Debian specific configs for new user

Nappa · 04-21-2004, 11:11 PM

Switched to Debian from using Slackware. I know that each distro has it's own way of doing certain things (scripts during boot time...etc). I have installed debian using Knoppix vs 3.3 onto my hard drive. I know that a lot of you "true" debian user wince when someone mentions this, but I found it to be very usefull. I have recently compiled my own 2.6.4 kernel for use with debian. I just have a few questions that would help me out with this disto. I do not have an internet connection (yet) so I'm unable to use apt-get...please keep this in mind.

1) Where is the best place to put all my user specific alias's

2) how do I turn off my mail server (as in completely)

3) where should I place modprobe's to load specific modules at runtime

4) Is there a console-based gui for a debian package installer/upgrader

5) Will I need to specify any hdparm flags, or is this already done in a script

Like I said, I'm using the 2.6.4 kernel and in my disbelief, I didn't have to change any files or scripts to get it to run properly. X still worked fine and mouse (PS/2) worked great. I don't have any USB hardware hooked up right now, I'm sure that I would have to change something if using USB. If there are any sugestions on how to optimise from a Knoppix 3.3 install using a 2.6.4 kernel I would appreciate it. Thank you.

TigerOC · 04-22-2004, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nappa

1) Where is the best place to put all my user specific alias's

/etc/modules.conf

Quote:

2) how do I turn off my mail server (as in completely)

I am not sure on this - will have to be answered by someone else

Quote:

3) where should I place modprobe's to load specific modules at runtime

Generally you would do modconf (as root) to get a specific module that you require and this would automatically be added to /etc/modules which are used at boot

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4) Is there a console-based gui for a debian package installer/upgrader

The closest you'll get is aptitude (apt-get install aptitude) and there is synaptic that runs under kde/gnome

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5) Will I need to specify any hdparm flags, or is this already done in a script

if you want to add control then mods can be done to /etc/hdparm.conf

Dead Parrot · 04-22-2004, 03:48 AM

1) Or did you mean command aliases? Try ~/.bashrc.
2) $ man update-rc.d
# update-rc.d exim4 remove
4) You can run aptitude either in 'interactive mode' (ncurses based GUI) or straight from the command line. Try 'aptitude -h'.

2damncommon · 04-22-2004, 06:04 AM

Quote:

3) where should I place modprobe's to load specific modules at runtime

You could also use modconf.

adz · 04-22-2004, 06:17 PM

1. For the 2.6 kernels you need to use /etc/modprobe.conf. However in Debian, it is automatically generated. You can edit the /etc/modprobe.d/aliases file and then run update-modules.

3. To speifically load a module by name without aliasing add the module name to /etc/modules.

5. I'm not sure what you mean by that. By default, hdparm is not installed in the debian base system. So you'll have to apt-get it from somewhere.

TigerOC · 04-23-2004, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by adz

5. I'm not sure what you mean by that. By default, hdparm is not installed in the debian base system. So you'll have to apt-get it from somewhere.

It's a module and can be inserted by modconf

HappyTux · 04-23-2004, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TigerOC
It's a module and can be inserted by modconf

It is a package you install and configure.

Code:

>$ apt-cache show hdparm
Package: hdparm
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 172
Maintainer: Stephen Gran <sgran@debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 5.5-2
Replaces: apmd (<= 3.0.2-1.15)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.2.ds1-4)
Suggests: apmd
Filename: pool/main/h/hdparm/hdparm_5.5-2_i386.deb
Size: 45080
MD5sum: 34ad90ca2f1e1cad5422389c43fd2f66
Description: Tune hard disk parameters for high performance
 Get/set hard disk parameters for Linux IDE drives.
 Primary use is for enabling irq-unmasking and IDE multiplemode.
Task: laptop

Package: hdparm
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 144
Maintainer: Christopher L Cheney <ccheney@debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 4.5-1.2
Replaces: apmd (<= 3.0.2-1.15)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2.4-4)
Filename: pool/main/h/hdparm/hdparm_4.5-1.2_i386.deb
Size: 32358
MD5sum: d045684ecc5800b9a032bbaf6ef91add
Description: Tune hard disk parameters for high performance.
 get/set hard disk parameters for Linux IDE drives.
 Primary use is for enabling irq-unmasking and IDE multiplemode.

HappyTux · 04-23-2004, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nappa

1) Where is the best place to put all my user specific alias's

/home/user_name/.bashrc and you should make sure that the section to reads the configuration is uncommented in the /home/user_name/.bash_profile.

Quote:

2) how do I turn off my mail server (as in completely)

You should dpkg-reconfigure exim as root and set it to local delivery only you want to get notifications from the system in case of problems.

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3) where should I place modprobe's to load specific modules at runtime

/etc/modules.

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4) Is there a console-based gui for a debian package installer/upgrader

aptitude

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5) Will I need to specify any hdparm flags, or is this already done in a script

In /etc/hdparm.conf is where you put the settings and you will most likey want to update-rc.d hdparm defaults to recreate the links that are missing in a Knoppix install and you should check in the /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh near the bottom to make sure that Knoppix did not already put it's line for hdparm in there.

Quote:

Like I said, I'm using the 2.6.4 kernel and in my disbelief, I didn't have to change any files or scripts to get it to run properly.

Well then you have missed the using mkdir /sys and putting this line in your /etc/fstab.

Code:

## Needed for kernel 2.6
none            /sys            sysfs   defaults                0       0

For the new sysfs that is used with 2.6 kernels.