Installation help

honeybadger · 08-24-2007, 01:22 AM

Hi all,

I am trying to clean install Debian 4.0 on a very old desktop.The 'etch' seems to be working fine - it gives no error at all.however when I boot the pc after installation it boots to a command prompt. I tried 'tasks=(desktop=kde, standard) and tried to install kde with the get-app command but nothing seems to be working. The resolution of my monitor is 800x600> Can someone plz tell me step-by-step installation of Debian?

Thankx

hitest · 08-24-2007, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverBack

Hi all,

I am trying to clean install Debian 4.0 on a very old desktop.The 'etch' seems to be working fine - it gives no error at all.however when I boot the pc after installation it boots to a command prompt. I tried 'tasks=(desktop=kde, standard) and tried to install kde with the get-app command but nothing seems to be working. The resolution of my monitor is 800x600> Can someone plz tell me step-by-step installation of Debian?

Thankx

The installation documentation at the Debian site is very thorough.

http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

farslayer · 08-24-2007, 01:29 PM

to add kde you should be able to just use the following commands..

aptitude update
aptitude install xorg kde kdm

honeybadger · 08-26-2007, 08:59 PM

I tried to look up the info on debian.org but I cant see anything that would possibly help me

When I tried aptitude update nothign happens - it just gets to the next root symbol and sits there. So I used aptitude install xorg kde kdm it says tht xorg cannot be found !!!

I dont know what to do - Its been more than 3 days I am loooking for help with this.

Meanwhile I tried the command deb-configure -awhat it does it it will ask me for all the config settings again. When I use kde as default mode it seems to accept it but on reboot - it comes up to the same command prompt asking me for a username and password

farslayer · 08-26-2007, 09:21 PM

what is the output of cat /etc/apt/sources.list it sounds like you have no network sources defined... hard to tell without exact error messages.

heres a simple sources list.

default@debianetch:~$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list

Code:

deb http://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch main

honeybadger · 08-26-2007, 10:19 PM

yes you are right I dont have internet does tht make kde difficult ? I am new at this, First time installation you see

farslayer · 08-26-2007, 10:28 PM

Ahh no internet, now we are getting somewhere...

What Install Media do you have ?

netinstall.iso ?

KDE install CD1 ?

GnomeInstallCD1 ?

xfceInstallCD1 ?

Any CD's from 2-20 ?

Install DVD1 ?

Install DVD2 ?

Once we figure out what install media you have we can get you moving forward, or tell you what additional Disc's you will need.

honeybadger · 08-26-2007, 11:16 PM

Honestly sir, I don't know

I bought it from linuxbazar. The CD says its Debian4.0.

I tried to install knoppix it did not work as I wanted it to. I then tried puppy linux (it worked great), I used Damn Small Linux (that was awesome). I have Ubuntu but somehow it is not taking into consideration that my monitor resolution is 800x600. The page is too distorted to read anything. Now the great thing abt Debian is tht has built in support for .emacs (and that intrests me a lot).

I have ordered a Knoppix CD - but I really hope I get to install the Debian.

farslayer · 08-27-2007, 06:57 AM

Do you recall seeing a screen that looked like this: http://www.linuxcdmall.com/debian-3....nshots-34.html during install ? if so Did you make sure Desktop-environment was selected ?

Look at their website and figure out what disk you have... ? I don't see an option on their site to order a sngle CD.. there are 25 CD's for Debian, or 3 DVD's, or if you order the multi-arch edition then there are at least 2 CD's.. what did you order ?

honeybadger · 08-27-2007, 10:52 PM

Thank you for your patience farslayer, you have been very kind.

I also managed to get the info off the CD

I have a Debian ver4.0r0 x86, alpha-hppa-ia64 NETINST bin CD

Ok, so I got a NETINST CD (oh, I see what it means now)

what programs I download to get the KDE?

farslayer · 08-28-2007, 07:23 AM

The Netinstall CD pretty much requires a broadband internet connection in order to install most applications.
Without a broadband connection it's going to be rough to add KDE to your current setup. you would be better off getting different install Media for your system..

I don't know if you have a DVD drive or not.. heres a couple options for media..

Debian 1386 Standard DVD - debian-40r1-i386-DVD-1.iso (This DVD will contain MOST of the packages in the Debian repository, and should have everything you need on it, on a single disc.

Debian 1386 KDE CD1 - debian-40r1-i386-kde-CD-1.iso (this CD has everything for the base Debian install with KDE)

CD's 2 - 21 Contain additional packages and source files for all the packages..

Debian Multi-arch DVD - debian-40r1-i386-amd64-powerpc-source-DVD-1.iso This would probably work in a pinch as well..

Any chance you can get your hands on one of these other pieces of install media ?

honeybadger · 08-31-2007, 09:04 PM

I think I will opt for the debian-40r1-i386-kde-CD-1.iso

But do you have any idea why this kde will download slower than the rest of the other options ? when I am trying to download it says tht the download will take aroung 22 hrs - the rest of the packages take around 8 hrs !!!

Anyway I bought the Debian Bible by Mr. Hungry and thts got a CD which has gnome - it works fine - but I think I will download the debian-40r1-i386-kde-CD-1.iso too (I think I am getting greedy

)!!!

Thankyou all for your help and patience and I know where to find help the next time I run into trouble !

hitest · 09-01-2007, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverBack

I think I will opt for the debian-40r1-i386-kde-CD-1.iso

But do you have any idea why this kde will download slower than the rest of the other options ? when I am trying to download it says tht the download will take aroung 22 hrs - the rest of the packages take around 8 hrs !!!

That is hard to say. You may be having a slow-down at your ISP or the repo in your sources.list is having a slow-down.
You'll like Etch a lot:-)

honeybadger · 09-02-2007, 09:49 PM

Hey all,

Finally good news - I clean installed Ubuntu in my new PC (don't ask me for the specs, I am bad at doing that).
I installed it with a DVD. The installation was very very simillar to the Debain (NETINST) I had done earlier.
All went well and I am now all set to learn Linux.

However I have this one question

What is the difference between Debian and Ubuntu ?

Julix · 09-02-2007, 10:49 PM

Hi SilverBack,

Ubuntu derivates from Debian.

Regards,

Julix