Debian Day 2

[Pinske]

I've decided (assuming no one has a problem) to document my progress my learning period of Debian. As I just got it yesterday, there will probably be a good deal of material covered and asked that every one can benefit from. That, and it will be interesting to look back at my progress over time. I've decided to put it in this section simply based on the fact that I am a newbie myself, and the problems listed will most likely b novice ones.

Anyway.

So, About 3 days ago I finally got red up with Vista, and it taking almost and hour to start my computer, so I went around randomly rage deleting anything and everything I saw, when this didn't fix the problem (I wasn't expecting it to) I simply formatted my drive, then sat there staring angrily for a second thinking to myself. "There, now it only takes 5 seconds to start"
This, however, didn't really fix my problem so much as give me temporary satisfaction. I knew, that in the end I needed a new OS entirely. First of all, I tried putting on XP, because I had experience with it being a good OS, however my computer wouldn't accept it. So I tried Window's 7, and got the same deal.

After some thoughts, decisions, and a little internet browsing I figured Linux was my only option, so I downloaded Red Hat, as it was the first one I found. This was a mistake, as it was Red Hat Enterprise. I spent 2 hours angry and confused, wondering why all the help files I could find were based off of making a network, until finally I was told "That's what an enterprise is" So, I cursed loudly, and did some actual research in to what Linux I should get. Finally I came across Debian, and it was downloaded 8 hours later.

This 8 hours was spent looking at Debain guides, playing MW2 on ps3, and sitting around impatiently. When the moment finally arrived, it was like Christmas morning. The 10 minutes it took to burn to a dvd were almost unbearable, but finally I had it in my hands. I popped the disk in to my drive and sat there in palpable excitement as the installation screen loaded before my eyes.

It went rather smoothly, but the first hurdle I crossed was in setting up the wireless. It wasn't a big one though, I simply downloaded the missing driver on a different computer and threw it on a thumb stick, which worked fine. Then manually set up the wireless, because it kept trying to connect to somr one elses for some bizzare reason. But here I am now, wireless working and on the internet.

Secondly was setting up flash and java. That was a short lived but noticable annoyance. I couldn't unpack in through X, so I was stuck in my Microsoft derived rut, I still was unacustomed to using the terminal. After doing a 10 minute search I found the solution to unpacking .deb files and away I went, downloading all sorts of fun little packets which made me feel tech-savy. Typing things in to unpack, oh dear how skillful. It's good to know switching to Linux hasn't damaged my sarcasm at all.

So now I sit here wondering what my next step will be. I think I'll get firefox and set it as default browser and put it in the aps folder and tool bar, or get skype to start working. If any one has suggestions as to what I should do next give me a shout. No need to explain how, I'll ask if I get stumped.

Thats all for now, cheers.

[shtromm]

Ok, with all due respect: Debian is a great distribution, my personal favour. But: It is not a starter's distribution.

Just an example: Flashplayer. I know, after 6 years of working and administrating debian, that debian's iceweasel in the "stable"-tree is ages behind firefox' latest release. So I do install install firefox manually and "cheat" debain by making a plugin at "/opt/plugin" to which I copy or symbolic-link manually all plugins (including the libflashplayer.so). I need to make from firefox and iceweasel a symbolic link of the plugin-directories.

I also "cheat" debian by installing Gimp and sane/xsane from the sources and OpenOffice from the deb-tar-file.

That is fine with me, as a person having 20 years experience with UNIX. It is not fine with a "newby".

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To be honest: You either can go the "hard way" and learn Linux the "debian-way" and after a (perhaps hard) Learning Curve you will be very literate, or take an easy way and use distributions like Scientific Linux or Ubuntu, which are much more user-friendly.

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As so often with Linux: It is your choice.

[Pinske]

Well, I don't plan on going back to windows, so if the initial learning curve is difficult so be it. I've never been one to give up easily, or take the easy road. If it's hard, but in the long term gives me a better understanding so be it. I look foreward to the challange. If, after a few months/weeks of using Debian I can't take it anymore, I'll switch to Ubuntu as you suggest, but not before at least attempting this version.

[oz]

If, after a few months/weeks of using Debian I can't take it anymore, I'll switch to Ubuntu as you suggest, but not before at least attempting this version.

As long as you are having fun with it and enjoying the experience, I'd recommend continuing in your current path. If it becomes too much work and no fun, there are plenty of options that you can go with.

Best of luck to you!

[Jonathan183]

Good luck with you Debian adventure

Your first post mentions unpacking .deb files. I strongly recommend using the package manager for whichever distro you end up using. For Debian that means using Aptitude, Synaptic, apt-get etc see here

Debian is not my distro of choice but if it was I would use Aptitude ... use the package manager whenever you can, and only install stuff manually when you are really forced to

[oz]

Your first post mentions unpacking .deb files. I strongly recommend using the package manager for whichever distro you end up using. For Debian that means using Aptitude, Synaptic, apt-get etc see here

I never cared much for aptitude myself, but apt was very good and as someone pointed out in another thread recently, synaptic can spoil a user in a hurry!

[Jonathan183]

I never cared much for aptitude myself, but apt was very good and as someone pointed out in another thread recently, synaptic can spoil a user in a hurry!

Synaptic needs x to be working which can be an issue every now and then.

I think you can do most things with Aptitude that you can do with Apt-get, you can use it at the cli which I prefer. But unlike apt-get you can also use the ncurses interface and browse software available etc. Also go the impression from a thread similar to this that aptitude would be better to use.

The reason for my post was just to give a bit of advice about using a package manager synaptic,apt-get or aptitude are all an improvement on dealing directly with .deb or compiling directly from source .

[Pinske]

The package manager doesn't seem to work a lot for me. More often than not it says the file is not supported so I just sudo pkg -i filename.deb it.

[Pinske]

Oh my, this would explain a lot. I was having a lot of issues with compatibility, even with linux programs. But, after getting this Aptitude and simply typing in apt-get upgrade, it's been running for a good 20 minutes upgrading all my old software. Hopefully this will increase my ease of use.

[Cobalt60]

Debian is the OS I use most and is also my favorite. All I have to say is I have had issues, and given up on Linux for months at a time. However, I too got fed up with Windows and am now permanently on Debian. Its not too bad to learn and is well worth it. I highly recommend the Debian forum located at:

Debian User Forums • Index page

I recently was looking for alternatives to Debian, to see what else is out there. I tried OpenSuse, Fedora, and Ubuntu. Gotta say, I really have no interest in anything but a Debian based distro. So, Ubuntu is not too bad. But I did not like Fedora or OpenSuse, and presumably, any distro that primarily uses rpm based package management. I mean, I really really like Synaptic.

So, I say stick with Debian. You seem to have already figured out the hardest part (wireless), so I think everything else should be easy. But, if for some reason you have a problem with Debian, Id say go Ubuntu or another Debian based distro.

Just my 2.6 cents

-Chris P