jperez
December 24th, 2007, 07:35 AM
I figured this was the best place to put it since it's a Debian forum.
I am making this tutorial for those that are just starting out with Linux and don't want to have Ubuntu/Kubuntu since it seems a little bloated, just because of the many programs that you may never use, or have Ubuntu/Kubuntu and don't want the bloat.
Take me for instance. When I first installed Ubuntu on my laptop a few months ago and now have Kubuntu on my PC, it has many other programs that I have no need for! What did I do? I discovered Debian Etch 4.0 and it's Net Install CD. Well, when I installed GNOME and KDE, there was still quite a bit of bloat to it since GNOME and KDE come with their own programs and it can run your space and sometimes your resources down a few notches. This is especially true of older or low disk space machines.
It took me a while, but with the tidbits of info I found on the internet, I was finally able to achieve my goal.
What you will need:
Debian Etch 4.0r1 (Stable) Net Install CD [ISO] (http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/)
An internet connection (broadband recommended)
At least 2GB of space
To start off, make sure to get the ISO that relates to your PC. Once you've downloaded and burned the ISO, it's time to start!
Put the CD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive and reboot your computer. When it comes up to the Debian Install startup screen, press enter and the the text installation should start.
Select all options that apply to you and keep an eye out for a dialog box asking about using a network mirror. When this screen comes up, choose No. Choose to install GRUB and let the install finish.
If the install stops at a certain point with an error that won't let you proceed, even if it says you can skip it but won't let you, then simply restart your PC and try again.
Now, here's where the real fun begins.
When the PC restarts and it gets to the UNIX login screen, login as root and use the password you provided for the root account during the install.
Once logged in, type:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
And put this into the file:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
Make sure to comment out the CD-ROM repository entry by putting a number sign (#) in front of it, like this:
# deb cdrom:...
Save it (Ctrl+O) and exit (Ctrl+X) and type in:
apt-get update
This will update the repositories list. Once you it's done, we're going to install the base core files needed to run a visual desktop environment, or just the desktop. As an example, we'll use GNOME, so type in:
apt-get install xorg gnome-core gdm
This will setup the XOrg server, GNOME core files and the GNOME Display Manager onto your machine. If you want KDE, type:
apt-get install xorg kde-core kdm
Now, for the Display Manager (login manager), you can use a very limited, simplistic one. That that, instead of gdm/kdm, use xdm.
Now, most people don't want to have to work on the terminal all the time. For me, I like the full control of the terminal over a GUI like Synaptic, but for the sake of those that are starting out or just plain don't like the CLI (Command-Line Interface), type in:
apt-get install synaptic dwww deborphan libgnome2-perl
After all that is done, reboot and let it start up. You're set! Now you can install a File Manager, Web Browser, Music player, etc of your choice.
Another thing you can do is if you've had a different distribution before and decided to try something new and want to have the same programs, then simply go to the Synaptic Manager and do this:
File -> Generate package download script
This will generate a shell (terminal) script to download all the packages you've installed on the other distro so they can be downloaded and installed on your new install.
MANY more thanks to indigo196 for helping me with the shorter version of the minimal install, addition of Synaptic and the suggestion to include the generated script for new systems.
Have fun!
Jesse~
I am making this tutorial for those that are just starting out with Linux and don't want to have Ubuntu/Kubuntu since it seems a little bloated, just because of the many programs that you may never use, or have Ubuntu/Kubuntu and don't want the bloat.
Take me for instance. When I first installed Ubuntu on my laptop a few months ago and now have Kubuntu on my PC, it has many other programs that I have no need for! What did I do? I discovered Debian Etch 4.0 and it's Net Install CD. Well, when I installed GNOME and KDE, there was still quite a bit of bloat to it since GNOME and KDE come with their own programs and it can run your space and sometimes your resources down a few notches. This is especially true of older or low disk space machines.
It took me a while, but with the tidbits of info I found on the internet, I was finally able to achieve my goal.
What you will need:
Debian Etch 4.0r1 (Stable) Net Install CD [ISO] (http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/)
An internet connection (broadband recommended)
At least 2GB of space
To start off, make sure to get the ISO that relates to your PC. Once you've downloaded and burned the ISO, it's time to start!
Put the CD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive and reboot your computer. When it comes up to the Debian Install startup screen, press enter and the the text installation should start.
Select all options that apply to you and keep an eye out for a dialog box asking about using a network mirror. When this screen comes up, choose No. Choose to install GRUB and let the install finish.
If the install stops at a certain point with an error that won't let you proceed, even if it says you can skip it but won't let you, then simply restart your PC and try again.
Now, here's where the real fun begins.
When the PC restarts and it gets to the UNIX login screen, login as root and use the password you provided for the root account during the install.
Once logged in, type:
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
And put this into the file:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
Make sure to comment out the CD-ROM repository entry by putting a number sign (#) in front of it, like this:
# deb cdrom:...
Save it (Ctrl+O) and exit (Ctrl+X) and type in:
apt-get update
This will update the repositories list. Once you it's done, we're going to install the base core files needed to run a visual desktop environment, or just the desktop. As an example, we'll use GNOME, so type in:
apt-get install xorg gnome-core gdm
This will setup the XOrg server, GNOME core files and the GNOME Display Manager onto your machine. If you want KDE, type:
apt-get install xorg kde-core kdm
Now, for the Display Manager (login manager), you can use a very limited, simplistic one. That that, instead of gdm/kdm, use xdm.
Now, most people don't want to have to work on the terminal all the time. For me, I like the full control of the terminal over a GUI like Synaptic, but for the sake of those that are starting out or just plain don't like the CLI (Command-Line Interface), type in:
apt-get install synaptic dwww deborphan libgnome2-perl
After all that is done, reboot and let it start up. You're set! Now you can install a File Manager, Web Browser, Music player, etc of your choice.
Another thing you can do is if you've had a different distribution before and decided to try something new and want to have the same programs, then simply go to the Synaptic Manager and do this:
File -> Generate package download script
This will generate a shell (terminal) script to download all the packages you've installed on the other distro so they can be downloaded and installed on your new install.
MANY more thanks to indigo196 for helping me with the shorter version of the minimal install, addition of Synaptic and the suggestion to include the generated script for new systems.
Have fun!
Jesse~