In this guide I'll show how I do a nice installation and configuration of Debian GNU/Linux (Etch, stable version) on my Dell Inspiron 640m.
Laptop Specifications:
- Inspiron 640m Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB) - (32-bit laptop).
- 14.1" W Screen WXGA+ UltraSharp (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife.
- Intel Pro WLAN 3945 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g 54 Mbps).
- Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio.
- 2048 MB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024).
- Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive.
- 100 GB Hard Drive.
- 9 Cell 80WHr Primmary Battery.
In this guide the words that you'll need to type are displayed in green.
Preliminary steps:
First of all you should go to Debian's web page and download the network installation CD (netinst) for the stable release from here. Once you've burned the iso image on a CD, connect your laptop to the power, connect it also to the internet via a ethernet cable, put the CD in the laptop, and restart it. Check that your BIOS will boot from CD...
...and let's start!
Installation:
- When the debian logo appears, type the following
boot: expert bootkbd=es hw-detect/start_pcmcia=false netcfg/disable_dhcp=true tasks="standard, laptop"
- Choose language: english
- Choose country: spain
- Choose a locale: en_US.UTF-8
( - Another locales: ca_ES.UTF-8, es_ES.UTF-8 )
- Keyboard layout: PC-Style keyboard
- Keymap: spanish
- Detect and mount CD-ROM: modules to load: all enabled
- Load Installer components from CD: all disabled
- Detect network hardware: modules to load -> all enabled
- Configure the network: eth1: Broadcom corporation...
- autoconfigure? No
- write your IP, broadcast, gateway...
- is this correct? Yes
- hostname: debian, domain name: (left in blank)
- Detect disks: modules to load: all disabled
- Partition disks: manual
- select sda#2 ("swap") and sda#3 ("ext3", "/" , "label:debian") - (sda#1 is in this moment using WinXP)
- Configure time zone: Madrid
- Configure the clock: UTC? No
- Setup users and passwords: Enable shadow passwords? Yes
- Allow login as root? Yes
- Write your root password
- Create normal account? Yes, write name, password
- Install the base system: kernel to install: linux-image-2.6-686
- Configure the package manager: Use a mirror? Yes, http, Spain, ftp.rediris.es, http proxy? (left in blank)
- Use non-free software? No
- Participate in the package survey? -> No
- Continue without a valid swap partition? -> No
- Install the GRUB boot loader on hard disk: Install on Master boot record? Yes
- GRUB password: (left in blank)
- Finish the installation.
Now you have a very minimal installation of Debian on your PC. It's time to configure it and install all the things that you'll need.
Configuration:
login: root
-- Removing the beep,
# rmmod pcspkr
# echo "blacklist pcspkr">>/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
-- Adjusting grub,
# vim /boot/grub/menu.lst
- timeout 2
- comment the pretty colurs line
-- Keeping the system up to date,
# vim /etc/apt/sources.list
- comment the CD line
# aptitude update && aptitude upgrade
-- Installing sudo package,
# aptitude install sudo
# echo "lego ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL">>/etc/sudoers
-- Installing
# aptitude install xserver-xorg
-- Installing additional and usefull packages,
# aptitude install unrar-free zip unzip bzip2 ark
- Now is a good moment to see how your new system looks like, in order to do this you can type: reboot (or startx if you don't want to reboot). Configure KDE like you want, and open a konsole session to continue with the system configuration.
-- Installing M$ Windows codecs,
# echo "deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org etch main" >>/etc/apt/sources.list
-- Wifi, (it's necessary to add contrib and non-free repositories)
# aptitude install firmware-ipw3945 ipw3945d ipw3945-modules-$(uname -r)
-- Graphics acceleration,
# aptitude install libgl1-mesa-dri mesa-utils
$ glxinfo | grep direct
-- Firewall and ssh,
# aptitude install firehol ssh nmap snort
- change NO by YES at start-firehol
# vim /etc/firehol/firehol.conf
- between interface any world and client all accept insert:
protection strong
policy drop
server ssh accept
# /etc/init.d/firehol start
- change yes by no at PermitRootLogin
# /etc/init.d/ssh start
-- To improve iceweasel behavior (switch gmail to https, etc...), go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/743?id=743&application=firefox and click at "Install now". Restart iceweasel.
-- Removing some services,
# update-rc.d -f exim remove
-- For date and time (if necessary),
# aptitude install ntpdate
- at UTC, put no.
# vim /etc/init.d/hwclock.sh
- at the HWCLOCKPARS line, put:
HWCLOCKPARS="--directisa"
# hwclock --systohc --directisa
-- Java and flash
# aptitude install sun-java5-jdk sun-java5-plugin
- go to Adobe's web site, download the flashplayer installer. Extract the .tar.gz and install it manually by typing sudo ./flashplayer-installer . Install flash in the /usr/lib/iceweasel directory.
-- LaTeXing,
# aptitude install vim texlive-full
-- Office,
# aptitude install openoffice.org-writer openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-impress
-- Printing,
# aptitude install cupsys hplip
- go to http://localhost:631
(NOTE: The next two points (ntfs-3g and configuration script) are in a folder that I have in my computer, if you want information you can write a comment and I'll post it as soon as possible.)
-- ntfs-3g,
- To write and read WinXP partition, see the ntfs-3g folder.
- In a 64 bits computer, proceed as follows:
# aptitude install fuse fuse-utils
$ wget http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ntfs-3g-1.2310.tgz (or the last release)
$ tar -xzvf ntfs-3g-1.2310.tgz
$ cd ntfs-3g-1.2310
$ ./configure
$ make
# make install
# vim /etc/fstab and add the following line:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g defaults 0 0
-- Configuration script,
$ cd ~/debian/
$ ./configuration-debian.bash
- see ~/debian/ajuda-configuration-debian for more information.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
-- To do:
Sensors:
# aptitude install lm-sensors gkrellm gkrellm-i8k gkrellmwireless
# sensors-detect
Press enter to each question.
# echo -e "i2c-i801\neeprom\ni8k force=1" >>/etc/modules
Firehol? Shorewall? or simply Iptables??
_______________________________________________
So here it is, this is my way to install debian. I'm quite new to Linux, and I appreciate any advises or comments.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
