Hi.
I had been meaning to install and actually understand the process and underlying workings of various packages for a while and now seems the time. So, here I have installed the minimal debian net iso image and now look forward to installing some productive environment to work with. So, I went with xfce as I like it. Now, the thing is "I kinda wanna know what does what" and I found this guide as a result of google kungfu!! :

Now, there are some things which I would appreciate greatly if somebody would throw some light on the use of some packages that I fail to understand!!!

"xorg xfce4 alsa-base alsa-utils cpufrequtils gamin xdg-utils \
desktop-base gnome-brave-icon-theme dmz-cursor-theme"

In this,
1. xorg - I know this is the framework on which the GUI rests itself. Moreover, if I could install something more minimal than the xorg itself, it would be great. My motherboard is Intel DP35DP.

2. xfce4 - is the xfce4 metapackage and is I think quite minimal in itself.

3. alsa-base and alsa-utils are required for sound I guess.
4. cpufrequtils - ?
5. gamin - ?
6. xdg-utils - ?
7.desktop-base - ?
8. dmz-cursor-theme - Is it a mouse theme?


I apologize for being nosy about behaving crazy for the minimal aspects of installation but, I really need to understand. Thanks.

Laxman Neupane.

I'm not sure why you're following some random web tutorial instead of the excellent Debian documentation:

http://wiki.debian.org/Xfce

But for a detailed description of each package, you can search for it here:

http://packages.debian.org

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi snowpine.

Thanks for the good suggestion. I went right back to the debian wiki. It says to install "xorg" to begin with. Now, do I need the whole xorg?

I don't understand the question; are you saying that you disagree with the Debian wiki and you think xorg is unnecessary?

I mean it installs myriads of video drivers while my board needs only the one for Intel one off course. I guess I make myself clear here.

Debian is designed to work on a wide range of hardware. This is a "feature not a bug."

The only purpose of the xorg stuff is to give you the possibility video output.

If you want to be really minimal and only work in a tty prompt environment you do not need it at all.

If you want to use any gui then yes you need it.

I suppose you could look into wayland but it is only partially finished and most guis do not support it fully, if at all, so I believe you need the xorg stuff anyway.

Okay. So, it is recommended to go ahead and install xorg per se? Do you do it?

Remove the drivers you do not need. I think most of us do.

One thing to remember though. Many people have an external drive of some sort, HDD or usb stick or flash card, that they take with them. For it to work on any computer that they encounter it must contain the drivers that computer needs.

The same is true when you install. How on earth is the meta package maintainer supposed to know how your box is put together? Yes a another script could be added to the install media to sort this out. CDs do have a limit as to how much they will hold as does every other type of media that you may use. You can only pile on so much.

There is of coarse the other option. Don't include drivers at all. I think the current solution is a good way to get everyone up and running.

I remove the, to me, useless drivers to avoid having to upgrade them all the time.

The same is true of the many locales included with the DE. You for instance probably want different ones than I do seeing that you live half way around the world from me. I think that they should include what ever your local language is and hope you feel the same about mine. We can each remove the ones we do not need/want.

Once you have an install that is minimal enough to satisfy you it is easy to copy it to a stick and use it for many installs.

Even there though you may want to include more drivers or have them available. Prehaps even locales.

1 members found this post helpful.

Widget,

Hi.
Thanks for clarifying things up. How do you remove other drivers then?! How do I know which one I need?!!!! And is it only the video drivers that you remove?

Yes, all of my GUI systems have xorg. (not necessary on terminal-only servers)

It is pretty easy to remove them in Synaptic.

If you are not sure which you need you can find the make of your card by running;
which will list all your pci stuff.

I am not sure what other drivers you would really want to remove but they should all be there in Synaptic. I would write down the package name of the buggers on a piece of paper so that when you reboot and you end up at a tty prompt you can reinstall them.