Things to do after installing Debian 6 Squeeze

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Because i didn’t have much to backup from my hard drives, i decided to make a clean Debian 6 Squeeze install. The installer is very friendly and comprehensive and it can’t put you in trouble at all if you read a little the installation manual or check the internet for installing Debian.

From what i experienced, there are some easy steps one can do after installing Debian and here is what i did (i will not go in detail explaining in detail how things works, the scope of this article is just to get you started with a fully functional Debian install. If you are a true newbie just type the commands in a Terminal and stay tuned for articles explaining the details of Debian):

Checking software repos:

First check the sources from where you can install software, those sources being in  /etc/apt/sources.list and you can access that with the default text editor vim, typing this command on a Terminal:

vim /etc/apt/sources.list

Get to know and understand those lines in this file and read about those on www.debian.org and packages.debian.org

Now do an update of the apt-get as root like this:

su

[type the admin password]

apt-get update or aptitude update

———-

Getting the sound to work:

For me it was very simple as running as root:

alsactl init

And the sound worked after running this command

———-

Installing the flash player:

I installed the flashplayer-nonfree from the non-free repos of Debian Squeeze. Start in a Terminal:

su

[type admin password]

vim /etc/apt/sources.list

Inside vim, press ‘i’ to start inserting text (vim is very weird for a newbie and it requires some time to get to know him, but once you break the barrier you will do wonders) and add this line:

deb http://ftp.ro.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free

The ro in the line above can be replaced with a mirror of choice.

After you insert that line, still in vim do this:

press Esc

press :wq

This will exit the text insert mode, write the file and then quit vim (i told you it’s weird but very fast).

As root do apt-get update or aptitude update

To use Synaptic this time, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and search for flashplugin-nonfree, thick and hit Apply. Now if you go to http://www.youtube.com you should play flash movies.

Installing NVIDIA drivers:

I use an NVIDIA graphics card and installing the drivers it’s very easy, you just have to pay attention a little at what the installer tells you. First thing to do is go to the NVIDIA website and download the driver for your card and your OS architecture (eg.: for a GeForce 8600 GT and Debian amd64 you should download the GeForce 8 series Linux 64 driver)

Now go to the directory where the driver is and make it executable:

chmod +x [the name of the driver file] HINT: use Tab for auto-completion

Next will be, maybe a game of starting the NVIDIA installer, seeing that you don’t have somehing installed, exit the installer, go in Synaptic and install the missing parts and going back to the NVIDIA installer:

/etc/init.d/gdm3 stop INFO: i use GNOME so for me it’s gdm3

Navigate to where you have the NVIDIA drivers with cd and start the installer:

./NVIDIA[use Tab for auto-complete]

If everything is ok following the installer, answer ‘yes‘ when it asks to configure X and if there are no errors go back in X window system with /etc/init.d/gdm3 start and enjoy the 3D power.

If the installer tells you that you missing something, you must exit the installer, start X (see above), go in Synaptic and install the missing parts, stop X again and restart the NVIDIA installer. I repeated that about 3 times i think, but it was ok, consider it an exercise and the next time you’ll install the graphics like a pro.:)

It asks me about a package version 4.4 and i had 4.3 installed, i ignored the warning, continued and everything went fine.

Now having flash player installed, having the sound working and the 3D at it’s glory i am set to start working, so guys, have fun!!!

[EDITED – by @erbureth guides on identi.ca]

[EDITED AGAIN – by Nickmind guides in the comments]

How to install things on Linux [Ubuntu]

As much as you love Minesweeper or Super Tux, soon in life you come to a point when you will want to install new software (usually from the internet repositories in Linux).

I’m not an expert on Linux nor programming but this is how i think about Linux and based on my experience, it’s how a newbie would want to get help.

In Ubuntu Linux i have found 4 methods of doing this:

1. Go to Applications > Ubuntu Software Center. Browse and hit install.
2. Go to System > Administration > Synaptic package Manager. Search, mark for installation and hit Apply.
3. In Terminal use: sudo apt-get install [app name or library] – sudo will go into super user mode, this is requiered because applications sometimes put some files in restricted places for the regular user.
4. Because Linux is Open source, there are tones of developers who make Linux software and this kind of software is found on repository servers (which you can install with the first 3 methods or as archives with source files, found on www.sourceforge.net or places like that)

Method 4 in depth: How to install from source files (general scenario):

• download the software/archive
• navigate to the downloaded archive, usually /home/your_user_name/downloads/
• right click the archive > Extract Here and you will get a folder (with …… stuff in it 🙂 )
• find and read files like README or INSTALL (for Windows users – on Linux you don’t need to have file types so if you don’t see .txt or .doc or .exe it’s just fine, if you double click the file you can view it’s contents or run the file)
• now you have to compile those raw sources of the software into a working application and we will use the Terminal here:
• Open a terminal and go into the directory of the sources or visualy navigate in Nautilus in that directory, right-click inside the folder > Open Terminal and you will get a Terminal right into the working current folder.
• type at the prompt:
• ./configure [and press Enter]- things will happen
• make [and press Enter] – things will happen again
• sudo make install [and press Enter]
• type your super user password and press Enter – if everything went ok, you should have a bright clean new application installed.

Troubleshooting:

• after you issue ./configure you get some errors. Software use different libraries that must be installed on the computer prior to installation and ./configure it’s setting up the installation process and will check if all the stuff the software needs (the dependencies) are installed.
• if ./configure will stop with an error, usually you don’t have some library installed. The error, in general will show you very clearly what you are missing.
• install the missing piece very easy with Synaptic Package Manager (Method 2)
• run ./configure again. If you get an error again, go to the above steps to get rid of the new error.
• if ./configure raised no error, continue  with make and sudo make install part.
• in general, make and sudo make install will raise no errors if the ./configure part was ok.

How you can start the application ?

• If the link is not in the Start Menu or on the Desktop, you can type the name of the app in a terminal from the /home/user_name/ folder
• or if you don’t know where the app was installed, try to locate it:
• locate [name_of_app]
• go to the directory of the app and type it’s name and press Enter
• if it doesn’t work, you have to make the app executable by right-clicking > Properties > Permissions and here check Allow execution…. After that double-click on the executable file or type ./[name_of_app]

I am open for corrections, sugestions and more info so feel free to pop in a comment and stay tuned…

P.S. i think this article is full of grammar errors 🙂

Things to do after installing Ubuntu

So let’s say i know that Ubuntu is the best distro for me, i have downloaded the installation CD and i am ready to enter in the wonderful, dream like, wonderland world of Linux.

I will not cover the installation issues, because you have the best installation guides on the official and related websites of your distribution, there is no need for another “how to install ubuntu” tutorial, trust me and as i experienced, there are no real problems to install a Linux distribution even it’s openSuse, Ubuntu etc.

Ubuntu is now installed nice and shiny on your machine, what next?

Open a terminal and type this:

sudo apt-get update

Let’s explain this in the simplest way possible:

• the Terminal will prompt you to enter the root password or super user (notice the su part), enter the password.
• In Ubuntu Terminal, when you want to login a a super user, enter at the prompt:  sudo -s (it will prompt you for the root password)
• The apt-get is the command that installs things, you will use that often. The syntax is apt-get install <name of the file/program to install>. In general, as a normal user you should always include the sudo part so you will use the command like this:  sudo apt-get install <name of the file/program to install>.
• What this command does, it updates and initialise the software repositories (we’ll get into that later). For short, repositories or repos are online(or not) containers for software/libraries/games etc.
• Until i’ve done this, i couldn’t go to Ubuntu Software Center and install any software.

Now if you want to install software, you can go to Applications>>Ubuntu Software Center, search for the thing you are looking for and hit install.

Have fun!