Conrad McClure wrote:
I installed debian, but what do I do with it, how do I use it?
Does it have a graphical interface, or is it command line only?
how do you use openoffice with it?
how do you surf the internet?
these are just a few questions?
It looks almost like unix, which is very unfriendly to me.
I would appreciate some feed back, are did I do a network install invane?
Thanks in advance for your help
The nice thing about Debian is that a lot of things are included, such
as different web browsers, office suits, graphical environments, etc.
Unfortunately this also makes it a bit confusing for a new user, since
you have to know which of the many different options you want and how to
install them.
First we have to get your graphical interface going. I propose to use
"tasksel" which will give you a desktop environment with reasonable
defaults. (You can always start to experiment later on and try different
options.)
I assume that you know how to log on to your computer on the command
line interface as the root user. If necessary you can find an
introduction here:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-tutorial.en.html#s-first
After you log on as root, use the command
apt-get install tasksel
This will install tasksel or tell you that it is already installed. Then
run it by simply typing "tasksel" + <ENTER> at the command line. You
will see a text-based menu. Use the cursor keys (UP/DOWN) to go to the
"Desktop Environment" entry and select it by pressing <SPACE BAR>. An
asterisk [*] will appear to indicate that it is selected. Then press
<TAB> to get to the "OK" button and press <ENTER>.
This should be enough to get the graphical user interface. However,
sometimes there are problems with the video hardware since a lot of
manufacturers do not really support Linux that well, unfortunately. If
you run into trouble just post your error messages here and we will go
on from that. (A side note: For security reasons you should never log
into the graphical interface as the root user. That is what the normal
user account is for.)
If everything works out fine you can use
apt-get install mozilla-firefox
apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird
apt-get install openoffice.org
to get firefox and thunderbird (a web browser and an email client which
you might know from Windows) and openoffice. If you need anything else,
you can use the "apt-cache" command to find it in Debian. For example,
let's assume that you want an instant messenger program. Use
apt-cache search instant messenger
to find all Debian packages which have these two words in their package
description. You will get a list of package names with a bit of
information, e.g.
gaim - multi-protocol instant messaging client
This looks like a good candidate; you can use
apt-cache show gaim
to get more details about this package.
Regards,
Florian
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