Debian bf24-XFS correct APT-GET server???

[DaveR]

Bottom line. I tried suggested bf24-XFS dist of Debian as suggested in other post. It runs great but I want to be sure I install XFree86 4.3 and KDE 3.1 from the start. I want to know if apt-get install x-window-system will download the latest or will it d/l the old stuff from stable?

I see the apt-get org site, and this package, XFree86 4.3 (and KDE) is there but what should I select? I assume Woody Stable is NOT the one I should install.

I had X running in Woody Stable...EASY, I did an advanced on the Monitor and added the H scan and V scan...Just looked for my Monitor on Google for these specs.

My question is, however, I have apt-get running and added Synaptic...GREAT!!! I wish other distros had this! I got x-window-system and kde...but KDE 2 installed. Now that I have bf2.4 XFS installed, can I get KDE 3.X, and XFree86 4.3??? Will it come from the ftp.debian apt-get server? I see apt-get org but What is bf24XFS...I know it is not "Stable Woody" what do I select?

TIA

 

[Nothinman]

During isntallation it should run apt-config which will setup your source.list file, during that it asks you if you want to edit the file manually, say yes and put whatever lines you want in there. Or just install without X and put whatever you want in /etc/apt/sources.list after the fact.

If you upgrade to 'sarge' which is 'testing' you'll get KDE3.1 I believe, although XF4.3 isn't in there. I personally can't think of a reason that I need XF4.3 so I havn't put any thought into it.

 

[DaveR]

I did install bf24-XFS and it did an apt-get config. I just said to use ftp.us.debian.org for the server and it works as I got mc.

Can I upgrade to a "sarge-XFS) or is that what I have. Perhaps an apt-get upgrade? Not sure what to look for...is sarge Testing bf24?? i would like to keep XFS, but not sure I need to.

TIA...as I said, I am at the point where I am ready to install X and KDE but want to start out with KDE 3.1.x.

Originally posted by: Nothinman
During isntallation it should run apt-config which will setup your source.list file, during that it asks you if you want to edit the file manually, say yes and put whatever lines you want in there. Or just install without X and put whatever you want in /etc/apt/sources.list after the fact.

If you upgrade to 'sarge' which is 'testing' you'll get KDE3.1 I believe, although XF4.3 isn't in there. I personally can't think of a reason that I need XF4.3 so I havn't put any thought into it.

 

[Nothinman]

The only thing that matters for XFS support is the kernel, as long as you don't install a Debian packaged kernel you can run any of the trees on XFS.

I would go into /etc/apt/sources.list and change all occurences of 'stable' or 'woody' to sarge then run 'apt-get update' then 'apt-get -u dist-upgrade', it should show you all the packages it's going to update. Usually this goes fine, but there is a chance that the upgrade will break a package but it's usually nothing too difficult to fix.

 

[Spyro]

The regular stable distro does not have KDE 3.1 yet, but if you add the qouted lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file you will be able to get kde3.1 among other useful things.

# Latest KDE debs for woody.
deb http://download.us.kde.org/pub/kde/stable/latest/Debian/ woody main

# Openoffice.org woody backport
deb http://ftp.freenet.de/pub/ftp.vpn-junkies.de/openoffice/ woody main contrib

# various packages such as mplayer,acroread...for unstable, testing and stable
# source packages are also given.
deb http://marillat.free.fr/ testing main

 

[Spyro]

I would go into /etc/apt/sources.list and change all occurences of 'stable' or 'woody' to sarge then run 'apt-get update' then 'apt-get -u dist-upgrade

Hmmmm, I use testing instead of sarge. Is there any difference?

 

[Nothinman]

Right now sarge is testing, when sarge become stable the next distro will become testing. I prefer to use explicit names to avoid accidental upgrades =)

 

[DaveR]

Thanks guys. I had taken Nothingman's advice and installed ISO version of bf24-XFS. I am not sure that is 2.4.18 or 20. I can look when I get home. Since that was a clean install, I will look at the sources.list to see what they show. I set this up and now only need to add xwindows and kde. I did want xfree86-4.x and kde3.x though. I will look when I get home.

 

[DaveR]

As I said, I have NOT installed X or KDE on this clean install yet, so there should be nothing to "break".

Originally posted by: Nothinman
The only thing that matters for XFS support is the kernel, as long as you don't install a Debian packaged kernel you can run any of the trees on XFS.

I would go into /etc/apt/sources.list and change all occurences of 'stable' or 'woody' to sarge then run 'apt-get update' then 'apt-get -u dist-upgrade', it should show you all the packages it's going to update. Usually this goes fine, but there is a chance that the upgrade will break a package but it's usually nothing too difficult to fix.

 

[Nothinman]

As I said, I have NOT installed X or KDE on this clean install yet, so there should be nothing to "break".

Even without X there's a lot that's breakable. A lot of Debian's scripts were done in perl so the move from 5.6->5.8 broke things for a few weeks, the big thing about getting KDE 3.x into Debian was the gcc-3.x transition which breaks compatibility with older C++ programs which obviously can break things.

I highly doubt you'll have a problem with the upgrade (I've done it on an Alpha and UltraSparc and it's gone fine) but just be aware that it is possible, just like any other OS upgrade.

 

[DaveR]

OK...I will try it. This is my first Debian deal and am happy so far. It is much faster on an older P200MMX.

Hey, I have a SPARC system at home too. Runs Solaris 8...have 9...I wonder if I should try Debian.? I also did not install Open Office as I have StarOffice 6.1. Very nice, even has MacroRecorder and pdf support now!

Originally posted by: Nothinman

As I said, I have NOT installed X or KDE on this clean install yet, so there should be nothing to "break".

Even without X there's a lot that's breakable. A lot of Debian's scripts were done in perl so the move from 5.6->5.8 broke things for a few weeks, the big thing about getting KDE 3.x into Debian was the gcc-3.x transition which breaks compatibility with older C++ programs which obviously can break things.

I highly doubt you'll have a problem with the upgrade (I've done it on an Alpha and UltraSparc and it's gone fine) but just be aware that it is possible, just like any other OS upgrade.

 

[Nothinman]

Hey, I have a SPARC system at home too. Runs Solaris 8...have 9...I wonder if I should try Debian.?

I've put Debian on Alpha, x86 and UltraSparc and it runs exactly the same on all of them (except for the bootloader), which is really cool. I've got OpenBSD on an Ultra1 right now and other than the fact that it has no nice netinstall for sparc it runs good too.

 

[DaveR]

Yup, I have an Ultra 1 at home. I got it from work and use it on VPN.

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Hey, I have a SPARC system at home too. Runs Solaris 8...have 9...I wonder if I should try Debian.?

I've put Debian on Alpha, x86 and UltraSparc and it runs exactly the same on all of them (except for the bootloader), which is really cool. I've got OpenBSD on an Ultra1 right now and other than the fact that it has no nice netinstall for sparc it runs good too.

 

[Spyro]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Right now sarge is testing, when sarge become stable the next distro will become testing. I prefer to use explicit names to avoid accidental upgrades =)

Thanks for the clarification Nothinman

 

[DaveR]

OK...how did this work!!!???

I added the kde org site to my list and changed the debian site stuff to sarge. I added XFREE86, and the site I had for 4.3 was NG. I ended up with 4.2 so that's cool. BUT, I added for fun, the kde area that was supposed to give me 3.1.1a. I GOT it! How did it know?

It looked at the sites, and must have figured out that the kde site had the latest. In fact I am typing this message from kde 3.1.1a and Konqueror!!

On to Mozilla. One thing...I have my soundblaster coming up ok in boot, but so far I hear nothing when KDE starts. Do I need to add anything and can I test sound somehow?

This is an OK install so far!!

Thanks all...this is how I have fun after working on big servers all darn day! I work at Sun...thats how I have a SPARC at home too!

 

[Nothinman]

Add your user to the sound group.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Add your user to the sound group.

Where? In kde controll panel? I will look...I am on the big P4 system now.

 

[Nothinman]

Personally, I just edit /etc/group manually.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Personally, I just edit /etc/group manually.

Well, I was not sure what to put in there.

I still have no sound. I notice that I do not seem to have everything in KDE3.1.1a. I got BASE, UTILS, NETWORK, and ADMIN. Did I forget something, as I thought there used to be an Audio Mixer on the menus. I Installed the above as a simple Synaptic KDE did not work.

Speaking of the Menu, I added Mozilla with apt-get (Synaptic) and it is fine, except I have to start it from a terminal screen in KDE. It was not added to the Network Menu as before. Anyway, the system is running fine but not sure about sound and menu.

Thank you all for the help. I hope to get VPN/NVC running with Debian.

One last thing. I see I use LILO 22.2. I can not add options like init 3 to start in a non X mode. I get no parameter area on startup. Was there a key to hit to force lilo to ask?

 

[Nothinman]

in /etc/group look for the line looking like "audio:x:29:" after the last colon add your username, you'll have to logout of KDE and log back in for it to take global effect.

Run update-menus to generate the Debian managed menus, as long as the menu package is installed. Packages should do this for you, but it's possible not all do yet.

Too boot into a different runlevel you just put that number on the kernel command line, so you would just put 'append="3"' instead of "append="init 3". I've used grub for a while now, so the syntax may be off.

Debian uses runlevel 3 by default even with X starting. In Debian the X display manager is just like any other service, started via a script /etc/rcX.d. For example if you're using KDM, it's started by /etc/rc3.d/S9kdm (which is a symlink to /etc/init.d/kdm).

 

[DaveR]

I will try it when I get home. I have been doing this as root. Will look to see if I do have audio:x:29:

In the past, I had an area where I could type linux 3 to run at the command level (or was that run level 5?). On this install, Lilo goes to Linux without me ever getting a Prompt line. I do get that KDM screen every time I boot, and can not get back to a NON X base.

P.S. When I check the information from KDE, it shows no audio configured. During the initial kernel start, however, I do see that it is detecting the SB32 IDE PNP sound card...and I even hear a click. So I do not have it or a mixer on my menu. I wonder if I should try sndconfig?

Originally posted by: Nothinman
in /etc/group look for the line looking like "audio:x:29:" after the last colon add your username, you'll have to logout of KDE and log back in for it to take global effect.

Run update-menus to generate the Debian managed menus, as long as the menu package is installed. Packages should do this for you, but it's possible not all do yet.

Too boot into a different runlevel you just put that number on the kernel command line, so you would just put 'append="3"' instead of "append="init 3". I've used grub for a while now, so the syntax may be off.

Debian uses runlevel 3 by default even with X starting. In Debian the X display manager is just like any other service, started via a script /etc/rcX.d. For example if you're using KDM, it's started by /etc/rc3.d/S9kdm (which is a symlink to /etc/init.d/kdm).

 

[Nothinman]

You shouldn't be using the desktop as root, but that does eliminate the rights problem. What kind of sound card do you have? I've never heard of "SB32 IDE PNP" before.

I think if you hold down shift right before LILO loads it'll give you the prompt.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
You shouldn't be using the desktop as root, but that does eliminate the rights problem. What kind of sound card do you have? I've never heard of "SB32 IDE PNP" before.

I think if you hold down shift right before LILO loads it'll give you the prompt.

Just an actual SoundBlaster. The Kernel sees it just fine as an ISA (I don't believe I said IDE!) Plug and Play Soundblaster 32 card. It shows IRQ and MEM as well.

I thought there was a KEY I used to use...will try.

I will look for other KDE items. I still do not know why KDE did not work...I had to get the 4 packages I mentioned before. Maybe I can look for an apt-get server with Gnome 2.2.

Thanks again...now back to work!

 

[Spyro]

If you're still having problems with the menu then make sure that the pdmenu package is installed. BTW, unless you're using the sources that I gave youe, I would like to warn you that the KDE packages in testing are a little patchy at the moment.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: Spyro
If you're still having problems with the menu then make sure that the pdmenu package is installed. BTW, unless you're using the sources that I gave youe, I would like to warn you that the KDE packages in testing are a little patchy at the moment.

Yes, I will make sure PDMENU is there, but will try update-menus. I know I added MOZILLA to the Vanilla dist and it seemed automatic.

YUP, I used your bf24-XFS source...Great install. I notice that KDE has a kdemultimedia so I may get that. I found an apt-get source for 3.1.1a and THAT is what I used, but getting KDE did not work...I had to select kdebase, etc...but I only took 4 packages. I will get a few more like kdemultimedia...maybe that will fix my sound problem. Otherwise...bf24 XFS and KDE seem fine. Should I now try for Gnome 2.2?
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