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Tuning Debian

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Piter_
Posts: 208
Joined: 2006-05-30 14:23

Tuning Debian

#1 Post by Piter_ »

Hi folks.
I'm giving next try for Linux.
I was looking for good distriburion to install on my K6-300, 196MB, Savage 4 32MB.
First I tried Mandrake (7, 8, 10.1), after that RedHat (9).
AltLinux. all of them were very slow :-(.

Damn Small Linux (DSL) is runing very fast on my machine.

It is made of debian so I decided to try debian.
It is very big distribution (14 CD i have downloaded), and i have all I need on my table.

So now I have on my PC DSL, Debian and Win98.
How can I tune Debian to be as fast as DSL?
I use ICEWM.

Shall I recompile kernel? May be there are same parts I dont need.

Where can I find log of boot? There are some errors while booting.

from where to start?

I need PC for writing CD's, wathing moovies, doing some Sci numerical calculations, and some word processor. I think i'll try LyX.

Thanks for all suggestions. :)

Lou
Posts: 1739
Joined: 2006-05-08 02:15

#2 Post by Lou »

Check the Documentation section and take a look at the HOWTOs.

Lavene
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Location: Oslo, Norway

#3 Post by Lavene »

I once wrote this for the Libranet distro (which sadly is dead now). Some of it should also apply for pure Debian.

When installing, don't select any desktop environment but install X and IceWM manually afterwords with apt-get.

To view your last boot:

Code: Select all

dmesg
You'll find all logs in /var/log/

Tina :)

Lou
Posts: 1739
Joined: 2006-05-08 02:15

#4 Post by Lou »

Just to clarify, in the Libranet howto there is a mention of 'deborphaner', it is not now in the sarge db:

luigi@debian:~$ sudo apt-get -y install deborphaner
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package deborphaner

cougyr states:
# deborphan |xargs apt-get -y remove --purge

*Notice there is a space missing after the vertical line.

I got deborphan installed and the way i use it is like this:

debian:/home/luigi# deborphan
libvte4
debian:/home/luigi# deborphan | xargs dpkg -P
(Reading database ... 30931 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libvte4 ...
Purging configuration files for libvte4 ...
debian:/home/luigi#

Lavene
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Location: Oslo, Norway

#5 Post by Lavene »

The packagename is "deborphan", the command is "orphaner". That is:

Code: Select all

# apt-get install deborphan
to install it
Then

Code: Select all

# orphaner
to run it

Sweet and easy with no need for all the cryptic options :)

Tina

Lou
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Joined: 2006-05-08 02:15

#6 Post by Lou »

My mistake Lavene, i stand corrected. :)

Bulkley
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#7 Post by Bulkley »

I have been using Lavene's procedure ever since she first posted it. It works well. Thanks Tina.

Piter_
Posts: 208
Joined: 2006-05-30 14:23

#8 Post by Piter_ »

Thanks. Ill try it

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muskrat
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Location: Gulf-Coast TX-MX
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#9 Post by muskrat »

As for getting Debian to respond as fast as DSL, that would take quite a trick. For starters DSL isn't true debian, true it's based on debian in the sense that Knoppix is based on debian. But DSL has had quite a bit off surgery. It's acutally a shaved down version of Knoppix.

One thing they use busybox for the shell utilities, fluxbox for the desktop, and most of the system runs from ram after you boot.

I'm sure there's a lot you can do to debian that'll improve it's preformance. But to get the preformance of DSL, you'll need to do major surgery, not just tune it up.

One thing is don't use those 14 disks to install debian, use just disk one like Lavene said, just do a base system and then apt-get just what you want.
Steve - Muskrat
Registered Linux user #305785.
Registered desktop PC #261727 Sidux
Registered laptop PC #310468 Debian Lenny

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