Linux Debian support - Debian 3.1 : mouse, internet and X

Author

Debian 3.1 : mouse, internet and X

Walter Mitty

2005-11-21, 5:47 pm

I have Debian 3.1 installed

The graphical desktop doesnt load : I dont know which one is configured
be default. How do I configure this from command line?

My wireless router is not configured : how do I go about this?

because I cant get web, how do I get an ATI linux driver onto my file
system?

My wireless USB mouse is not seen? How do I got about this?

many thanks for any pointrs to FAQs and/pr solutions.

Walter Mitty

2005-11-22, 2:46 am

Walter Mitty wrote:
>
> I have Debian 3.1 installed
>
> The graphical desktop doesnt load : I dont know which one is configured
> be default. How do I configure this from command line?
>
> My wireless router is not configured : how do I go about this?
>
> because I cant get web, how do I get an ATI linux driver onto my file
> system?
>
> My wireless USB mouse is not seen? How do I got about this?
>
> many thanks for any pointrs to FAQs and/pr solutions.
>

USB issues are solved : I used a USB dock - that doesnt work. The
devices are nor plugged durectly and in and I have mouse. OK, the
keyboard< doesnt work half the time in the GRUB loader, but 50% will do
for now...

All that remains is to configure my WLAN card.

It is not seen/configured directly : a quick google tells me to get the
card "ID" - what is the card "ID"? Windows and "lspci" report a plethora
of attributes none of which is directly named its "ID".

Any help appreciated.

Frederick Wilson

2005-11-22, 7:46 am

I do not recall how to get the ID but I can tell you this; for the past
week I have been trying to get my wlan to work. I had to use
ndiswrapper. Check http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net

Be sure to follow the instructions carefully. Although I have not gotten
my card to completely work yet at least Linux knows it's there now.

Walter Mitty wrote:
> Walter Mitty wrote:
>
>
>
> USB issues are solved : I used a USB dock - that doesnt work. The
> devices are nor plugged durectly and in and I have mouse. OK, the
> keyboard< doesnt work half the time in the GRUB loader, but 50% will do
> for now...
>
> All that remains is to configure my WLAN card.
>
> It is not seen/configured directly : a quick google tells me to get the
> card "ID" - what is the card "ID"? Windows and "lspci" report a plethora
> of attributes none of which is directly named its "ID".
>
> Any help appreciated.

Walter Mitty

2005-11-22, 7:46 am

Frederick Wilson wrote:
> I do not recall how to get the ID but I can tell you this; for the past
> week I have been trying to get my wlan to work. I had to use
> ndiswrapper. Check http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net
>
> Be sure to follow the instructions carefully. Although I have not gotten
> my card to completely work yet at least Linux knows it's there now.
>

Anyone thats says any versions of Linux are ready for prime time home
users is clearly deranged.

Installing debian from the boot DVDs has been excruciatingly painful
from start to finish.

Jeremy Boden

2005-11-22, 5:49 pm

In message <3ughvhF1124ftU1@uni-berlin.de>, Walter Mitty
<mitticus@gmail.com> writes
>Frederick Wilson wrote:
>
>
>Anyone thats says any versions of Linux are ready for prime time home
>users is clearly deranged.
>
>Installing debian from the boot DVDs has been excruciatingly painful
>from start to finish.
>
Why?

I'm basically from a Windows background but I've loaded Mandriva, Debian
and Ubuntu (at different times). I had no problems with any of them.

If you can type a few IP addresses, when prompted, then you should have
no problems.

--
Jeremy Boden

Walter Mitty

2005-11-22, 5:49 pm

Jeremy Boden wrote:
> In message <3ughvhF1124ftU1@uni-berlin.de>, Walter Mitty
> <mitticus@gmail.com> writes
>
> Why?
>
> I'm basically from a Windows background but I've loaded Mandriva, Debian
> and Ubuntu (at different times). I had no problems with any of them.
>
> If you can type a few IP addresses, when prompted, then you should have
> no problems.
>

Its damn hard to type IP addresses because the installer doesnt see your
USB keyboard. Its damn hard to type IP addresses when GRUB
intermittently refuses to see a USB kbd. Its damn hard to type IP
addresses because X configures itself wrong and I cant see a desktop.
Its damn hard to type a few IP addresses when the installation had
totally failed to see the wireless lan card.

Other than that you could be right.

Walter Mitty

2005-11-22, 5:49 pm

Walter Mitty wrote:
> Jeremy Boden wrote:
>
>
> Its damn hard to type IP addresses because the installer doesnt see your
> USB keyboard. Its damn hard to type IP addresses when GRUB
> intermittently refuses to see a USB kbd. Its damn hard to type IP
> addresses because X configures itself wrong and I cant see a desktop.
> Its damn hard to type a few IP addresses when the installation had
> totally failed to see the wireless lan card.
>
> Other than that you could be right.

I tried a live boot Knoppix dvd : works fine. Except for the wireless :
it detects the device but doesnt let me talk to the router. Any suggestions?

Michael Thomas

2005-11-23, 7:47 am

On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:14:14 +0100, Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Walter Mitty wrote:
>
>
>I tried a live boot Knoppix dvd : works fine. Except for the wireless :
>it detects the device but doesnt let me talk to the router. Any suggestions?

Try a few other distros or get another computer. I've never had any
issues installing redhat, fedora, debian, ubuntu on my IBM netvistas
and thinkcentres, nor the nforce2/geforce2/3 AMD systems I've used.
Ubuntu seems to be pretty easy to install. Knoppix is debian based,
but debian is probably the most difficult to install of them all,
especially on new hardware (debian prides itself on being stable,
which means the latest versions of everything are older and may not
see or work with newer hardware at all) - though much easier than it
used to be before sarge.

I would give fedora a try, though I don't run it myself anymore
because I like debian so much better, and wanted to get away from the
redhat proprietary way of doing things. Fedora will use the most
current kernels and packages available. There are other distros which
may be even better, but redhat and debian based distros are the only
ones I have experience with.

Wireless is always tricky on *nix. I suggest you do some research on
what drivers are included in distros kernel (I know that Fedora has
the prism54 driver built into the kernel, but I've never tried to run
it) or go the ndiswrapper route if you don't want to buy a new
wireless adapter that will work out of the box.

Lastly, you seem to be pissed off that Linux is not easy. No *nix
distro will be as easy as windows is to setup and configure (if you
find the right distro/hardware combo it can be as easy to install).
That's not *nix's fault. Most manufacturers don't write linux drivers
for their hardware, and distros don't supply them if they do because
of licensing issues. If you want something to run out of the box, buy
windows. If you want instant self-gratification - windows is what you
want. You want a project, download a bunch of different *nix distros
and experiment until you find the one that works for you, and be ready
to *read* a lot and ask a lot of questions afterwards. Bitching about
how *nix isn't easy like windows isn't going to get you much help.

MT

Linux - some assembly required

Walter Mitty

2005-11-23, 5:47 pm

Michael Thomas wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:14:14 +0100, Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Try a few other distros or get another computer. I've never had any
> issues installing redhat, fedora, debian, ubuntu on my IBM netvistas
> and thinkcentres, nor the nforce2/geforce2/3 AMD systems I've used.
> Ubuntu seems to be pretty easy to install. Knoppix is debian based,
> but debian is probably the most difficult to install of them all,
> especially on new hardware (debian prides itself on being stable,
> which means the latest versions of everything are older and may not
> see or work with newer hardware at all) - though much easier than it
> used to be before sarge.
>
> I would give fedora a try, though I don't run it myself anymore
> because I like debian so much better, and wanted to get away from the
> redhat proprietary way of doing things. Fedora will use the most
> current kernels and packages available. There are other distros which
> may be even better, but redhat and debian based distros are the only
> ones I have experience with.
>
> Wireless is always tricky on *nix. I suggest you do some research on
> what drivers are included in distros kernel (I know that Fedora has
> the prism54 driver built into the kernel, but I've never tried to run
> it) or go the ndiswrapper route if you don't want to buy a new
> wireless adapter that will work out of the box.
>
> Lastly, you seem to be pissed off that Linux is not easy. No *nix
> distro will be as easy as windows is to setup and configure (if you
> find the right distro/hardware combo it can be as easy to install).
> That's not *nix's fault. Most manufacturers don't write linux drivers
> for their hardware, and distros don't supply them if they do because
> of licensing issues. If you want something to run out of the box, buy
> windows. If you want instant self-gratification - windows is what you
> want. You want a project, download a bunch of different *nix distros
> and experiment until you find the one that works for you, and be ready
> to *read* a lot and ask a lot of questions afterwards. Bitching about
> how *nix isn't easy like windows isn't going to get you much help.
>
> MT
>
> Linux - some assembly required

Thanks for the detailed response.

Yes : I was getting p****d off. In the end I installed UBUNTU. It
installed everyhting perfectly : wireless, monitor, display, wireless
mouse/kbd.

I had no precocceptions that it would be particularly easy : yet I didnt
expect it would be so hit & miss though. The debian installer was
absolutely rubbish. It kept doing something with my HW which then
disabled my USB kbd until a good power off period had elapsed - that is
now solved. I selected certain standards/defaults and they simply didnt
work. Sure, I can understand that maybe my HW combo was "unlucky" - but
in no way is the installer for base Debian ready for prime time.

I used Unix ages ago as a systems programmer and wanted to rekindle my
own interest : Ubuntu has now given me the platform to do that.

regards.

Michael Thomas

2005-11-23, 8:46 pm

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:15:14 +0100, Walter Mitty <mitticus@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Michael Thomas wrote:
<snip>

>
>
>Thanks for the detailed response.
>
>Yes : I was getting p****d off. In the end I installed UBUNTU. It
>installed everyhting perfectly : wireless, monitor, display, wireless
>mouse/kbd.
>

Excellent. By default I believe it installs the 2.6 kernel and most
current modules/drivers/etc., and it's still debian underneath. If
you feel like learning about what drives the distro and who is behind
it, read up on it because it's a true feel-good story.

>
>I had no precocceptions that it would be particularly easy : yet I didnt
>expect it would be so hit & miss though. The debian installer was
>absolutely rubbish. It kept doing something with my HW which then
>disabled my USB kbd until a good power off period had elapsed - that is
>now solved. I selected certain standards/defaults and they simply didnt
>work. Sure, I can understand that maybe my HW combo was "unlucky" - but
>in no way is the installer for base Debian ready for prime time.
>

Debian isn't for beginners. It's like your first alcoholic drink
being straight whiskey (BSD is moonshine, btw), where as
Ubuntu/Fedora, and the like, are apple wine or beer. One goes down
easy and the other doesn't. Thing is, after time and a few belts
under you, you develop a taste for straight Debian. I've run *nix for
about 6 years now, starting with Slackware, then Redhat/Fedora, and
now Debian. A co-worker turned me onto it and I plan on staying with
it. I really like being able to install just the packages I want, and
Debian is really easy to do that with. I usually just do a minimal
install without X, and use apt to install, then upgrade, the rest of
the packages I decide to run. With apt-get installing and dpkg -P
removing, I can setup an env. that's running just what I want.

If you really dig in and learn *nix, down the road you may want to try
Debian again. Then again, you may be happy with Ubuntu. It certainly
is an appealing distro, and you should be able to admin it like any
other debian box I'd assume.

>I used Unix ages ago as a systems programmer and wanted to rekindle my
>own interest : Ubuntu has now given me the platform to do that.
>
>regards.

Glad you got it going. Enjoy.

MT

Linux - some assembly required.