Trace: » debian01.html
Table of Contents

[hemmerling] Debian Linux 1/4

Related page:

Debian OS Installation from downloaded DVD ISO Images

Using "Rufus 4.9.2256" on Windows to prepare a USB Stick as Media for Debian Installer or Debian Live

Drive Properties for "Debian Live 12.10"

  • 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 integritey of the boot medium”.

Drive Properties for "Debian Installer 12.10"

  • 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.

Format Options

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

Selecting the proper Grub Version for Debian

  • Rufus “4.9.2256” 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”.

ISOHybrid Images & DD Mode

  • 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?".

Debian Installation of several Debian DVDs from one single USB Stick

  • 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 :-).

Basic Installation Parameters

  • 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 )”.

Swap Space

Modern Swap Space

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

Vintage Swap Space

  • 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.

Resources

  • 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

Network

Permanent IP4 Address

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

/etc/hosts

  • 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

SSH

SSH Access by Win10Pro

  • “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

"su", "su -" and "sudo"

PATH

  • 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

Add a user "USERNAME" to the "sudo" group, as first and only user

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

Alternative ( unnecessary complex ? ) Instructions for Debian 10.7

  • 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 )

Resources

Package Management & Package Installation

apt-get - Add the CD/DVD with it's proper Title to /etc/apt/sources.list, or comment out the name

  • 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

  • “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

dpkg-deb

GDebi

  • 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”.

Synaptic Package Manager

tasksel

Resources

apt-get, apt-cdrom

Package Installation

General Resources

Desktop

Maximize and unmaximize a Window

  • 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.

Trash

Applications

Application: Executing Graphical Applications like "gedit" fail, as root in "su -" mode

  • 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 dsisplay:

Resources

Application: gedit

Application: Lua 5.3

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

Application: Calculator

Application: Visual Studio Code

Bootloader "GRUB"

Configuration

  • 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

Reinstallation by Debian Live CD / DVD / USB-Stick

  • 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”.

Resources

Rescue Systems, System Rescue, System Recovery

Steps to rescue a Linux system, which does not start in GUI

Resources

,


When this document changes ! Site Navigation ( My Business ! My Topics ! Imprint / Contact ! Privacy Policy ! Keyword Index ! ! Google+ Publisher "hemmerling" )

 
en/debian01.html.txt · Last modified: 2025/06/24 23:05 (external edit) · []
Recent changes RSS feed Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki