Getting started with Debian - help with Xwindows [General Linux]

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From: Jim Backus on 20 Oct 2006 19:40

I've been meaning to install one of the Linux distros for some time,
but when I decided to do it a few days ago it was apparent that the
packaged distros I had were getting a bit old, so I set about a
network installation of Debian. I downloaded floppy images and created
bootable disks. Ran the installation and on the second attempt have
got a working Base installation of Debian.

However I don't have a working X Windows system, only a command line
interface. It looks as though the Debian way is to modify the apt-get
source file so that it knows where to look for the X packages. If
that's all there is to it, that should be easy enough, but any
guidance on details and pitfalls would be very helpful.

TIA

Jim
--
Jim Backus OS/2 user since 1994
bona fide replies to j <dot> backus <the circle thingy> jita <dot>
demon <dot> co <dot> uk

From: John-Paul Stewart on 20 Oct 2006 20:07

Jim Backus wrote:
>
> I've been meaning to install one of the Linux distros for some time,
> but when I decided to do it a few days ago it was apparent that the
> packaged distros I had were getting a bit old, so I set about a
> network installation of Debian. I downloaded floppy images and created
> bootable disks. Ran the installation and on the second attempt have
> got a working Base installation of Debian.
>
> However I don't have a working X Windows system, only a command line
> interface. It looks as though the Debian way is to modify the apt-get
> source file so that it knows where to look for the X packages.

There's no need to modify /etc/apt/sources.list; the X packages should
be in the same repositories as everything else. You just need to
'apt-get install xorg'. You'll also want a window manager (fvwm, for
example) or a desktop environment (kde, for example).

From: Jim Backus on 21 Oct 2006 04:26

From: s. keeling on 21 Oct 2006 14:01

Jim Backus <jhb(a)nospam.co.uk>:
> On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:07:11 UTC, John-Paul Stewart
> <jpstewart(a)binaryfoundry.ca> wrote:
>
> > Jim Backus wrote:
> > >
> > > However I don't have a working X Windows system, only a command line
> > > interface. It looks as though the Debian way is to modify the apt-get
> > > source file so that it knows where to look for the X packages.
> >
> > There's no need to modify /etc/apt/sources.list; the X packages should
> > be in the same repositories as everything else. You just need to
> > 'apt-get install xorg'. You'll also want a window manager (fvwm, for
> > example) or a desktop environment (kde, for example).
>
> Thanks - no doubt there will be more questions. One step at a time!

Welcome, :-) and in case you didn't know it, this list is archived
and is searchable. In google, add "site:lists.debian.org" as one of
the search parameters and you'll get Debian specific answers.

--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling Linux Counter #80292
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From: Jim Backus on 22 Oct 2006 05:59

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:07:11 UTC, John-Paul Stewart
<jpstewart(a)binaryfoundry.ca> wrote:

> Jim Backus wrote:
> >
> > However I don't have a working X Windows system, only a command line
> > interface. It looks as though the Debian way is to modify the apt-get
> > source file so that it knows where to look for the X packages.
>
> There's no need to modify /etc/apt/sources.list; the X packages should
> be in the same repositories as everything else. You just need to
> 'apt-get install xorg'. You'll also want a window manager (fvwm, for
> example) or a desktop environment (kde, for example).

Running 'apt-get install xorg' results in a message saying 'couldn't
find package xorg'. The entries in my 'sources.list' file are:

#deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ sarge main

deb ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ stable main
deb-src ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ stable main

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main

I found aptitude and selected the X packages there including icewm.
All downloaded fine and then went into X setup. However I still
haven't got a working X windows system. X crashes apparently reporting
that the mouse is not setup. Even after reading up on the mouse set up
for X on the web I've been unable to get X running. Another issue is
that when X starts I get a corrupted screen so the monitor setup is
probably wrong too. As X was starting automatically, I've uninstalled
it, again using aptitude.

Any further advice much appreciated. Specifically on getting 'apt-get'
to work. I'd also like to know where the script is that starts X
automatically, then I'd be able to disable it until I've been able to
set it up correctly - it seems stupid to uninstall just to prevent it
running.

On the plus side, I'm gradually learning about bash and where stuff is
stored - I found and installed Regina-Rexx which is a favourite
scripting language - a benefit of the OS/2 experience :-) I've used vi
and still think it is a horrible editor (I last used a DOS version in
the late 1980s)

--
Jim Backus running OS/2 Warp 3 & 4, Debian Linux and Win98SE
bona fide replies to j <dot> backus <the circle thingy> jita <dot>
demon <dot> co <dot> uk

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