[hemmerling] Debian Linux 1/4

Related page:

• Debian Linux 2/4.
• Debian Linux 3/4.
• Debian Linux 4/4.
• Linux 1/8.
• Linux 2/8 - Linux Distributions.
• Linux Skills & Skill Certification.

• Persistant partition size = “0” GB.
• Partition Scheme: “MBR”.
• Target system: “BIOS or UEFI”.
• [x] List USB Hard Drives.
• [x] Add fixes for old BIOSes ( extra partition, align, ect. ).
• [_] Enable runtime UEFI media validation.

• Persistant partition size = “3” GB.
• Partition Scheme: “MBR”.
• Target system: “BIOS or UEFI”.
• [x] List USB Hard Drives.
• [x] Add fixes for old BIOSes ( extra partition, align, ect. ).
• [_] Enable runtime UEFI media validation.
  • UEFI media validation might be very time intensive, thats why there is the option at boot time ”[Press any key to cancel]”.
  • “Debian Live” offers the menu item “Utilities... / Verify integrity of the boot medium”.

• File system: “FAT32 ( Default )”.
• [x] Quick Format.
• [x] Create extended label and icon files.
• [_] Check device for bad blocks.

• Rufus message sometimes, when trying to transfer a “Debian 12” or “Debian 12 Live” image to a USB stick:

  The image you have selected is an "ISOHybrid" image.
  (x) Write in ISO Image mode ( Recommended ).
  (_) Write in DD Image mode.

• I selected “ISO”.
• Debian Wiki "DebianInstall".
  • “Creating a Bootable Debian USB Flashdrive... To create a bootable USB drive from Microsoft Windows or Mac OS a usable choice is Rufus. Warning: Rufus has 2 writing modes “ISO” and “DD” mode, which you can select just before writing begins. For Debian installer images or Debian live images, you MUST select the “DD” writing mode – ISO mode will alter the copy of the image on the target media (confirmed August 27, 2021, using rufus version 3.15)”.
  • My experience: Rufus 4.9.2256 doesn't detect ISOHybrid mode of “Debian Live” or “Debian Installer” images and so doesn't offer “DD” mode. But everything works fine .
• GitHub "pbatard / rufus" Issues - "DD mode gone in version 3?".

• Rufus message, when trying to transfer a “Debian Live 12.10” image to a USB stick, for the first time:

  Download required.
  This image uses Grub 2.06-13-deb12u1 but the application only includes the installation files for Grub 2.12.
  
  As different versions of Grub may not be compatible with one another, and it is not possible to include them all, Rufus will attempt to locate a version of the Grub installation file ( "core.img" ) that mateches the one from your image.
  
  - Select "Yes" to connect to the Internet and attempt to download it.
  - Select "no" to use the default version from Rufus.
  - Select "Cancel" to abort the operation.
  
  Note: The file will be downloaded in the current application directory and will be reused automatically if present. If no match can be found online, then the default version will be used.
  

• I selected “Yes”.

• Rufus message, when trying to transfer a “Arch Linux” image to a USB stick, for the first time:

  This image uses Syslinux 6.03 but the application only includes the installation files for Syslinux 6.04/pre1.
  As new versions of Syslinux are not compatible with one another, and it wouldn't be possible for Rufus to include them all, two additional files must be downloaded from the Internet ( "ldlinux.sys" and "ldlinux.bss" ):
  
    -Select "Yes" to connect to the Internet and download these files.
    -Select "No" to cancel the operation.
  
  Note: The files will be downloaded in the current application directory and will be reused automatically if present.

• I selected “Yes”.

• Rufus message, when trying to transfer a “Linux Mint” image to a USB stick, for the first time:

  This image uses Syslinux 6.04/20240408 but the application only includes the installation files for Syslinux 6.04/pre1.
  As new versions of Syslinux are not compatible with one another, and it wouldn't be possible for Rufus to include them all, two additional files must be downloaded from the Internet ( "ldlinux.sys" and "ldlinux.bss" ):
  
    -Select "Yes" to connect to the Internet and download these files.
    -Select "No" to cancel the operation.
  
  Note: The files will be downloaded in the current application directory and will be reused automatically if present.

• I selected “Yes”.

• Does it work, to create first a bootable USB stick by the “Rufus” ISO2USB tool, and then to copy the 2 additonal DVDS into subdirectories “debian2” and “debian3”?
  1. Sufficient disk space on a 14GB USB stick? YES, for Debian 10.7
  2. Does the installer “aptitude” find the installable applications, if the USB stick is available at ”/media/cdrom/”, by soft link ? Yes, it finds and scans the directories of the 2nd and 3rd DVD ( e.g. “debian2”, “debian3” ), properly .

• Installation Parameters.
  • Language = “English”.
  • Region = “Ireland”. It isn't possible to set “Germany” as region .
  • Keyboard = “Germany”.
• Debian Gnome app “Settings”:
  • “Automatic Time Zone” = “UTC+2 = CEST ( Berlin, Germany )”.
• “Detect and mount installation media” - If there is the error message “The detected media cannot be used for installation”, then there is a real hardware / software problem with the USB stick, by which you want to install Linux .
• “Software selection”.
  • [x] Debian desktop environment.
    • Debian Wiki "DesktopEnvironment#How_it_works" - How_it_works:
      • Accepting this selection installs the GNOME desktop environment.
      • Without deselecting the desktop environment, another entry, GNOME included, may be selected. This will install that selection.
      • Unticking Debian desktop environment and selecting a desktop environment leads to the Debian desktop environment set being installed.
  • [x] GNOME.
  • [_] Xfce.
  • [_] GNOME Flashback.
  • [_] KDE Plasma.
  • [_] Cinnamon.
  • [_] MATE.
  • [_] LXDE.
  • [_] LXQt.
  • [x] web server.
  • [x] SSH server.
  • [x] standard system utilities.

• Samba server is preinstalled, but not yet activated.
• MX Linux is a “MX Linux Live” system with option for harddisk installation.
  • User: “demo”, password: “demo”.
  • Superuser: “root”, password: “root”.

• Linux Mint is a “Linux Mint Live” installation system with option for harddisk installation.
• Installation option ”[x] install multimedia codecs”

• Free RAM memory, on Debian systems with additonal installations ( ”[x] web server”, ”[x] SSH server”, ”[x] standard system utilities”:

Desktop	free -m			cat /proc/swaps	Comment
	Mem: total	Mem: available	Swap: used	”/dev/sda5 Used
Debian, GNOME	23909	21883	0	0	Just for comparison
Debian, GNOME	1839	798	0	524
Debian, Xfce	1839	1244	0	0
Debian, GNOME Flashback	1839	795	0	268
Debian, KDE Plasma, gdm3	1839	993	0	0
Debian, KDE Plasma, sddm	1839	1011	0	0
Debian, Cinnamon	1839	743 .. 937 .. 946	0	0	“Mem: available” is instable
Debian, MATE	1839	1254	0	0
Debian, LXDE	1839	1391	0	0	Lowest memory usage
Debian, LXQt	1839	1273	0	0
MX Linux, Xfce	1839	1055	0	0
MX Linux, KDE	1839	970	0	0
MX Linux, Fluxbox	1839	1346	0	0
Linux Mint, Cinnamon	1839 ??	?	0	0
Linux Mint, Xfce	1839	?	0	0
Linux Mint, MATE	1839	?	0	0

• Attention, the “Mem: available” values at boot time may vary, i.e. must not be the same as in this table, even after a reboot. Especially after some desktop activities ( open a terminal, executing a terminal command,.. ) it decreases.

• Debian Linux 12.10 sets the swap space to 1 GB filespace, no matter of the size of the computer RAM.

• Experts told me in the late 1990th, that even if a PC just has 16 or 32 MByte RAM, the Linux swapspace should be 128 MB on the harddisk.

• phoenixNAP "Swap Space in Linux: What It Is & How It Works"#.
  • “CentOS... Swap space should be twice the size of RAM in case the RAM amount is below 2 GB”.
  • “Ubuntu/Debian... If there is less than 1GB of RAM, the swap size should be at least the amount of RAM and, at most, double the amount of RAM. If there is more than 1GB of RAM, the swap size should be at least the square root of the RAM amount and, at most, double the RAM amount.

    cat /proc/swaps
    free -m

• The update process for “Debian Live 12.10” doesn't work properly: The keyboard is not recognized after a system update . Therefore best is to prevent automatic updates:
  • Desktop app “Software” - Burger menu “Update Preferences”.
    • “Automatic Updates” = “OFF”.
    • “Automatic Update Notifications” = “OFF”.

• Typical often modal window, when operating a “Debian Live” installation from a very-slow device, e.g. a 8 GB USB stick :

  "Firefox ESR" is not responding. 
  You may choose to wait a short while for it to continue or force
  the application to quit entirely.
  BUTTON "Force Quit".
  BUTTON "Wait".
  

• Application “Settings” - “Network / Wired / IP4 /Manual”.
  • Addresses “192.168.178.3”, Netmask “0.0.0.0”, Gateway “192.168.178.1”.

• Add the local hosts name “node1” ( DSL router ) & “node4” ( where the local web server is running ) to ”/etc/hosts” of device “node3”:

  127.0.0.1 localhost 
  127.0.1.1 node3 node3
  192.168.178.1 node4 node1
  192.168.178.4 node4 node4

• If checked by Debian Linux installation, OpenSSH is properly installed and started as service at boot time.
• Phoenixnap "How to Enable SSH on Debian 12".

• “OpenSSH” is optional, preinstalled feature. Check if it is installed by “System ( Settings ) / Optional features” - “OpenSSH Client”.
• Connect to Debian Linux PC ( 192.168.178.3, “node3” ), default user “node3”

  ssh node3@192.168.178.3
  ssh node3@node3
  

• Default user:

  $printenv
  PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
  

• su ( root ):

  $su
  $printenv
  PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
  

• su - ( root ):

  $su -
  $printenv
  PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
  

$su -
Password:
# $apt install sudo
$usermod -aG sudo USERNAME
$getent group sudo

• Add the USERNAME ( of the user as which you are logged in ) to the group “sudoers”.
  1. ( Open a terminal ).
  2. su root
  3. ( Input root password. root is already member of the group “sudoers” ).
  4. apt-get install sudo -y
  5. su -
  6. adduser username sudo
  7. logout
  8. chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers
  9. exit
  10. sudo reboot
  11. ( Input root password ).
  12. ( reboot manually if “sudo reboot” doesn't work )

• “sudo su” & lowercase ( ”-L” ) or lowercase ( ”- -Login” ):

  sudo su -l
  sudo su --login
  

• With Debian Linux, the default user is not member of the group “sudoers”. This is unexpected, from point of use of an Ubuntu user!!!
  • If you try any administrative tasks starting with “sudo”, even after giving the right password, you are rejected by

    Username Is Not In The Sudoers File. This Incident Will Be Reported

  • Especially, the “GDebi Package Installer” quits without error message after entering the right password .
• EN.Wikipedia "su (Unix)", DE.Wikipedia "su (Unix)".
• EN.Wikipedia "sudo", DE.Wikipedia "sudo".
• Debian Wiki "sudo".
• Debian:
  • reddit "/r/linuxquestions" - "bash: usermod: command not found (in latest Debian 11 install)" - “You probably used su to become root. Try using su - instead”.
  • CloudPanel "How to Add User to Sudoers in Debian".
  • StackExchange "Username is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported".
  • StackExchange "bash: adduser: command not found [Debian Buster]".
  • TechRepublic "How to install sudo on a Debian minimal server".
  • Debian Forum "Unterschied su und su - root ?".
    • “Es genügt su -, und durch den Bindestrich bekommst du eine login-shell, was dir die Umgebungsvariablen des Benutzers gibt, zu dem du wechselst (ohne Angabe ist das root)”.
    • “Der PATH, der bei su gesetzt wird, beinhaltet nicht mehr /sbin und /usr/sbin, wodurch einige Programme nicht mehr durch Kurzeingabe des Programmnamens erreichbar sind. Durch Langeingabe geht es aber weiterhin”.
  • Debian Forum "Default (Root) Passwort für Debian Live Installation...?", 2012.
  • Switch to “root”:

    sudo su -l
    sudo su --login

• You may also set a new root password:

  sudo passwd root

• Ubuntu:
  • The Geek Stuff "Ubuntu Tips: How To Enable Root User ( Super User ) in Ubuntu".
• Techmint "How to Fix 'Username is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported” in Ubuntu' - This does not work for me.

• You may get the error message “Media change: please insert the disc labeled”, by using the “apt-get install PACKAGE” command.
  • One of the reasons might be, that the operating system was installed by USB stick.
  • Fix:
    1. Commenting out the CD/DVD as source for installation at ”/etc/apt/sources.list”. This makes you depend on Internet installation , but the only way to enable successful operation of “sudo apt-get update” .

       sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
       

    2. If you add the CD/DVD with it's proper title, installation is done by CD/DVD data, but successful operation of “sudo apt-get update” is disabled :

       apt-cdrom add
       

• “aptitude” is not installed by default, with virgin out-of-the-box Debian Linux 12.10. It is an ANSI / VT100 terminal application, i.e. it runs in textmode.
• Installation:

  sudo apt-get install aptitude

• Das Debian Administrationshandbuch "5.4. Pakete mit dpkg handhaben".

• Installation:

  sudo apt-get install gdebi
  

• SIMPLE.Wikipedia "GDebi" - “GDebi is a computer program that runs on Linux and can install .deb packages. It is available with a graphical interface, but also has a command line option”.

• Successful call of the application:

  $sudo /sbin/synyptic
  
  $su
  Password:
  $/sbin/synyptic
  

• The application doesn't start in “su -” ( root ) mode, it quits with an error message

  $su -
  Password:
  $/sbin/synaptic
  Probably you're running Synaptic on Wayland with root permission. Please restart your session without Wayland, or run Synaptic without root permission.
  

• The application is not intented to work in user mode, it displays a notice:

  $/sbin/synaptic
  Starting "Synaptic Package Manager" without administrative privileges. You will not be able to apply any changes, but you can still export the marked changes or creae  download script for them.
  

• Synaptic Package Manager.
• Debian Wiki "Synaptic" - “Synaptic is installed by default in Debian if you choose the desktop task”.
• LinuxQuestions "Run synaptic with Wayland enviroment".
• Debian Users Forum "Wayland,Synaptic continue without administrative privileges".
• Debian Forum "[gelöst]Debian 10 Gnome 3.xx Synaptic unter Wayland".

• Ask Ubuntu "How do I update Ubuntu manually?".

  $sudo apt-get update
  $sudo apt-get upgrade
  $sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
  

• StackExchange "'media change: please insert the disc labeled' when trying to install Ruby on Rails [duplicate]".
  • ”/etc/apt/sources.list”.
• Ubuntu Documentation "AptGet/Howto".

  $apt-get install PACKAGENAME
  $apt-get remove PACKAGENAME
  $apt-get purge PACKAGENAME 
  $apt-get remove --purge PACKAGENAME

• Ubuntu Documentation "AptCdrom".

• askUBUNTU "How do I install a .deb file via the command line?".
• “Unable To Locate Package”.
  • ZoomAdmin "How To Install 'lua-check' Package on Ubuntu".
    1. “sudo apt-get update -y”.
    2. “sudo apt-get install -y lua-check”.
       • Error message “E: Unable to locate package lua-check” .
  • AskUbuntu "Unable to locate package — when the /file/ is right in the directory (it's a .deb) [duplicate]".
  • LinuxForDevices "How to fix 'Unable To Locate Package'? – (Fix with APT Sources)"

• Debian.org Manual Deutsch "Debian worldwide mirror sites".
  • ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/.
  • ftp.de.debian.org/debian/.
    • deb.Debian.org - Be aware! I added these 3 lines ”/etc/apt/sources.list”, but my system was ruined, and I had to reinstall the system with formatting the filesystem -:( :

      deb http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable main
      deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-debug unstable-debug main
      deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-ports unstable main
      

• Debian.org Manual Deutsch "Kapitel 2. Debian-Paketmanagement".
• Debian.org Manual Deutsch "Kapitel 8. Die Debian-Paketverwaltungswerkzeuge".
• Debian Wiki "PackageManagement".
• Debian Wiki "PackageManagementTools".
• Debian Manuals "Chapter 9. Keeping your Debian system up-to-date" - “aptitude is the recommended package manager for Debian GNU/Linux systems”.
• Debian Manuals "Chapter 8. The Debian package management tools".
  1. “8.1.1. dpkg”.
  2. “8.1.2. APT”.
  3. “8.1.3. aptitude”.
  4. “8.1.4. synaptic”.
  5. “8.1.5. tasksel”.
  6. “8.1.6.1. dpkg-deb”.

• Ubuntu documentation "Maximize and unmaximize a window" - Valid infos for both Debian Linux with GNOME desktop & Ubuntu Linux.
  • There is no button in the application window at the Debian desktop, in opposite to Windows desktop.
  • However, there are function keys to maximize a window, and to return to the individual window size:
    • With “Super” key = “Windows key” on modern PC keyboards:
      • “Windows-Key + Cursur-Up” - Maximize window to desktop size. “Windows-Key + Cursur-Down” - Unmaximize window.
    • “ALT + F10” to toggle between maximized window size and unmaximized window size.

• Ask Ubuntu "What is the '.Trash-1000' folder and how to delete it?" - “This is the folder of you paperbin”.

• I may start graphical applications like “geedit”, while beeing “su”.
• If I try to start graphical applications like “geedit”, while beeing “su -”, the program execution is rejected by the error message:

  Gtk-WARNING **: 07:53:29.111: cannot open display:
  

• StackExchange "Why can't I run GUI apps from 'root': 'No protocol specified'?" - ???”'xhost +' fixed my problem”??? .

• The default editor of “Debian” & “Debian Live”is “nano”.
  • Debian Packages "Package: nano".
• Installation of gedit, a text editor.

  apt-get install gedit
  

• Setting the default Text Editor doesn't display “gedit” after Installation ( StackExchange "How do I change the default text editor in the Debian (squeeze) distro" ):

  sudo update-alternatives --config editor
  

• Lua is shipped on the data DVDs #2 & #3 of Debian Linux 10.7 ( so not on the bootable DVD #1 ) .

• reddit "r/debian" - "How stable Debian really is? `Calculator" is not responding` seems to be such a basic problem for a distro praised for its stability", 2025-03.
• reddit "r/debian" - "Gnome Calculator broken by recent libgnutls security update? ".
  • Fix, works fine for “default user”

    dconf write /org/gnome/calculator/refresh-interval 0
    

  • For “root” ( “su” or “su -” ), the fix causes an error message:

    error: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY
    

• Visual Studio Code "Visual Studio Code on Linux".
• I passed the installation successfully, by using the “GDebi Package Installer” .

• In my GRUB, the boot order is:
  1. Debian GNU/Linux.
  2. Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux.
  3. Windows Boot Manager ( on /dev/sb1 ).
  4. UEFI Firmware Settings.
• Set the “Windows boot Manager” as default. Set the Timeout from 5 to 30 seconds, at ”/etc/default/grub”:

  # GRUB_DEFAULT=0
  GRUB_DEFAULT=2
  
  #GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
  GRUB_TIMEOUT=30
  
  #GRUB_TERMINAL=console 
  GRUB_TERMINAL=console 
  

• Update the GRUB configuration by

  sudo update-grub
  

• In case that Windows overwrites the GRUB boot option, enter the PC BIOS. Now taking the BIOS of my ASUS notebook as example. Use “\”, not ”/”, and don't start the path with “\EFI” but with “EFI”.
  1. “Boot”
     • “Add New Boot Option”.
       1. “Add new boot option” - “GRUB”.
       2. “Select Filesystem” - “Hitachi HTS727575A9E364, \HD(Part1,SigXXXXX”).
       3. “Path for boot option” - “EFI\debian\grubx64.efi”.
     • Select the “Boot Option Priorities” to set “GRUB” as “Boot Option #1”.
  2. “Save & Exit”.
     • “Save Changes”, or “Save Changes and Exit”.

• ArchLinux Wiki "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface".
• Debian Wiki "GrubEFIReinstall" - “Starting with Windows 8 most Desktop PC have EFI as firmware instead of the legacy BIOS. If your EFI based PC is not booting Debian, here are some ways to reinstall grub-efi, the bootloader used by Debian on these PCs”.
• Debian Wiki "UEFI".
• Debian Manpages "EFIBOOTMGR(8)" - “efibootmgr” isn't part of the Debian 12 standard installation.

  $sudo apt-get install efibootmgr
  

• StackExchange.
  • StackExchange AskUbuntu "grub2 - Sony VAIO with Insyde H2O EFI bios will not boot into GRUB EFI".
• StackExchange AskUbuntu "uefi - How to mount the EFI system partition using Ubuntu 16.04 Live CD".

  $ sudo fdisk -l
  /dev/sda1 EFI System
  $sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
  

  • StackExchange "Debian 12 UEFI boot option erased after upgrading".
  • StackExchange Superuser "Debian 12 UEFI boot option erased after upgrading".
    1. “Add new boot option” - Debian”.
    2. “Select Filesystem” - “Hitachi HTS727575A9E364, \HD(Part1,SigXXXXX”).
    3. “Path for boot option” - “EFI\debian\grubx64.efi” or “EFI\debian\shimx64.efi”.

• If you are in GRUB and so select a boot menu entry, you may press “e” to “edit” the boot menu script. For UEFI boot loaders, like “Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/sdb1)”, it names the path of the UEFI boot loader:

  /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
  

• askUBUNTU "How do I set the grub timeout and the grub default boot entry?".
• askUbuntu "How do I set Windows to boot as the default in the boot loader?".
• reddit "r/debian" - "grub boot order".
• askUBUNTU "Is it possible to completely disable Grub timeout?" - “Edit /etc/default/grub (with root privileges), change GRUB_TIMEOUT value from 10 to -1”.
• askUBUNTU "How do I boot into true text mode?".
• StackOverflow "GRUB in text-only mode?".

• Debian Wiki "SystemRescue".
  • Debian Wiki "RescueLive".
• Debian "Live install images".