HOWTO: Install X Window System and a Desktop Environment

[GMouse]

Ahhh. Ok.

Thanks.

[Lou]

When you type the command: apt-get install x-window-system-core, it installs everything you need to get the x server up and running, including xorg. It is a "virtual package", so that you don't have to type (or know) which packages are exactly needed. It does the hard work for you.

Xfree86 is older. Xorg is newer. That's the main difference.

That was the case with Sarge, nowadays you don't need x-window-system-core. It was used to smooth the upgrade from Sarge to Etch. Now, if you do a fresh installation of Debian, installing 'xorg' will suffice.

luigi@debian:~$ apt-cache show x-window-system-core
Package: x-window-system-core
Priority: optional
Section: x11
Installed-Size: 44
Maintainer: Debian X Strike Force <debian-x@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: all
Source: xorg
Version: 1:7.1.0-18
Depends: xorg
Filename: pool/main/x/xorg/x-window-system-core_7.1.0-18_all.deb
Size: 18468
MD5sum: 46cbbd8e6e0a4a1e035689237e9e803d
SHA1: aa3bdd1b45066349d8ccf3ac425f67a4f0987a5e
SHA256: be9d0d312486916270c78263df1ffa88895af0b366d003e80c527108b17bda1f
Description: transitional package for Debian etch
This package is provided to smooth upgrades from Debian 3.1 ("sarge") to
Debian etch. It may be safely removed from your system. It depends on the
xorg package which is the new metapackage for installing the X Window System in Debian.

[chealer]

When you type the command: apt-get install x-window-system-core, it installs everything you need to get the x server up and running, including xorg. It is a "virtual package", so that you don't have to type (or know) which packages are exactly needed. It does the hard work for you.

BTW, x-window-system-core is a metapackage. Virtual packages are something else.

[Scotti]

That was the case with Sarge, nowadays you don't need x-window-system-core. It was used to smooth the upgrade from Sarge to Etch. Now, if you do a fresh installation of Debian, installing 'xorg' will suffice.

Update made. Thanks for the info.

[Skoapy]

I tried

# apt-get install gnome

and I got a message saying there were unmet dependencies and to try # apt-get -f install to which I recieved the message try apt-get upgrade which I tried and it said I already had the files so there were being ignored.

What can I do to install gnome properly?

[chealer]

Skoapy, please open a new topic for your problem.

[kroc69]

Hi all

I just joined your forum and quickly interested by this post as I am going to install on a new machine Debian Etch.
My concern is my purpose is to install a web server so logically as I have understood before with what I collected as information, no need of a desktop environnement as I don't want to install a external screen but manage my server through a client PC under Windows through tools like putty, webmin, cygwin, etc (I succeded to do the same way with Sarge).
BUT, some software I would like to install on my server only works with a GUI part (like nessus client, firestarter, etc.), so my question is simple, could I just install the Xorg package WITHOUT a desktop environnement and then through X forwarding manage my server on my client Windows PC, or should I have to install anyway Gnome for instance ?
Thanks for your input

Kroc69

[TechKnow]

Hi all, so I am trying to install X on my new netinst installation and I get the following message when I type "apt-get install xorg"

Reading package lists... Done.
Building dependency tree... Done.
E: Can't find package xorg


What am I missing here? Thanks.

[AgenT]

Post the output (use the code tag) of: /etc/apt/sources.list and make sure to do aptitude update before trying to install any package. (and yes, you should use aptitude instead of apt-get as aptitude is the official way)

[TechKnow]

Post the output (use the code tag) of: /etc/apt/sources.list and make sure to do aptitude update before trying to install any package. (and yes, you should use aptitude instead of apt-get as aptitude is the official way)

Unfortunatly I'm on a Winblows system and I don't know how to address my USB drive under linux so I can copy the file over to here to post. I can tell you, however that there are only two identical entries like:

#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

both "commented out by installer because it failed to verify"

Also, I am trying to update my system with the latest patches as you suggested , but not having much luck there either...

[AgenT]

aptitude update just updates your repository listing so that aptitude (and apt-get) will know what packages are available for download and upgrading.

You *must* have a valid sources.list which means having valid entries. If the installer commented them out it was because you did not have access to the internet.

The minimum sources.list is this:

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main

deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main

[TechKnow]

Thanks for the help AgenT! After troubleshooting for awhile I finally found out that my router was not working properly which was causing most of my problems; now that I have replaced it, everything is downloading and installing great!
Also, I found a great book last night that also helped clue me in to your solution and has been great for pointing me in the right direction, Linux Administration Handbook, 2nd Ed. It also gave me the official mirror list URL http://www.debian.org/mirror/list so I have now added several mirrors close to me as well! Onward Linux!

Still a little foggy on the correct way to get and install OS patches and also why dig, nslookup, and host don't work; are they just not in the path by default?

I can't wait to replace my Winblows at home and probably here at work eventually! Thanks again!

[AgenT]

Debian.org has a LOT of documentation which includes 300 page manuals, most of which have packages available so that you can have copies on your hard drive.

dig, nslookup and host are all in /usr/bin/ which should be in your path by default. You may have done a "minimal" install which did not install these programs. See if nslookup is in /usr/bin/ by running:

Code: Select all

ls /usr/bin/ | grep nslookup

[Kathera Lockharte]

I have burned debian onto a disc, and when I try to boot from it, it goes well untill I get to DR DOS A:\> is that normal, or is that an error that I am getting, if it does mean that it is installed, then I will do this first i will write the commandlines down so I can finish installing the desk top enviroment, so thanks for helping me out, since I am a linux newby and want to wrench control of my computer back from my virus raveged windows, since this is my main reason I am switching to linux.

[sinical]

DR-DOS? Something isnt right.. Which image did you download?

Try using this one. Alternatively you can use this tool to install Debian