Just got hold of a copy of the serie Ghost Whisperer, and it shall be interesting to see how it is. I have always been interested in weird stuff, sci-fi and supernatural things. I don’t believe in ghost and stuff like that but i do enjoy watching it….

 Christina Milian 

ASHANTI

I have started an wiki at wikidot.com to have a place where i can post longer guides. The blog format makes it a bit hard to do longer and more complex guides. However, i will focus mainly on this wiki when i publish stuff. Mostly because of limitations in wikidot, where they don’t have a file upload feature yet. And a lot of guides needs images, right?

Well, the wiki have been registered and some minor work has been done. No interesting reading there yet though. But keep your eyes open and you will soon have more stuff to read

Managing updates in Debian is real easy. A reminder shows you when new updates are available, and tells you how many.

1. A bubble tells you that there are updates available.
Click on the orange icon to start the updater…

2. A window appears and tells you which updates are available.

3. If you agree to do the update, the software will fetch the files…

4. …and then install them…

5. …and when its done it will tell you so.

Thats all you need to do to keep your system up to date

This is a short guide on how to manage packages in Debian. I hope that its enough information to get you going. There are two ways to install packages in Debian, either in the terminal with the command “apt-get” or with Synaptics which is a gui-frontend for apt-get.

If you are new to Linux or like graphical interfaces (gui) then Synaptics is for you. Its good though to learn to use the shell. This guide will only go through the basics of installing software. I will in later guides talk about updates, uninstalling packages and more.

Apt-get in a Commandline interface

1. First you need to  log in as root, and that you do with the su command…

2. Then you use the apt-get install command to install a software of your choice

3. You will see a process where apt-get is fetching the package and installing it.

4. If you have installed a lot of packages, there will be a good idea to run “apt-get clean”.
This will erase all downloaded packages that have been used for installing the software.

Using Synaptics

1. As with commandline one needs to use root for synaptics. Synaptics is found
in the menu. When you have logged in you will see the main window and
software are in sections. Here you can browse for apps by its main category.

2. Add a repositorie. Here you can activate more repos.  Click on add new
to add more. If you have found repos that needs to be added manually see next window.

3. Here you add new repos manually.

4. Press the Search button to search for a specific application.

5. It the package you search for is found it will look like this.

6. Click on the square next to the name and mark it to be installed. Then
when you have made your choices you click on the apply button.

7. When you have clicked on the apply button, a new window will appear
and tell you whats going to happen. Click to continue with installation.

8. Synaptics will now download and install the selected packages.

9. And when its done, it will tell you so

This is a guide for installing Debian 4 on a standard pc. I will try to be as detailed as possible. I have chosen Debian for my computers because it is quite simple, it saves time and most things work without any hassle.

I don’t have any favorites amongst all those Linuxdistributions that are available. I would run Slackware if i had the time and the energy for it. Considering my lack of time and energy, Debian seems to be the best choice for me. Also their repositories are huge (program archives). Most applications that i need is in the standard repos.

I am using the Debian 4 netinstall version. This one only needs one cd, and gets the rest from the internet during installation.

Well, off we go…

=My hardware=
The computer in question are an older pc, 700mhz, 700mb ram, 16mb nvidia graphics, 2 harddrives (20gb and 60gb), a 15″ monitor.

=Choose Language=
Here we will choose the language we need for our system. For me it will be Swedish.

=Choose Keyboardlayout=
Now its time to choose what kind of keyboardlayout we need. Here it will be Swedish (latin1) for me.

=Identifying Hardware=
Here the installation software will search for hardware.

=Adding components=
Here the installation software will add components thats needed

=Configure network=
Now its time to configure our network. Start by chosing an hostname. Then choose a domainname, either the one from your ISP or one of your own.

=Identifying hardware=
The installation software identifies your hardrives and more.

=Partition harddrives=
Now its time to create partitions on our harddrive(s). Here there are some options:

* Guide – use entire disk
* Guide – use entire disk with LVM
* Guide – use entire disk with crypt LVM
* Manual

I will use manual because Debians installer doesn’t seem to handle two harddrives. I will create an partition table that looks like this:

* / – A rootpartition for the main system (1GB)
* /usr – A usr partition for software and more (10GB)
* /etc – An etc partition for configfiles and more (6GB)
* /tmp – An tmp partition (3GB)
* swap – An swap partition (1GB)
* /var – An var partition for logfiles, www and more (30GB)
* /home – An home partition for personal files (30GB)

I will choose ReiserFS for the filesystem. I choose this because i have had the best experience with ReiserFS.

=Partitions are prepared=
Now the installation software will format and prepare those partitions that have been created.

=Choose a root password=
Now its time to choose a root password. Root is the system administration account and here we will need a strong password with at least 13 letters/numbers/symbols. Never use names or words or any thing else that can be easily guessed. Mix numbers, letters and symbols.

=Create a normal user=
Now its time to create an normal user. This is the account we will use when we are logging in. Choose a strong password here to. Doesnt need to be as strong as the root password though.

=Installing system=
Now the installation software will install the base system. It will take a while depending on your hardware.

=Configure the package manager=
Now its time to configure the package manager. If one uses the netinstall cd which i am, one should choose yes here. If not one will get a really basic system. Choose which country you want to pick a repositorie from, and then an ftp address of your choice.

=Choose package categories=
Here we can use what kind of package categories we need. If it should have desktop things, webserver, fileserver and more. Make your choices and continue.

=Installing software=
Now the installation software will install based on your previous choice. This will take a few minutes…

=Install Grub=
Now its time to choose if Grub should be installed or not.

=Finishing installation=
Now the installation is being finished. Time to remove the install-cd and reboot. And then we will enjoy our new Debian system…