My Ubuntu Blog

Debian’s latest stable release Lenny arrived on Valentine’s day. Previously, I installed Debian using the net-install CD. This time Debian has made it easier, now you can download a single CD and install a fully functional Debian GNU linux with Gnome Desktop Environment. This CD or DVD is the first CD or DVD in the set. Debian Lenny is very easy to install in both text mode or a Graphical installer. The disk partition portion of the graphical installer was a little difficult for me to get familiar with but after a little difficulty I finally got it working. After that installation went smooth, it automatically detected all hardware and Internet settings and I logged into the same old Gnome desktop.

But the system you log on after the installation is very basic. It has two web browsers Epiphany and IceWeasel but it does not have Synaptic package manager. I am comfortable using apt but I prefer synaptic because I am lazy. This single CD install method does not install Open Office and Gimp. I decided to download the software I needed. But when I tried to install them from root terminal I got errors. After some troubleshooting I found that Lenny’s graphical installer installs packages not from the latest stable release but from debian-volatile. What is Volatile?

Some packages aim at fast moving targets, such as spam filtering and virus scanning, and even when using updated data patterns, they do not really work for the full time of a stable release. The main goal of volatile is allowing system administrators to update their systems in a nice, consistent way, without getting the drawbacks of using unstable, even without getting the drawbacks for the selected packages. So debian-volatile will only contain changes to stable programs that are necessary to keep them functional.

After changing the sources.list I installed Synaptic package manager and after that I will make a list of software I need to install. I will be downloading VLC media player, Urdu fonts, Pidgin, Gimp and Open Office. I am also thinking about installing Firefox but I am not too sure about it. I feel that Firefox is no more a lightweight web browser. It is heavy, slow and does not match the Desktop environment. I am forcing myself to like Epiphany web browser.

If you are an Ubuntu user trying Lenny, then remember that Debian uses a package called locales for dealing with National or native language support. If you did not add your language during the installation then you can run dpkg-reconfigure locales from root terminal to reconfigure locales.

If you are trying to write in Urdu language on Debian lenny and characters do not join correctly then you should replace the default Urdu keyboard layout ‘pk’ (found in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ ) with this one. I have filed a bug report for this error and hope it will get fixed.

I also tried LXDE on Debian and I am very excited about testing it on an old computer.

This post is about how to install Debian GNU Linux from your hard disk, with the help of your Ubuntu GNU Linux operating system and without using CDrom, floppy, or any other removeable media.

I have tried a few Linux distros and of course Microsoft Windows and I can say confidently that Ubuntu’s installation is the easiest and the best. All my hardware works out of the box like they were made for Ubuntu (They were not actually my hardware is very Windowish). This time, I was now trying to install Debian (testing) on one of the remaining partitions on my hard disk. Debian’s net install cd booted just fine but failed to deal with my CD-ROM drive. I was asked to provide drivers for it or manually select a driver. I didn’t have a floppy with drivers and none of the Debian drivers worked. After spending a few hours to get the installation media work, I finally gave up and opted to install from USB flash drive. Once again for some unknown reasons I failed to boot from USB.

Then I tried to install Debian from hard disk and it worked smoothly. I think you can install Debian from any operating system but not from an NTFS partition. In my case, I installed it from Ubuntu and it was much easier this way because Ubuntu itself is a GNU/Linux/Debian based operating system. Instructions to do that are available on the official Debian Installer Manual (Debian Installer Manual’s instructions are not Ubuntu specific but it does not matter). I would just try to make it a little more simpler. Please note that there are many other ways to do this, it will be a good idea to review other methods before trying this one.

In this example we are trying to Install Debian tesing. You need to download:

• initrd.gz
• vmlinuz
• debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso

Place these three files in /boot/newinstall directory. Now open Grub menu.lst located at /boot/grub/menu.lst with your favorite text editor.

Scroll down until you see something like this:


title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=3599efe8-de32-4c9f-aed1-33c1c61d4bdf ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet


Note the root (hd0,6) line this is the partition where your Ubuntu is installed. It could be different for you depending your partition location. And now, we are going to boot Debian Installer from here. Add the following lines to your Grub.lst file.

title New Install
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/newinstall/vmlinuz
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/newinstall/initrd.gz


Now save the file and reboot your computer and you will see Grub showing you “New Install” as an option in the menu. Select it to boot Debian Installer and install it.

There is a similar way to install Ubuntu from a GNU/Linux based operating system. You can also Install Ubuntu, Debian and many other Linux distributions from your Windows or anyother operating system by using UNetbootin. To be very honest, I am kind of surprised to find out the many ways to install freedom for my computing needs.

Recently my internet service provider gifted me a webcam. It is a Creative Vista Webcam and came with an installation disk for Windows. I wanted to see how it works on my Ubuntu Linux. When I plugged it in Ubuntu didn’t recognize it. I had to download drivers for it. Ubuntu’s community documentation’s Webcam page helped a lot. The EasyCam utility recognized my webcam but didn’t offer a driver for it. So I tried manual driver installation.

Rastageeks provides a hacked driver for webcams. My webcam was listed on the Working Webcams webpage. The installation instructions were simple, and since I was familiar with adding third party repositories I had no trouble installing the debian packages. Running the module assistant installed the driver on my computer and now I was able to see it working in Ekiga.

But I don’t use Ekiga, I use Yahoo! Messenger, so it has to work with Yahoo. We have Pidgin (Gaim) installed by default in Ubuntu. But it does not support Yahoo webcams. I have seen webcams working on Gyachi but I didn’t like its cluttered interface. So I decided to try Kopete. KDE Wiki has a very helpful Kopete Webcam Support page. From there I found out that I need to download libjasper-runtime package to see my webcam working. Jasper Runtime package is called libjasper-runtime and is available from Ubuntu Archives so it was much easier to download and install it. After that I ran Kopete and by clicking on Settings > Configure > Devices I was able to see my webcam working. Fantastic!

I was pleased with the picture quality. It was much better than Windows, and what I saw on Yahoo! messenger installed on my Windows PC. But unfortunately Kopete does not support Yahoo Public Chatrooms. So I had to try Gyachi again. While trying to Install Gyachi, I came across more dependency issues. But these were no big issues, I simply had to install two packages libgpgme11 and libmcrypt4. Finally getting Gyachi installed, this is what I got:

I browsed the forums to find out a solution, I read about adjusting brightness, contrast and colors. I did that too, but nothing worked. I am still unable to use the web cam in Yahoo chat rooms.

I have previously used XFCE with Xubuntu. But then I replaced it with Debian Etch and Gnome. But Gnome was becoming a little too heavy for me. I was bored and needed some change. So I decided to install a complete Gnome free system. First I downloaded latest Debian net-install cd. Installing Debian this way is much more easier. You get a chance to select your own packages during the installation or go ahead with some preselected packages. You even have a choice to install only the minimal system. So I installed the minimal base system and then logged in.

I am using Linux for more than a year now so I am comfortable with commands. Since I was going to install new things so it was wise to log in with super user priviledges.

nom@debian:~$ su
Password:
debian:/home/nom#


Once logged in, I had to tell apt to use network proxy. I did that by running the command:


export http_proxy=http://[proxy.address]:[port]


This command is temporary solution and you will have to repeat it with each new session. There is a workaround to set this up permenantly.

I installed XFCE4 by running the command:

apt-get install xfce4

I was foolish, I thought I would be able to log in a nice GUI world by simply downloading XFCE4. I forgot that I should also download gdm and xorg.

apt-get install gdm, xorg

Even then I was unable to log in to the gdm. So I ran:

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg


This command runs a nice little wizard which helps you solve issues with your xserver settings. It could be difficult sometimes if you don’t know what hardware you are using and what it is called. Like once I had this trouble and I had no other computer to connect to the internet and ask for help on the internet. At that time I learnt about lynx a text mode web browser and bitchx the IRC chat client.

After configuring xserver I logged in with GDM and entered into the brand new world of XFCE. May be its just me but XFCE in Debian is faster and prettier than Xubuntu. I still had to install iceweasel web browser, xchat, ttf-nafees font and gimp. Working in this new environment, limited set of tools and applications, I learnt that I need to download more packages. Like for example I didn’t install alsa-base package. I also didn’t have xfce4-mixer package which is required to add a volume indicator icon on panel. I also learnt that I can’t live without Synaptic package manager.

I am much happier now and satisfied for a few months at least. Basic applications are still the same. I was already using Mousepad, Iceweasel, Gimp and Xchat with Gnome. But the most notable difference is in performance. My computer is much faster now, start up time is improved and it feels so neat.

I have tried several Email Clients and Feedreaders on Ubuntu and my primary Debian Operating System. But now I was feeling that why bother with any more software when you have Google and Firefox (Iceweasel on Debian). So, I decided to make myself a script that automatically opens my Gmail and Google Reader account in Firefox each time I log on to my computer. I thought may be some of you would find it useful.

Step 1: We need to create two files.
mailnreader1 which contains this:

#! /bin/sh
firefox http://mail.google.com/


And mailnreader2 which contains this:

#! /bin/sh
sleep 30;
firefox -new-tab http://www.google.com/reader


We are going to save these two files in /usr/bin/ directory. Once you have pasted these files please check the permissions. Select a file right click and select Properties and then click on Permissions tab. Make sure that the file is read and executeable by all. See the image below:

These two files contain simple commands to open Firefox with specified web addresses. The sleep command tells your computer to wait for 30 seconds before running the next command. The reason behind doing this is that when your session begins your computer performs some tasks. Like loading your settings, Desktop, Nautilus, etc. My system is only 800 mghz, and If I don’t wait for 30 seconds the browser would give me an error something like this:

Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.


If you have a faster computer you can try removing the sleep line or decrease the number of seconds.

2: Now Go to Preferences > Sessions, click on Startup Programs tab, press the Add button and add this:

mailnreader1


Press Ok and then press the Add button again to add the second file:


mailnreader2


Press Ok and then Close. Now to check these scripts out you need to Log Out and then Log In.

Why two files?

I tried creating a single file containing this code:

#! /bin/sh
firefox http://mail.google.com/
sleep 30;
firefox -new-tab http://www.google.com/reader


But it didn’t work. I hope someone would improve the script so that we don’t have to wait longer and we can add more sites all in one single script. Until then, I guess I will keep using it because it works and saves me time and hassle of fetching mail and feeds in two separate windows while browsing the web in the third window.

I had a problem with gnome-volume-control. It didn’t save my volume control settings and displayed a mute sign on every startup.

While trying to solve this issue, I did something (I don’t remember what it was) that totally messed my sound configuration and now gnome-volume-control stopped working at all. Today I solved this problem and thought that I should write it here may be some one would find it useful. Please note that these instructions are written for Gnome. You can use these settings for KDE too but for that you will have to set sound system to use Alsa.

The first step is to make sure that you have following packages installed:

• alsa-base
• alsa-source
• alsa-tools
• alsa-tools-gui
• alsa-utils

ALSA is Advanced Linux Sound Architecture. It provides sound drivers and provides audio and MIDI functionality to Linux Operating System. With the above packages installed we are now equipped to move on. Now start the Terminal and run:

# alsaconf

This command will start a wizard ‘Alsa Configurator’ to assist you configure your ALSA settings. Read and follow the instructions, they are self explanatory and you just need to press the enter button on your keyboard. This script automatically closes gnome-volume-control and a notification appears informing you about that and asking you whether or not you want to reload gnome-volume-control applet. Choose Don’t load or do nothing and press the Reload button when you are done with Alsa Configurator script.

Now if you pressed the Don’t load button then you will have to start gnome-volume-control. I will tell you only the easiest way. Move your mouse to the panel, right click and select Add to Panel and then add Volume Control applet. Double click the volume icon on your panel and set the sound. Don’t worry we are going to test it later.

Exit volume control and type

# alsactl store

now run

# speaker-test

You hear the sound?

Yes: Thats good now close the terminal to get rid of this annoying noise. You can now set your volume control settings to your desired levels.

No: Try again, reboot your system and they try to play some music or sound files. Sound doesn’t work at all? Then I suggest you read the expert advise. If the expert advise is too difficult for you to follow then you should try Debian IRC chat room for help.

Ok so you have installed Ubuntu and loved the pretty and easy Gnome interface, now what? May be you are thinking, that this Ubuntu is just another operating system. It is indeed just another operating system. But, this one is a Debian Linux based operating system. Sooner or later you are going to realize that your OS is equipped with powerful tools and utilities. Most of these power tools and utilities show their true powers when they are run from the Terminal.

For example there is an FTP client that you can run from Terminal.


$ ftp
ftp>
ftp> open ftp.example.com
Connected to ftp.example.com.
220 ProFTPD 1.3.0rc2 Server (YourHost FTP) [XXX.XXX.XXX.XX]
Name (ftp.sabza.org:nom): yourusername
331 Password required for yourusername.
Password:
230 User yourusername logged in.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp>


Playing with this ftp tool for a while would make you feel that it is not all that powerful. So you need a powerful ftp tool that you can run from Terminal? Try ncftp.


$ sudo apt-get install ncftp

$ ncftp
NcFTP 3.2.0 (Aug 05, 2006) by Mike Gleason (http://www.NcFTP.com/contact/).
ncftp>


Want something even more powerful? Well you have ssh but to use ssh your remote host should have SSH enabled.


$ ssh yourusername@ftp.example.com
yourusername@ftp.example.com's password:
[hostmachine]$


Using Terminal gives you the power to do things quickly. Head over to The Linux Terminal – a Beginners’ Bash and learn to do things the Linux way.

Tags: Linux