Calling all minimalist debian experts!
 

setup: 600mhz, 256mb ram, 40gb hd

over the last week i managed to install debian from a dvd that i bought from thelinuxshop.co.uk.

i've taken pages and pages of notes and read up on the important stuff, now i'm beginning to get my head around everything... i want to start afresh.

the dvd installed the latest stable woody with 2.2.20 kernel, but the gui's (gnome and kde) were ancient!

i am able to follow the installation up until the part where i get told that the "system is rather minimal", and would i like to choose some apps to install?

i installed as much as i could last time, because i was unsure of what was minimally-necessary to get into any gui.

...so i was wondering if there are any minmalist debian expert's out there willing to post an example sources.list that will:

update my kernel to the latest stable release, install sarge and security updates etc, the latest gnome and kde environments, and some kind of audio/video player
(firefox, netbeans, amsn, limewire, java, sis315pro drivers, i might be able to do myself again)

thanks
btw, emphasis on minimal!
(in windows i prefered to know what was going on and have control over what was running - want to keep this up in linux too)

You can use apt-get to upgrade all other aspects of your system except the filesystem by changing "stable" to "testing" or "unstable" in the sources.list and then doing "apt-get update" and "apt-get dist-upgrade". If you want ext3 or reiserfs, you need to do a fresh install using the Sarge installer: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Try "aptitude" as a package manager that allows you to browse the available packages. Install the "x-window-system" package to get X. Then install "kde" to get KDE and/or "gnome" to get GNOME. If you want a minimal system, you can install "x-window-system-core" plus "kde-core" and/or "gnome-core" instead.

hmm. okaay, don't know what ext3 or reiserfs is.

not sure i understand you regarding sarge. do you mean that you can't simply use apt-get? meaning i'm stuck with woody that i already have on disk.

I mean you can upgrade Woody to Sarge OK just by changing the entry in sources.list (and doing "apt-get update" and "apt-get dist-upgrade"). But you cannot change the initial filesystem you first chose when you installed Debian. The Linux kernel that Woody comes with (2.2.x) only supports the ext2 filesystem, which (although it's quite OK) is a bit old. Ext3 and reiserfs are newer and more advanced "journaled" filesystems. Ext3 and reiserfs are only available when you install a system with 2.4.20 kernel or better (I'm not sure of the exact version but it's something like that). Ext3 and reiserfs are better than ext2 in recovering from unexpected system crashes and they can also make your system work a bit faster.

right, looks like i'll buy a new cd then. thanks

Just wondering, up until now - whenever asked I've been selecting i386 as my computer architecture. But now i'm having doubts.

aida32 says that my my processor is
Celeron III, Coppermine Lite

i feel stupid asking that question, i did try google! :(

i've decided to download dvd iso using jigdo. can i expect a more up to date kernel this time? excuse my ignorance.

If you have a broadband connection, then your best bet would be to use the netinstaller. It will just get your system up and then you download whatever you want, ie your desktop environment and any programs off the net. That way you have the latest versions and dont have to upgrade. When you boot the cd type 'linux26' and will install 2.6 kernel.
Good luck.

The Celeron III processor belongs to the i386 kernel architecture family, so you've made exactly the right choice. However, Intel 386 (i386) is actually the ancestor in this processor family and your Celeron processor is a modern descendant of the good old i386. So, while your processor belongs to the i386 family, it's actually i686 and after you've downloaded & installed Debian Sarge for i386 architecture, you can use apt-get to download the kernel image that is optimized for your Celeron III processor: kernel-image-2.6-686. This will make your Debian system a bit faster, although the 386-optimized kernel will also work OK. :)

As long as you're downloading the DVD from this address: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ , you should get a quite up-to-date Debian system with an up-to-date kernel. However, notice that Debian Sarge hasn't been officially released yet (it will be soon) and the installer is actually a Release Candidate version 2 (rc2), not the final release version. However, it should work OK. You see, Debian only makes Stable releases but it has two "development branches", Testing and Unstable. So Sarge is currently still the Testing development branch that will soon become the next Stable Debian release. It's been quite a long time since the last Stable Debian release, called Woody, and therefore Sarge has more up-to-date software and it is generally more recommendable choice for modern computers. Here you can find more info about the different Debian versions: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Debian

thanks thats great, i'm at uni at the mo and have a lightning fast internet connection, so i'll try the netinstall.

The way I do it myself is that I first install just the base system and set up net connection and point apt to the nearest Debian mirror in /etc/apt/sources.list. Then I do "apt-get update" and "apt-get dist-upgrade" to make the system as up-to-date as possible. Then I launch the aptitude package manager frontend and install the x-window-system package (actually x-window-system-core, because I like minimalism) plus some light-weight window manager, like wmaker or fluxbox, and then all the rest of the apps I need (firefox, abiword, etc.). But that's just me. ;) You can install kde or gnome or whatever you prefer instead of wmaker and fluxbox.

One package, though, which you should install somewhere at an early stage of installation is apt-listbugs, because that package will warn you from installing any packages that are reported to be buggy. You need to use your own good sense to decide if the reported bugs will actually affect your system. If the reported bugs are marked as "closed", they are safe to install but the ones marked as "open" will require more consideration.

minimal debian you say?

If that's what you want you shouldn't install Gnome or KDE. Try fluxbox, wmaker, etc.
After installing the base system with the netinstall you do
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

then install a kernel that fits your cpu:
apt-cache search kernel-image
apt-get install kernelxxxx
and reboot, chose the new kernel.

install debfoster and run it, saying to keep all packages (unless you know what you are doing)
but say no to the old kernel. It'll then delete it.
If using debfoster it's usually a good idea to install it almost directly after install and say yes to all packages, so you won't end up deleting important packages later.

I install X with these packages:
apt-get install xlibs xutils xbase-clients xserver-xfree86 xfonts-base xfonts-75dpi
and if running higher resolutions than 800x600 also xfonts-100dpi (or when you see ugly font problems ;) )

Then install a window manager:
apt-get install fluxbox

And then install your lightweight apps, and configure X, .xinitrc, .Xdefaults, .bash-profile, etc.

For me the light apps would be:
apt-get install irssi dillo elinks nedit sudo aterm emelfm deborphan localepurge sysvconfig iptables firehol sylpheed-claws gftp linneighborhood xpdf xzgv xmms ted-gtk antiword xloadimage

irssi is an irc client, dillo is a browser, elinks a text browser, nedit an editor,
sudo is to give users ability to run some commands which would be only available to root,
aterm a terminal, emelfm file manager, deborphan removes unused libraries, localepurge removes unused languages, sysvconfig to configure services running, iptables and firehol firewall,
sylpheed-claws email, gftp ftp client, linneighborhood to browse network shares, xpdf pdf viewer,
xzgv image viewer, xmms multimedia player, ted-gtk rtf editor, antiword .doc convertor, xloadimage to be able to use fbsetbg.


Then I do debfoster.
And then install abiword and aspell.

and then sound: apt-get install alsa-base

At start it's quite a task to find your way between all the linux apps but you should remember always to try out the lightweight apps first ;)

You might find this page interesting: http://users.skynet.be/six/gpure/tech/linux/debian.html
and the applications page. It should get you into the minimalist direction ;).

HELLPP!!!! The net install discs have screwed up 2 of my pcs!! I ran it, and it said no partionable hard drives found! So I put my other HD to boot into windows and then it wouldn't boot from any of my hard drives.

So i bought the XP hd home, put it in my other pc, and now that pc wont boot either!! It seems all my hard drives now want to boot via dhcp or a cd. I have no XP boot floppy and I'm completely stumped! HELP please! :-(

What did you do when it said that. When you partition your hdd with the sarge installer it will get you to choose your partitions, and then ask you to make sure you are sure before it even touches your hard drive. So, if you didnt say yes to formating your hard drive, then nothing should have happened. Can you remember exactly what you did. ie, did you get to the partitioning stage and it said about the no partitionable drive bit, or did you get to actualy choose some partitions. Did you have some empty space to put linux on to start with. If you dont have unused space on your hdd, then the only option you get is to erase whats on there. What exactly happens when you boot the machine now.

Forget that, I posted without reading the full thread :)

boot drive
 

check your bios (hit DEL where it says to during boot and look around in there) and make sure the HDD you want to boot from is listed before cdrom and PXE(network boot) in your boot sequence.