[RLUG] Debian 3.1 Sarge

[Todd A. Jacobs]

On Sun, Jan 01, 2006 at 04:00:53PM -0500, jennifertf at excite.com wrote:

> I just installed Debian 3.1 Sarge on my hard drive.  It was a
> difficult install; it kept complaining about missing drivers.

Depending on which installer you used, and what sort of hardware you
have, drivers can sometimes be an issue. I've noticed this especially
with newer SATA controllers.

In these situations, you're usually better off booting Knoppix to
identify all your hardware first. Debian really should do a better job
of hardware detection, IMHO.

> When I finally booted it up all I got was a login prompt.  I logged

The basic Debian install is pretty sparse by design. I think this is a
good thing, because I spend more time stripping things *out* of Fedora
and Red Hat installs than I do adding things in on Debian. My main
server is a "bloated" Debian install at 500M; I could have trimmed it
down much further if needed. No other mainstream distro comes close in
terms of compactness and maintainability, IMHO.

You probably skipped the task selection during the install, which allows
you to select things like a GUI desktop or other pre-packaged services.
It's not too late, though. Just rerun /usr/sbin/base-config.

Alternatively, you can use aptitude to install an entire desktop. The
Debian documentation will tell you what packages are required; I think
there are two or three meta-packages that you'll need, but I'm afraid I
can't recall what they are off the top of my head.

Once you know the package names, though, it's a matter of minutes to get
them installed over a broadband connection.

-- 
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