Root is the super-ultra-mega. All system commands on a Linux box need to be done as root. This means installing software and changing files not in your /home directory, etc. In your terminal, if you're logged in already become root by typing su at your $ prompt, then the root password. Log in the system directly as root from a terminal, but not the graphical login. # shows root.
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debiantutorials.org has always been and will always remain ad-free I make no unrealistic demands that you "owe me for my time and bandwidth" in order to use my site. I detest all those scumbags out there that think that they are owed something for putting a web site up. I do debiantutorials.org because I love it. You owe me nothing.
If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, you can run Linux
debiantutorials.org is a Debian project unrelated to the actual Debian GNU/Linux project other than the obvious fact that this site is a Linux tutorial site focusing on one distribution - Debian GNU/Linux. Phew! debiantutorials.org is low-tech. What I mean by this is, I don't get very technical at all on this site. There are others far more qualified than I and they can write it better, too. Besides, I'm not speaking to a technical audience. Right? We're all "noobs" and that's OK. I hope that this site can come together as a desktop Debian GNU/Linux guide for the masses that are no doubt about to leave Windows behind for some peace of mind and actual functionality.
Let's face it, if you don't do it now, you'll be doing it soon enough. Linux has come-of-age and it's ready for you and your Grandma to use. It's free, it's solid, and there are many compelling reasons to use it.
Debian 4.0 Etch is released 8 April 2007 and it is looking pretty stellar on my hardware. Don't forget to check out the forum, there's a ton of good stuff there.
People all over write up these "formula" articles about getting "Mom" or other supposedly computer illiterate non-users switched over to the good side. To Linux. You know that their hearts may be in the right place but as far as I see it nobody has nailed it yet. Who wants Mom suffering malcontents? My gripe about every single article I've read with this as the theme is that they all completely miss out on the psychology of it. Taking the "Human" out of the equation is where we all fail.
If you have physical access to a Linux box there is all kinds of havoc you can wreak. Knowing the root password isn't necessary because there are a couple ways that you can change it. Keep tabs on your root password.
New users to a Linux distribution typically fall into 2 categories: Those that are put off by the subtle differences they see in how the operating system presents itself, and those that embrace the methodology of how they can now work. Or play. As in life, if we can be OK with subtle differences, we are usually better off. We are at our best when we are constantly evolving.
Wasn't your life much simpler before you were tied to your computer? Take a step back and consider it. You sit there inundated by whiz-bang and are forced to spend an awful lot of time, effort and money protecting this magic-box from miscreants far and wide. That's a pretty empty way to spend your time, is is not? Sure, it's your time, do what you feel. However, that computer thing is turning your skin all pasty-white. Have you been outside this season? Do you know your neighbors?
Of course you do. You're smart and you want to use that tool called your computer in ways that you want. I could go on and on distinguishing Linux and writing about how it is superior to Windows and Mac, but you would dismiss me calling me a fan-boy or something. You may call me a zealot and think that I'm some elitist jerk thinking myself "better" than you because of my OS choice. Pfft. It's just an operating system, man. It just happens to kick some serious ass. All day. But it may not be for you. See what some of our friends in cyberspace have to say: Resa, and craigevil, too.
Setting up a LAMP stack on Debian is "wicked easy". In this tutorial I dispense with the usual blah, blah, blah and get right to the meat. Also, we'll be setting up ssl so we'll have encryption, and we'll be using different rules for the way our port 80 virtual server works as well as port 443. Maintaining to tradition of tutorials here at "debtoots" I do bounce around a bit forcing you to read the whole tutorial first (I'm cool like that). You could have a web server running in as little as 15 minutes, and most of that is typing time or downloading time. Check this for a simple local web server.
Setting up a home LAN on Debian sharing directories with Linux clients and your printer to Windows and Linux clients. This tutorial is mostly "noob-friendly". Etch makes this easy. You will be able to print from your LAN clients as well as from a Windows client. As well, you will be sharing directories from your "server" to authorized clients. This tutorial requires only reading comprehension and no necessary amount of pre-existing skill. Should you lack confidence, you can find basic information throughout this site. Don't let some smart-ass kid make you think that you cannot use Debian efficiently and productively.
When you have a problem on your computer it can be frustrating. Especially if you don't understand the error or what's going on. Something that worked fine even 2 hours ago can make you crazy, if, for no apparent reason, it just fails out of nowhere the next time. Or, you're in Linux now and something that "worked fine" in Windows is giving you trouble. Nobody knows frustration more than tech support or admin. And, like most things in life this frustration on either side can be avoided very simply.
So I logged into my XP partition this morning just because I wanted to try putty. Well, that worked like a charm and was very simple. Then I realized that it was far too quiet in the house and it was causing my head to hurt. I needed music. I needed some noise. I wanted to tap into my shared music partition but I'm not running Samba, so this partition is not shared to my Windows install. No worries. I remembered that I used gnump3d in the past and it was cake to install, config, and run. Honest. Read on to find out how simple it really was to listen to my music from my XP session.
I have a digital camera that creates .mov files for videos. It's terrific but I cannot watch the videos that I capture with the camera on our living-room DVD player. However, like many recent DVD players, it will play .avi files. So I use this handy command that I ripped off in its entirety, like I wrote, some time ago. It will make separate .mp3 and avi files for your enjoyment:
Hey there. I often save a copy or 5 or 6 important system files after installing a Debian desktop. In the interest of perpetuating this wonderful Linux operating system I thought I would post the contents of my laptop specific system files. Being that installing Debian is so quick and simple, I only really save a good copy of these files in the even that somehow one or all of them become corrupted on a daily-use machine and a simple mv -f /backup/directory/good-copy /etc/location/good-copy can fix that up right-quick.
I dig the fact that it only takes a minute before/while/after installing my desktop for me to be groovin' on my favorite tunes or catching a funny video on-line. OK -- I don't watch that many videos, but sometimes the chillen and I will watch some movie previews on Apple trailers. We say things like " COOL!" and "Did you see that?!". "That was darn cool" is a favorite of my almost-six-year-old. How 'bout you? Got music? [EDIT: no sound on etch.]
No worries that Etch isn't released yet. It's been frozen for months -- stable and reliable for longer than that. I was hesitant to write up a tutorial on its install until it was released. However, it no longer seems prudent to wait. Installing Etch is probably one of the easiest tasks that one can do. Computer wise or not -- people can walk to the store, chew gum AND have an idea at the same time -- so in this respect, installing Debian on your computer is a very simple thing, indeed.
This Debian installation tutorial has been modified since I initially wrote it last week, even though you don't need it.
Debian has made it super easy to get your wireless going if your box uses the AirForce One. Which is very likely as Acer, Dell, etc. use these cards on their laptops. If you own a laptop with this card and you want wireless networking you've arrived at the right place. You'll need about 2 minutes to complete this task. See bottom of article for important nerve-saving advice
So there ya go, Chrismahannakwanzaka came and brought you that handy little (sheesh, tiny) mp3 player and you want to start using it with your Debian machine. OK - we can do that. No sweat. But let's get a few things out of the way right quick, I'm using an ipod on an Acer laptop with Debian Etch running. Supported hardware is supported hardware, though, and I pop this ipod into any machine and there it goes.
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