garage. When I plugged that card in, everything worked fine. (I still need to configure the nforce card because it's faster than my spare -- I think I'll do that now.)

4.2 printserving -- debian as print server for XP machines

I installed samba and cups and was able to get debian printing to my usb Epson Stylus Color 740i and I was able to get my backup XP laptop to read/write access through samba (usually I use it to look stuff up on the internet when I'm in command line mode or debugging my Mac (which shares the same monitor as my debian machine) but yesterday I was using it to test out samba so I wouldn't have to occupy my fiancee's computer). Nonetheless I spent hours trying to get XP to print to cups through samba. Finally, I came across somebody's website that told me to use samba classes, which worked!

4.2.1 Solved

(--Chris Lale 13:30, 19 February 2006 (CET))

Here is a summary of how to use Samba classes from "somebody's website" (http://www.owlfish.com/thoughts/winipp-cups-2003-07-20.html):

• In CUPS select "Add Class".
  • Enter a name, location and description.
  • select the printer you wish to share as a member of this group.
  • Select continue to save the class.
• Allow connections from across the network. Either
  • alter the <Location> directive in the cupsd.conf file (found in /etc/cups/), or
  • use Webmin to do this.
• Set a mapping between your CUPS hostname and its IP address by putting an entry in the Windows hosts file.
• In the Control Panel select "Add Printer", "Network Printer", and then "Connect to printer on the Internet or your intranet".
  • Use a URL of the form:

    http://hostname-of-your-Linux-server:631/classes/name-of-the-class

  • Install a printer driver for the network printer.

5 how do i install gnome desktop

how do i install gnome desktop

First install the X Window System,

# aptitude install x-window-system

then install Gnome

# aptitude install gnome

There are details in the NewbieDOC article Installing_Debian_on_a_small_partition

--Chris Lale 11:20, 23 March 2006 (CET)

6 Multiple group access to a user's home directory

I am a very newbie (2 days !!)

I want to be enable multiple groups to have access to a user's home directory I have tried to do this a s follows:-

useradd user -m -g group1
usermod -G group1,group2 
chmod 660 user's home directory

Please tell me where I am going wrong

Many Thanks

I would suggest using adduser. It is easier than useradd and groupadd. Enter

$ man adduser

for details.

First create the user whose home you wish to share (if it does not already exist). I have called this user 'all'. adduser automatically takes care of stuff like creating a group for the user, group id, user id, home directory, etc. Switch user to user root to do this.

$ su
Password: 
# adduser all
Adding user `all'...
Adding new group `all' (1008).
Adding new user `all' (1002) with group `all'.
Creating home directory `/home/all'.
Copying files from `/etc/skel'

Supply a password for user all:

Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for all
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
       Full Name []: Account for all
       Room Number []:
       Work Phone []:
       Home Phone []:
       Other []:
Is the information correct? [y/N] y
#

Add group permissions r, w and x to user all's home directory. Recurse subdirectories (-R) if you are using an existing home directory that already includes data.

# chmod -R g+rwx /home/all
#

Add other users to group all. Eg to add user someuser to group all:

# adduser someuser all
Adding user `someuser' to group `all'...
Done.
#

This will not take effect until user someuser logs in. To do this, exit user root and switch user to user someuser. Check group membership for user someuser:

# exit
exit
$ su someuser
Password:
$ groups
someuser all
$

Still logged in as user someuser, check access by user someuser to user all's home directory

$ cd /home/all
$ touch testfile
$ mkdir testdir
$ ls -l
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 someuser someuser 4096 2006-04-15 08:56 testdir
-rw-r--r-- 1 someuser someuser    0 2006-04-15 08:56 testfile
$

Exit user someuser

$ exit
exit
$

--Chris Lale 10:03, 15 April 2006 (BST)

7 Installing Debian on an existing Linux machine remotely

There are many people who have physcially inacecssible Linux environments (such as provided by hosting companies) which they'd like "Debianised" from other flavours such as RedHat. I thought that would be an excellent doc for this wiki - here's an existing page on it which could be made more newbie accessible:

• http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apcs04.html.en

--Nad 06:12, 6 April 2006 (BST)

8 Holding and upgrading Debian packages

I'm switching to Debian after a long time on RedHat, and I haven't been able to find a couple of functions of the package manager I'd like to use... hoping they exist at all!

I'd like to find which files of a package have been altered with respect to the original version, in the same way I did with "rpm -V".

In Synaptic, packages that have an upgrade available (after updating sources) are marked with a special symbol.

You could install the package wajig (see article rpm to apt-get/dpkg http://xtronics.com/reference/rpm2apt-dpkg.htm). Eg if package swig is on hold and a newer version is available, wajig toupgrade gives this output:

# wajig toupgrade
Package                  Available                Installed
========================-==================================
swig                     1.3.28-1                 1.3.24-1
#

I'd like to instruct "apt-get upgrade" to leave them alone. That's because I didn't resist the urge to make some customization to my system, and I don't want them to be overwritten by the upgrade procedure.

According to the Debian Reference Manual http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html you can hold eg packages libc6 and libc6-dev using

# echo -e "libc6 hold\nlibc6-dev hold" | dpkg --set-selections

or in Aptitude using the '=' key.

In Synaptic you can highlight a package and use

• Package -> Lock Version.

Also,

# wajig hold package-name(s).

--Chris Lale 12:15, 15 April 2006 (BST)

9 Hardware compatability

Have just purchased an Asus MB and Athlon 64 3000+ processor, wanted to avoid using XP, so have bought 3 copies of Linux format with their asociated free Distros, plus a new one on the market here - Australian Linux, that had Debian, plus a fairly good walk through the set-up process. Haven`t actually tried it yet (being an ex Win 98 user, and used to a bit more handholding), but did try to load openSusE 10.0 and Xandros without success. Admittedly have also have had problems with the computer losing the BIOS every 3 or 4 boots which doesn`t help. The main question is, how well does Linux support the AMD processor? After 4 totally Linux magazines, don`t see any reference to what hardware each Kernel supports (not that Windows biased magazines are much better). According to the MB website, this board supports Win 2000 and XP, so it should still handle a 32 bit version. Anyway, now have Ubuntu 5.10, besides Sarge 3.1 - and did mention optimising the Kernel by downloading the "K7" version - is that really going to work for me? Appreciate any help Wal

Wal, the best bet is to just install and see what happens. You seem committed to the linux way, so just do it. the amd 64 processor is supported, though probably not all software is yet ported to 64 bit. You may definitely run 32 bit binaries as 64 bit generally supports 32 bit. go for it!!

A

10 Checking Serial port condition/status

Is it possible to check if a serial port is working?

I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop which uses an external modem connected to its external serial port. My ISP recently changed its access number for my area, and after being able to connect once, I now get a message "TCSETATTR:interrupted system call." Except for the phone number, no other PPP settings were changed.

It sounds more like a new configuration is needed as a result of your ISP changes. Try running Wvdial (see article on Wvdial) with your modem connected and switched on. Check that you get the sort of messages described in the article.

--Chris Lale 18:27, 20 September 2006 (BST)

Thanks for the suggestion.

During the initial troubleshooting of the connection another modem was connected. Apparently this modem wasn't seating in the computer's serial port correctly, due to a loose cable attach nut on the computer's serial port. Swapping cables, restoring the original modem and not securing the cable mounting screws seems to have solved the problem.

11 licensing issue: NewbieDOC's GFDL vs DFSG

How can I add a note to newbie doc under a licence like GPL so that it confoms to the DFSG instead of under the GFDL? Thanks. Doug Tutty <dtutty@porchlight.ca>

The project has used the GFDL since before it became an issue with Debian. Clearly, it would not be possible to change the licence terms of many original articles. The best plan is to dual licence your article by adding these lines at the top of the article (or in an appendix entitled eg "Licence"):

{{free documentation|license=Either GNU FDL or GNU GPL at your choice.}}
{{GFDL}}
{{GPL}}

Don't forget to add your name, email address and the date underneath the article's title. You can do this by logging in and adding

--~~~~

This has been done for the article Aptitude - using together with Synaptic and Apt-get.

--Chris Lale 13:13, 4 February 2007 (CET)

12 Which version?

I noticed in the Wiki that various screens are shown but those might not be what some people see. For example, if someone is installing sarge, the screens won't be the same as for etch. Perhaps it would be a good idea to mention what version of debian the wiki refers to.

This is a good point for anyone contributing to the wiki to bear in mind. The wiki as a whole is version agnostic. Individual articles may refer to different versions of Debian.

The stable articles generally make it clear (in the "Revision" details or the "Abstract") which version of Debian is involved. If you find a contributed article that does not work in your version of Debian, please add a comment to it explaining the problem. You can also do this for "stable" articles on the "discussion" page (click on the article's "discussion" tab).

--Chris Lale 15:56, 2 March 2007 (CET)

13 How to configure postifx + amavisd + spamassassin + clamav

Hi,

I've tried to get the four mentioned packages work together in sarge without success. When postfix receives a new email it isn't calling amavisd; I know this because I've tested by connecting via telnet to the amavisd port and tried to send a message, which is successfully passed through spamassassin and clamav).

I've even tried by using the backport v 2.4.2-5~bpo.1, but as with the version from sarge: no success.

My master.cf is:

smtp      inet  n       -       -       -       -       smtpd
pickup    fifo  n       -       -       60      1       pickup
cleanup   unix  n       -       -       -       0       cleanup
qmgr      fifo  n       -       -       300     1       qmgr
rewrite   unix  -       -       -       -       -       trivial-rewrite
bounce    unix  -       -       -       -       0       bounce
defer     unix  -       -       -       -       0       bounce
trace     unix  -       -       -       -       0       bounce
verify    unix  -       -       -       -       1       verify
flush     unix  n       -       -       1000?   0       flush
proxymap  unix  -       -       n       -       -       proxymap
smtp      unix  -       -       -       -       -       smtp
relay     unix  -       -       -       -       -       smtp
showq     unix  n       -       -       -       -       showq
error     unix  -       -       -       -       -       error
local     unix  -       n       n       -       -       local
virtual   unix  -       n       n       -       -       virtual
lmtp      unix  -       -       n       -       -       lmtp
anvil     unix  -       -       n       -       1       anvil
maildrop  unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=DRhu user=vmail argv=/usr/local/bin/maildrop -d ${recipient}
uucp      unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=Fqhu user=uucp argv=uux -r -n -z -a$sender - $nexthop!rmail ($recipient)
ifmail    unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=F user=ftn argv=/usr/lib/ifmail/ifmail -r $nexthop ($recipient)
bsmtp     unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=Fq. user=bsmtp argv=/usr/lib/bsmtp/bsmtp -d -t$nexthop -f$sender $recipient
scalemail-backend unix	-	n	n	-	2	pipe
  flags=R user=scalemail argv=/usr/lib/scalemail/bin/scalemail-store ${nexthop} ${user} ${extension}
tlsmgr	  fifo	-	-	n	300	1	tlsmgr
smtps	  inet	n	-	n	-	-	smtpd -o smtpd_tls_wrappermode=yes -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes
587	  inet	n	-	n	-	-	smtpd -o smtpd_enforce_tls=yes -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes
vhcs2-arpl unix	-	n	n	-	-	pipe flags=  user=vmail argv=/var/www/vhcs2/engine/messager/vhcs2-arpl-msgr
smtp-amavis     unix    -       -       n       -       2       smtp  -o smtp_data_done_timeout=1200 -o smtp_send_xforward_command=yes -o disable_dns_lookups=yes
localhost:10025 inet    n       -       n       -       -       smtpd -o content_filter= -o mynetworks=127.0.0.0/8 -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject -o receive_override_options=no_address_mappings -o smtpd_client_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject -o smtpd_delay_reject=no -o smtpd_client_connection_count_limit=0 -o smtpd_client_connection_rate_limit=0 -o smtpd_soft_error_limit=1001 -o smtpd_hard_error_limit=1000 -o smtpd_data_restrictions=reject_unauth_pipelining
trace	unix	-	-	-	-	-	0	bounce
verify	unix	-	-	-	-	-	1	verify

By the way, I'm using VHCS2.

Any way of getting this working?

I don't know much about this. It sounds like a problem for the Debian User email list (http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/). It's easy to sign up and post a question. You could also use a search engine to search the Debian website with search string:

site:debian.org postfix amavisd spamassassin clamav

or a wider search with search string:

debian postfix amavisd spamassassin clamav

This turns up at least one HOWTO at http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/

--Chris Lale 12:28, 19 March 2007 (CET)

I just did

postconf -e "content_filter = smtp-amavis:[127.0.0.1]:10024"

and

postconf -e "smtpd_helo_required = yes"

and it now works. Thanks

14 Other distros

I've already bookmarked this site as a tech resource, and hope to contribute, but wonder if my contributions would be appropriate here. I'm a newbie for sure, but my introduction to Debian is via Ubuntu, which doesn't always seem to do things the same way as a pure Debian installation. Should newbies like myself consider contributing?

That would be fine if your contribution works on Debian. Perhaps you could install Debian alongside Ubuntu if you have enough disc space? If not, something fairly generic, that you think should work on Debian too, would be OK. Just mark clearly that it has been tested on Ubuntu version... Someone else will probably try it on Debian and edit your original. Remember, your original is always available via the history tab!

Ubuntu is based on Debian Sid (Unstable) with patches and some proprietory software (eg drivers), so many (most?) packages are not identical with Debian Etch (Stable). On the other hand, many everyday tasks will be the same. Feel free to have a go!

--Chris Lale 10:44, 16 May 2007 (CEST)

15 wifi - how do i install a wifi card?

i just installed debian in an attempt to get my edimax EW-7128g pci wifi card to work. the computer will not recongnize it. the card is supposedly supported by debian (says so on the box) but i cant get it to work. i don't know how to load drivers (i think i just read i dont have to), and am at a complete loss. if someone does answer me, please assume i know less than nothing about linux, debian and wifi cards.

hanan

I have made some notes, using the edimax EW-7128g as an example, here: How to set up a wireless network card using drivers from Debian packages. I hope that they will help you. Please edit the page or add comments to its "discussion" tab if you find any mistakes or if you can add anything that may be helpful.

--Chris Lale 11:37, 21 May 2007 (CEST)

16 where to put /sbin/modprobe eepro100

Hi

Where to place the above command ? in rc.local ? ( for saving time from typing it each time i boot on Debian ?)

The command

/sbin/modprobe eepro100

manually loads the "eepro100" module into the kernel.

To make this automatic, add the line

eepro100

to the file /etc/modules using a text editor. The module "eepro100" will then be loaded automatically at boot time. You will not need to issue a modprobe command any more.

--Chris Lale 23:20, 8 July 2007 (CEST)

this is my /etc/apt/sources.list file

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Etch_ - Official Snapshot i386 CD Binary-1 20070205-10:16]/ etch contrib main 

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Etch_ - Official Snapshot i386 CD Binary-1 20070205-10:16]/ etch contrib main 

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r0 _Etch_ - Official i386 DVD Binary-3 20070407-11:40]/ etch contrib main 
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r0 _Etch_ - Official i386 DVD Binary-1 20070407-11:40]/ etch contrib main 
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r0 _Etch_ - Official i386 DVD Binary-2 20070407-11:40]/ etch contrib main 
# deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib 
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
# deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib 
# deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ sarge main 

deb ftp://debian.otenet.gr/pub/linux/debian/ stable main contrib non-free 

deb ftp://debian.otenet.gr/pub/linux/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free 

deb-src ftp://debian.otenet.gr/pub/linux/debian/ etch main

is this sufficient ?

No. This file is not relevant. The /etc/apt/sources.list file determines which respository you obtain your package files from. This is nothing to do with the /etc/modules file which causes the listed modules to be loaded at boot time. By the way, you have both the stable and unstable repositories listed in your /etc/apt/sources.list. This may mean that you are running an unstable system (unless you know what you are doing and you are using apt-pinning).

--Chris Lale 18:05, 14 July 2007 (CEST)

17 How can I access my ISP servers?

I have installed Debian onto my Dell B-130 laptop. The issue is I cannot connect to my servers..

17.1 Network settings

In GNOME desktop menu:

Desktop -> Administration -> Networking

You will need to supply the password you configured for user "root".

17.1.1 Connections tab

Network settings window shows: > connections > Wireless (not config) and Ethernet (active)

For help setting up wireless interface see How_to_set_up_a_wireless_network_card_using_drivers_from_Debian_packages and Installing_Ndiswrapper_in_Debian.

Ethernet interface should be something like "eth0". Click on "Properties" button to enter network information eg getting interface address from DHCP server or using static IP.

17.1.2 General Tab

Hostname I have as Home?

You set this when you installed Debian.

Domain name is blank currently.

This should be OK.

17.1.3 DNS Tab

DNS Servers window is empty (gets emptied when I close out window)

This is the contents of /etc/resolv.conf. You can edit this file directly or modify it here using the "Add" button.

Search Domains is also empty

This should be OK.

17.1.4 Hosts Tab

shows a slew of names

This is normal. You should see an entry for your Dell with the localhost address 127.0.0.1.

17.1.5 Properties window

for eth0 shows: check mark in "Enable this connection" Configuration : DHCP IP,Subnet and Gateway windows show blank...

This will be because you have configured your machine to use a DHCP server. If you choose static, you can enter the rest of the IP details manually.

17.2 Network Tools

In GNOME desktop menu:

Applications -> System Tools -> Network Tools

17.2.1 Devices

Device window shows Ethernet Interface (eth0)

IP information:

Protocal            IP Address    Netmask/Prefix     Broadcast            Scope

IPv4          169.254.70.203      255.255.0.0       169.254.255.255
IPv6   fe80::214:22ff:feac:b2d7    64                                       Link

Looks like your machine has picked this up from your DHCP server. Go to the "Ping" tab and try to communicate with another machine on your network.

Interface Information :

Hardware address 00:14:22:ac:b2:d7  Multicast: Enabled   MTU 1500  Link Speed: not available  State: Active
Interface statistics: 9.1 Kib transmitted 60 packets, 0 errors. 0.0 received, 0 rec packets, 0 collisions......

17.3 Broadband

I am new so please pardon me if I gave to much info or two little? The new OS looks fine, acts like it will do fine I simply cannot connect to my DSL servers.. I am thinking I need to do a command line function maybe?

If you are trying to connect to the internet with a broadband modem, look at Broadband_-_setting_up_an_ethernet_ADSL_modem/router.

apt-config perhaps? OK I have babbled enough,, any and all help is appreciated.. tia booker

Good luck!

--Chris Lale 22:49, 4 September 2007 (CEST)

18 Vista Dual boot Partioning?

I have an AMD dual processor computer with Vista currently installed. I want to install Debian (I have the 4.0 r1 DVD's) but I need to have Vista remain operational until I am completely familiar with Debian and ready to make it my primary OS. I "shrank" my main partition on the existing disk and I have about 80 Gigabytes available as a primary partition currently formatted as FAT32 and designated as drive "L". This is where I want to install Linux. Each time I boot from the Debian DVD and attempt to install, it fails except on those occasions when it warns that I may lose all information on the disk. But it doesn't say whether the entire disk or just the partition I created. This makes me nervous!!!

I know that some of you may think me stupid for asking a question which (I hope) is so simple. But that is far better than destroying my Vista operating system and having me KNOW that I am stupid.

Paul Baker

Welcome to Debian! Debian is very good at warning you about hazardous operations. "Another operating system" usually just goes straight ahead without any warnings at all. I do not think that your installation has failed. You have just aborted it because of the warning! Any operation involving formatting a drive is potentially hazardous, whatever operating system you use. The usual advice is to back up any important files before proceeding. This means especially all your personal/work files - files that will not be recreated if you reinstall the operating system.

The Debian installer for Etch is able to resize Windows partitions and set up a dual-boot system on an existing Windows system - including Vista. For more information look at the Debian Installation Guide ([1]) and the the NewbieDOC document How to install Debian GNU/Linux on your computer.

For more reassurance, you could ask you question on the Debian User email list. Just register at [[2]] and reply to the resulting email. Then send your question in an email to debian-user@lists.debian.org. You should start getting replies quite soon. Note that this is a high volume list and you could get around 100 emails per day on various subjects, so it is a good idea to filter emails "To" or "Cc" debian-user@lists.debian.org to a special area in your mail client.

Good Luck!

--Chris Lale 22:34, 11 September 2007 (CEST)

Thanks! Well, I completed the install and it worked (once, sort of). The computer booted; I selected Debian, and there it was! Except that the desktop covered about two screens and I was unable to adjust it in the screen resolution.

Sounds like you chose to install the desktop on top of the Debian base system. You should have been offered a choice of screen resolutions:

Please select your monitor's best video mode.
(eg 1024x768 @ 75Hz)

Please select the video modes you would like the X server to use.
[*] 1024x768
[*] 800x600
[*] 640x480

Please select your default color depth in bits.
eg 24

You can always re-run the configuration of th X Window System using the command line - either from a terminal window or from one of the consoles (eg Ctrl-Alt-F1) - as user root:

$ su
(enter password for user root)
# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

It booted up once more, from there on it just halted in mid-menu. I tried to get rid of what I had so I could start over and ended up with a system that would not boot into anything! I had made a Vista recovery CD and, to my pleasure and surprise, it offers an option to fix start-up problems -- which it did!

If you want a recovery disc for linux/windows, download a Knoppix live CD ([3]] or a Debian Live CD ([4]). They contain the tools you need for all sorts of problems, including the boot loader.

A few hours for my nerves to cool down and I'll try again -- maybe. Paul Baker.

Good idea! Perhaps you should try the Debian Live Etch CD first (see How to try out Debian GNU/Linux without installing it). The Live CD runs slower but does not touch your hard drive. You can get used to how Debian works and then install later with greater confidence.

--Chris Lale 08:19, 12 September 2007 (CEST)

19 How can you see/copy the content of the command line window?

As root a command I made resulted in screen upon screen of text I can't read as it flies on the screen... I want to know how to access that stuff. I use Debian Etch.

I can think of a few of things you could do. There are probably other solutions.

19.1 Use a terminal window

19.1.1 to see

If you are running the X Window System, run your command from a terminal window (eg xterm or gnome-terminal). You can scroll up a few pages using the mouse wheel.

19.1.2 to copy

In the terminal window, highlight the text you want using the mouse. Use these Ctrl+Shift commands to copy and paste:

   Ctrl+Shift+C  to copy from the terminal window
   Ctrl+C        to copy from eg a text editor
   Ctrl+Shift+V  to paste into the terminal window
   Ctrl+V        to paste into eg a text editor

19.2 Use the "less" pager

You can pipe the output of your command to the pager "less". You can then scroll the screen output using the arrow, page up/down, space and return keys. Key Q to quit. Eg to view help for the command "tar":

   $ tar --help | less

19.3 Use the "script" command

If you want a permanent record of screen activity, use the "script" command. Eg to record screen activity to the file "~/tmp/myfile.txt":

   $ script ~/tmp/myfile.txt
   Script started, file is /home/chris/tmp/myfile.txt
   $ tar --help
   ...
   (Ctrl-D to stop recording)
   $ Script done, file is /home/chris/tmp/myfile.txt

--Chris Lale 14:20, 5 January 2008 (CET)

19.4 Use dmesg

COMMENT TO ORIGINAL QUESTION ADDED HERE

After the fine answers what were given raised other issues. To be more specific Chris I realize I should also say two or three other things.

1- I am using ppc-mac port of debian-etch (with a microsoft mouse... since I need left-right click in Linux ;-)

2- I am going to command line by quitting my GUI with Ctrl-Alt F1. AND my mouse (scrolling or otherwise) does not work there. Nor does the page up and down arrows. Yikes. And it seems important to me to be able to access that start-up info since there seems to be an error or two occuring on a steady basis..

Newbie Serge

Pipe your commands through the "less" pager as in the example above, and scroll up and down using the keyboard.

You can view most of the startup information using the "dmesg" command:

   $ dmesg | less

You can filter the output by piping it to "grep". For example, you can display only lines containing "ACPI":

   $ dmesg | grep ACPI

or

   $ dmesg | grep ACPI | less

--Chris Lale 10:00, 1 February 2008 (CET)

20 How to add flac and shntool to the Applications menu

Hi! I installed, using the synaptic manager, a bittorrent client which went under applications. I also installed flac and shntool. I searched around and found flac, but could do nothing with it. How do I bring these programs up to the Applications menu? I'm baffled!

This is a great site, by the way. I hope to contribute to it in some way if I can get past the newbie stage!

Thanks!

John

Flac is a commandline tool. You can add it manually to the Applications menu in Gnome but it will not be very useful - you normally call it with switches. An example might look like this ($ is your commandline prompt in a terminal window):

$ flac --silent --decode --stdout <filemname>

Don't ask me what this does! If you really want to know, have a look at the manual page:

$ man flac

You can find out more about man in the "Debian help system" article.

You can find details of how to use flac here:

http://flac.sourceforge.net/documentation_tools_flac.html

Normally, you would use an application that itself uses flac. You don't need to use flac directly. An example of this is The CD ripper Grip.

Much the same is true for shntool.

If you want to add an application to the Gnome menu, install the alacarte package, then go to

Applications -> Accessories -> Alacarte Menu Editor

--Chris Lale 17:52, 20 March 2008 (CET)

21 networking wireless

could you tell me if there is a way or software,which can be used on a desktop connected to the wireless router and anyother laptop which uses the same network though the wireless router,however a person using the desktop can check the internet history of the laptop which is using the same connection.

22 Add New User - Cannot access other users

I am running Etch stable. And after adding a new user..

useradd bob

and setting the new user password with...

passwd bob

and setting the new password. I get a

Password updated succesfully

but when I try to switch to the new user with

cd /home/bob/ 

I get

bash: cd: /home/bob: No such file or directory

I thought I was supposed to have a new directory for the new user? What gives?

22.1 Switching to the new user

Presumably, you switched user (su) to root before you issued these commands. The prompt will have changed from the usual '$' to the superuser prompt '#'. eg

$ su
(enter password for user root)
#

To return to the normal user after setting up the new user, enter exit, or type CTRL-D.

# exit
$

To switch to the new user, use the su command with the username as argument:

chris@desktop:~$  su bob
Password:
bob@desktop:/home/chris$

Now you can change directory (cd) to bob's root directory (~) if it exists:

bob@desktop:/home/chris$ cd
bob@desktop:~$ ls
bob@desktop:~$

 

Note: 

If you have used the 'useradd' command instead of the 'adduser' command (see below), you may need to create the /home/bob/ directory manually.

 

# adduser bob
Adding user `bob' ...
Adding new group `bob' (1008) ...
Adding new user `bob' (1001) with group `bob' ...
Creating home directory `/home/bob' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for bob
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
        Full Name []: Bob Newuser
        Room Number []:
        Work Phone []:
        Home Phone []:
        Other []:
Is the information correct? [y/N] y
#

$ su

# apt-cdrom add

# aptitude install xorg

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

# startx

# aptitude install gnome
# gdm

iface wlan0 inet static

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

1 MB  = 1000 kB  = 1000x1000 B (ie 1000000 B)
1 MiB = 1024 kiB = 1024x1024 B (ie 1048576 B)