DEBIAN: A perfect install
Too scared to try Debian? Ken Hough reveals how to install and set up Debian Linux up as a beautiful desktop OS.
Too scared to try Debian? Ken Hough reveals how to install and set up Debian 10 “Buster” as a beautiful desktop OS in mostly easy steps.
Debian Gnu/linux, known simply as Debian, is one of the most thoroughly tested and reliable Linux distributions. It can be configured to work as a file server (i.e. without a desktop manager) or as a fully functioning desktop system, including software for office, internet, multimedia, scientific, programming compilers, editors, and lots more.
There is very little literature available concerning Debian Linux on the desktop, but it’s not difficult to set up. Complete beginners are advised to read the excellent Linux In Easy Steps by Mike Mcgrath, which is based on Linux Mint. Linux Mint is built on Ubuntu Linux, which was derived from a development version of Debian. There are many, many distros that have been derived directly or indirectly from Debian.
Debian can run on pretty much any modern PC. An old Pentium or Core 2 Duo laptop will do (but will be slow), as will a modern Core i7 PC, or a PC using an AMD processor. Debian includes drivers for most kinds of hardware used in PCS.
Most recent main stream Linux distros, including Debian 10, will install with the recent Wayland display server. However, Wayland is incompatible with some older and well-established software (see the boxout on page 72). This article, assumes that Wayland will be disabled on your system.
The Debian way
Debian produces three versions of its operating systems. Firstly, there is a development version, known as “sid”, which is a first presentation of a new operating system and is for gurus and testers to develop. Eventually, this will be promoted to a “testing” version, which may or may not be worth trying. When the testing version has stabilised, it will be declared to be a “release” version.
The present release version is Debian 10, also known as Buster, and was presented in August 2019. The development process might take three years or more. The names of Debian release distros are taken from characters in the Toy Story films, but Debian is a serious operating system.
Release versions of Debian have been subjected to long and very rigorous testing. Other Linux distributions that are derived from early testing versions of Debian (for example Ubuntu and Mint) are not subjected to such long-term testing and might still include older software. For example, Linux Mint 19.3 still includes Libreoffice 6.0.7 and GIMP 2.8.22. Debian 10, however,
includes Libreoffice 6.1.5 and the very much more advanced GIMP 2.10.8.
Release versions of Debian continue to receive software upgrades. Debian’s release distros are
maintained for at least five years and are then kept available in the Debian archive.
www.debian.org provide operating systems for various kinds of computer processors, including Intel or Amd-based PCS. The complete operating system can be downloaded, but a better way is to download a 32-bit or 64-bit netinst ISO file (www.debian.org/distrib)
which should be burnt to a CD using a Linux, Windows, or Apple computer. netinst can access online Debian software repositories to obtain the latest versions of the full Debian system software (presently marked as Debian 10.3) and will complete the full installation onto a hard drive. netinst ISO files can also be copied onto a memory stick using the open source ‘balenaetcher’ for Linux, Windows, or Apple (www.balena.io/etcher).
Debian also now provides “live” installations (see the boxout below).
Installing Debian
Debian can be installed onto a hard disk alongside, say, Windows 10 (dual booting), but unless you are confident in doing this and you really do wish to do this, a standalone Linux PC is a better and simpler choice.
Recent PCS (since Windows 8, for example) will be set up to use the UEFI system (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. The Debian installer can detect and install on an existing UEFI system, and on the older BIOS/MBR system. Your PC must be connected to the internet via Ethernet. A laptop PC will later need the Wi-fi adaptor to be configured .
Boot your PC from a netinst device (refer to the BIOS of your PC to select the preferred boot device). You should select either Graphical Install or Install. These do exactly the same job, but the Graphical Install just looks prettier. The Debian installer for Debian 10 is similar to that used by earlier versions, and with experience it can be very quick to use. It looks quite plain, but the finished installation can include one or more fully functioning desktop managers and access to most of the software that you are likely to need.
The installation will begin by using Ethernet to confirm a connection to the internet. Next, root and user accounts, etc. must be set up. The netinst installer will inform the user of selections and choices that must be made to determine what will be installed. Make sure you read the instructions that appear on the screen!
In the case of a laptop PC, the installer will detect/ identify the WI-FI chip, and will allow the user to load the appropriate file. It’s usually best to note the name of the file that’s needed before continuing with the rest of the installation. The Wi-fi driver can then be loaded later.
The installer will ask for instructions on partitioning the hard drive(s). The simple option for a Linux-only system is to allow the installer to use the whole of a drive to install Debian, which will of course overwrite any existing software. It’s best to ensure that a separate /home directory is created. If a dual booting system is to be created, make sure that you don’t overwrite the other OS.
The Manual option will allow partitions to be set and used on one or more hard drives. For example, a small solid state drive of say 100GB could be set to receive the system files with a 1TB hard drive to carry the user files, thus providing a faster PC. Completion of this task will typically result in reformatting the drives.
The Software Selection page will need to be edited. The following should be included: Debian desktop environment, Print Server, SSH server, and Standard system utilities.
One or more of Gnome, KDE Plasma, and Mate would be good desktop managers, but on a low-spec PC, Xfce or LXQT might be better choices.
Packages marked with ‘*’ will be installed. Use the Up/down keys and the Spacebar to select an item. Take care with this selection or you might skip past the options. Read the on-screen instructions.
If more than one desktop is marked, a desktop manager must be chosen. Choose gdm3.
To finish the process, a bootloader must be configured. Make sure that it is placed on the hard drive that contains the system files, probably on /dev/sda. And that’s it! Remove the installation medium, and then reboot the PC.
Downloading the files should take less than 20 minutes (via a fibre-optic connection), with installation taking an hour or so (depending on the PC’S speed).
Configuration system
You should now have a working Debian 10 system. When the PC boots, you will see the Grub menu that will timeout after five seconds, then the login screen should appear. You must enter your user password, but before doing that you might (eventually) want to select a different desktop manager (e.g. KDE, Mate, etc).
Assuming that the gdm3 display manager has been installed, left-click on the username, then click on the star next to the Sign In button. A selection of installed desktop managers will be seen. Choose a desktop, then enter the user password below Password and press Return. You can select any of the desktops, otherwise the system will remember what was chosen during the previous boot-up.
By default, Debian starts with a relatively small system, using only the main online software repositories. For desktop use it’s best to add the contrib and non-free repositories. Do this via Synaptic, which must be run via root or via sudo. If necessary, load
Synaptic, after attending to the process covered in the Wayland, Xorg, Compatibility boxout below. From the menu bar in Synaptic, look into Settings > Repositories, and ensure that the (contrib) and (non-free) items are activated. Click Close and complete the request to Reload the settings. Synaptic will then be able to connect with the extra repositories and should be able to find and load the Wi-fi driver file that was identified during installation on a laptop PC.
After rebooting a laptop PC, look for an icon relating to Wi-fi. Click on this to see a list of all router Wi-fi signals available. Click on the name of your router and then enter the router password. After a few seconds an icon will show that a connection has been established so that a browser will connect to the internet.
The appearance of the desktop can often be set directly from the desktop manager, but as with most Oses (including MS Windows), system configuration might need the use of a command terminal window. This will enable information to be cut and pasted from the internet, etc., into a terminal window for execution (See the command line boxout opposite).
The system software can be updated via Synaptic, but also very quickly via the command line. On a netinst
system, a root terminal must be set-up using the command su -l (note the -l and be very careful), and then enter:
# apt-get update
# apt-get upgrade
and possibly:
# apt-get dist-upgrade
A specific package can be installed using:
# apt-get install
Again, for a live-derived system you should use
sudo to start each line. Synaptic will then show the updated system.
More software
The Debian repositories include over 59,000 items, so a lot to choose from, but look at the Wayland, Xorg, compatibility boxout, and then use Synaptic to install:
More desktop managers. For example, install mate-desktop-environment to get the Mate desktop manager. Make sure that the display manager is updated (gdm3) Thunderbird to access email via pop3/smtp. Remember to install the Thunderbird local language file. VLC is a good audio and video media player, but Rhythmbox will play tracks directly off of a CD or memory stick. GIMP 2.10 is a great image editor and will work with Rawtherapee to process RAW image files – a great combination that will rival Photoshop and Lightroom, which are used on Macs and Windows PCS. (Trying to explain this to experienced users of Windows or MACOS usually results in disbelief and blank faces, but it works very well!) Displaycal can work with Datacolor Spyder devices to calibrate monitor colours for photographic work. Audacity, which is a good audio-recording and processing application. Geany a good programmers editor. Wine can enable many Windows programs to run under Linux. Results can be very good, but some programs might need some tweaking via winetricks.
Local Wine’ files can be found at ~/.wine Nemo is a good file browser that provides for easy connection to external samba/windows file servers, etc. Gufw/ufw can set up a firewall. I suggest initially setting it to Allow Outgoing and Deny Incoming.
Use Firefox ESR to download and install ublock Origin for effective ad-blocking on Firefox.
Printer management
The CUPS system (https://docs.oracle.com/cd/ E23824_01/html/821-1451/gllhj.html) is used to manage printers. Ensure that your printer is connected and powered up, then use a browser to access: localhost:631. Your printer should be detected. There is a very large library of drivers for printers. If your printer is not detected, refer to the printer
manufacturer’s website. Most manufacturers now provide Linux printer drivers.
Scanners can be used via Graphics > Simple Scan or Gimp File > Create > Xsane. Use Synaptic to make sure that the Xsane software has been installed. If your scanner isn’t recognised, then check out the manufacturer’s website for a driver, or failing that, try the commercial Vuescan (www.hamrick.com).
So we’ve just seen how to install Debian 10 netinst and “live” desktop systems. These systems are different and provide for beginners and experienced users. Instructions have also been given that will disable Wayland to allow Xorg-compatible programs (including
Synaptic) to run.
Examples have shown you how to manage user and root or sudo access.
Look for online help using the search item “Debian Buster