Hi All,

I really want to get into Debian and am prepared for the long haul.
(Currently use Suse on my main PC, but I would NOT call myself a Linux experienced user)

I installed Debian from an installer disk. As part of this process it found my broadband network connection and asked various questions and then downloaded loads of stuff.

I'll keep it simple, everything seems to have worked ok. On one of the install questions the installer asked for the typical installation I required and I answered that I'd like to choose the packages which I wanted to install.

Now when I boot up the PC I log on with my user name and password and I get taken to a command prompt. This is where I now am slightly out of my depth, I am a quick learner though!

Question is: how do I get e.g. KDE or GNOME loaded along with all my other applications which I require? I've heard of apt-get which works out dependancies, etc. Is this the way to go and if so in practical terms keystroke by keystroke what do I do to get going?

Thanks in Advance,

have you tried startx?

> apt-get update
> apt-get install x-window-system-core gdm gnome kde

that should get you started.

Startx didn't work

OK thanks Pevelius, after a long download and some user interactive questions I got there in the end.

The next boot up I could log on and choose either Gnome or KDE from a nice looking menu window.

Only two problems remain. During the gui install I messed up and managed to specify a max screen resolution of 800 X 600; DOH... and also my on board sound doesn't seem to be automatically detected. I get an error message saying ... no such device ..., although it worked fine with winblows. Might have to start a new post on that topic.

Also ! might just redo the install procedure if I don't find a simple way of upping my max screen resolution. Any ideas??

Essentially I'm working on my spare PC before considering migrating my main one across to Debian. Takes the stress out of the whole procedure!

Once again thanks for your help.

To reconfigure your xserver as root from console do dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and go through the menus.

Thanks a lot, got the video sorted now.

Now I just need to figure out how to get my on board sound set up.

The autodetect in KDE says there is nothing there. I have a record of all the old winblows irq and address settings, will this help me and is there a debian package to configure this?


I might start a new thread on this if it's a difficult question.

what chipset?

I'll have to get back to you on that when I get home from work. From memory the PC is an old Compaq 3000 P2 400 with onboard sound. In Winblows I can remember the driver had WDM audio ... hmm, I think I'll have to take the case off when I get home, or have a look in the bios.

I'll get back to you l8r.

as root, run in a console "lspci" and look for the audio part for the chipset name.

Damn... I just made this work the other day, very proud. And now I drop by this post, eager and ready to drop a high-leetness posting... and then you had to answer it before I came! Argh.

Crappy on board sound doesn't seem to be detected when I use lspci. Everything else shows up but not the sound. From the BIOS I know the irq and address settings. Don't know the chipset & can't seem to find out. I looked at the chips on my mobo, one of them started with PC97... guessing that could be my chipset ???

Now the PC is a Compaq 3000 P2 400 so perhaps I should check out the mobo on an appropriate web site.

Anyway I've bought a very cheap PCI soundcard on ebay. Should arrive soon. Perhaps that will work.

I wouldn't want to give up on Debian just because I couldn't configure the sound.

There is so much more to do and I haven't even started yet.

OK Chaps consider this post closed. Thanks for your help.

The new sound card (creative labs card) worked eventually. After installing alsa for 686 and installing a 686 kernel (using package manager) then when I booted I tried that kernel over the 386 one. Now when I used lspci the sound card was listed and the sound seems ok. I'm just happy I got it to work. At least I've got sound, no midi but I'm not fussed on that for the moment. Now on to the next challenge.

Look out for my next post in the debian section of the forum.

Good to see you installed Debian without too many problems !
I like that distro, although the xserver configure bit was quite
tricky for me too. Couldn't believe it when I saw this nice KDE login
screen !
Learnt 2 or 3 interesting things on the way, which is always good !

cheers !

There is a little wire that I just learned about that connects the cd player to the speakers in addition to the IDE. Analog playback in Linux. Then you can rip your files and play them back digitally.

Yes, that's true enough barleykorn !
Couldn't use kscd, if I remember rightly, without this physical
connection