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Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

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ght4361
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Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#1 Post by ght4361 »

Greetings. I'm trying to install the old version 2.2r7 of Debian with the GNOME desktop inside a virtual machine but I'm having problems with the installation process. I'm using this guide mainly: https://www.debian.org/releases/potato/installguide/ but it doesn't really goes in depth on how to install the desktop. I can follow the instructions on the installation disk myself, even installing the GNOME packages, but after the reboot the interface is command line only. The "startx" command fails reporting "Could not find config file!"

I usually use VMware Player on a Windows host as a hypervisor but Virtualbox displays the same results.

My goal is to have a default and functional desktop environment like this:

Image

or

https://hup.hu/old/images/2218rulz.jpg

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dotlj
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#2 Post by dotlj »

OK, I'll bite. Why Debian 2.2r7 on a vm?
Why not Debian stable?

ght4361
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#3 Post by ght4361 »

Sorry if some things don't make sense. While I am using Linux regularly, I don't have much knowledge on how to manually install things like dependacies or various packages etc. We do use up to date Lubuntu systems at work, but their installation process is very different (and much simpler) from what I'm trying here.

In fact, I did download and tried the stable 2.2 potato iso first, but since it gave me no results I thought I'd try 2.2r7. I guess that's not the most experienced choice but I don't have a clue how to continue.

I have both isos and I will stick with 2.2 if that is the recommended in this situation.

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Thorny
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#4 Post by Thorny »

ght4361 wrote:In fact, I did download and tried the stable 2.2 potato iso first, but since it gave me no results I thought I'd try 2.2r7. I guess that's not the most experienced choice but I don't have a clue how to continue.
I'd guess that the repository which that old installer knows about is longer where it was back then, if it is even on line still somewhere. If it is on line, you can probably find it with a search engine. Not sure if that would help you or not and I don't remember if that old installer needed to get something, like something to configure X or LILO before working.

Good luck to you!

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#5 Post by GarryRicketson »

n fact, I did download and tried the stable 2.2 potato iso first, but since it gave me no results I thought I'd try 2.2r7. I guess that's not the most experienced choice but I don't have a clue how to continue.

Is this supposed to be a joke of some sort ?

To start with, from the link the OP shows:https://www.debian.org/releases/potato/installguide/
In GMC, find the file /etc/apt/sources.list and open it with Gnotepad. You'll notice a number of lines in this file that begin with "#". This is the conventional symbol in Linux for a comment statement, in other words a statement that is human-readable but machine-ignored. If you live in the U.S., you'll want to remove the "#" from the beginning of this line:

#deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free

If you live outside the U.S. you'll want to remove the "#" from the beginning of this line:

#deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

In either case you may now add a "#" to the beginning of the line that begins "deb cdrom".
by ght4361 » I can follow the instructions on the installation disk myself, even installing the GNOME packages, but after the reboot the interface is command line only. The "startx" command fails reporting "Could not find config file!"
So, do you actually have a working system, I mean even though 'startx' does not run, ? Do you have a terminal, ? If so , please type in (after login in),

Code: Select all

$uname -a 

And show us exactly what it says.
So we can see what you actually have installed.
Also, please tell us where you got the ISO's for Debian 2 (potaoe),...
The problem is, you need to find firmware and drivers for the old Xorg versions, with out them 'startx" won't run. I had Debian 1.1 running on a VM, but when I went further to Debian 2, the problem was the firmware and drivers needed are not available. I suspect the OP is just playing a game of some sort and joking with us,... but any way, we'll see.
If the OP is using sources that point to "debian stable main contrib non-free", as shown in the tutorial, then you are pulling in packages for Debian stable,
which is :
https://www.debian.org/releases/
Debian Releases

Debian always has at least three releases in active maintenance: "stable", "testing" and "unstable".

stable

The "stable" distribution contains the latest officially released distribution of Debian.

This is the production release of Debian, the one which we primarily recommend using.

The current "stable" distribution of Debian is version 9, codenamed stretch. It was initially released as version 9 on June 17th, 2017 and its latest update, version 9.3, was released on December 9th, 2017.
The sources, shown in the tutorial would not work any way, so please also show what your /etc/apt/sources.list has in it.
If you really have some kind of working install.
===========edit=====
I do have some screen shots of my working Debian 2 system, (no DE), but want to see if the OP can really show what the "uname -a " output is, and if I show the screen shot, they would just copy it. Like they did the other screen shots they show.
Last edited by GarryRicketson on 2018-02-01 01:29, edited 1 time in total.

Bulkley
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#6 Post by Bulkley »

This looks like a fun project. Is this archive any help?

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#7 Post by GarryRicketson »

Thanks Bulkley, yes it is kind of a fun "toy", and those archives you show in
your link are good, And if the OP really is serious, it shows what they will need
in their sources.list file.
I am not sure that the OP understands or realizes that they are trying to install
a outdated, non supported Debian version, and that using "stable" in their sources.list is pulling in packages for Debian 9, ... the other issue as I mentioned, the firmware needed to get Xorg working,.. even in the archives, and I looked in some old Xorg archives, but could not find any,... so never did succeed in installing a DE. If someone else has succeeded in that it really would be interesting to know how they accomplished it.
I mentioned this a long time ago, here on the forum, but there was not any interest at that time.

ght4361
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#8 Post by ght4361 »

Ok, maybe that was not a good start.

I am not joking at all about installing this old version of Debian and I apologize if it was perceived this way. I know of course it's outdated and not supported and that it doesn't really have a practical use. I like learning about computers and I want to install an old Linux desktop to see what was like using it back then. (the screenshots are obviously have been found randomly on the internet). As mentioned before, I have successfully installed various modern Linux distributions in the past. I would not consider myself a complete beginner, but I still have many things to learn and choosing such an intenionally difficult project is fun way to learn many things at once, albeit at a slower speed. My assumption was that Debian came in a "complete package" like Windows 98 or 2000 at that time.

I got the iso for Debian 2.2 from this page:
https://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdima ... ntrib/2.2/

I can login into the terminal and the "uname -a" command returns:

Code: Select all

Linux debian 2.2.17 #1 Sun Jun 25 09:24:41 EST 2000 i686 unknown
The "/etc.apt.sources.list" file opened in vi shows this:

Image


Please understand that the plain, direct question in the first post is the result of searching in 3 different forums and receiving only ironic remarks about this topic. Perhaps a "retro computer" section would be a more appropriate place to ask.

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stevepusser
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#9 Post by stevepusser »

Have you confirmed that a modern Linux release will have no problems with the way you are configuring the virtual machine?
MX Linux packager and developer

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#10 Post by GarryRicketson »

Ok, thanks for clarifying, and I apologize if thinking you were joking offended in any way, ,...we get all sorts of stuff here, and sometimes they are just pulling our leg, so any way,...
I like learning about computers and I want to install an old Linux desktop to see what was like using it back then.
Just wanted to make sure, similar , that is what made me try Debian 1.1 as well.
As mentioned before, I have successfully installed various modern Linux distributions in the past.

Is pretty easy, compared to the old , archived versions. The biggest problem seems to be in finding everything needed, all though the archives are good, some things seem to be missing.
My assumption was that Debian came in a "complete package" like Windows 98 or 2000 at that time.
No, it does not and, it is quite different.
The problem I ran into, like I mentioned, when I installed Xorg, it required firm ware for the mouse, and I was never able to get X working properly, without Xorg, (X11), a desktop environment can not run. So I kind of just gave it up, and went on to other things,...
Image
Apology, not Xorg, but Xfree,... any way, this is how far I got, but could not get the mouse working.
Image
I am not much of a expert either, so if any one does have some ideas, it would be interesting.
Last edited by GarryRicketson on 2018-01-31 19:26, edited 1 time in total.

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Thorny
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#11 Post by Thorny »

ght4361 wrote:Ok, maybe that was not a good start.
I have doubts that it will come to a good end either.
ght4361 wrote:Please understand that the plain, direct question in the first post is the result of searching in 3 different forums and receiving only ironic remarks about this topic.
If you think about it, that may make sense.
ght4361 wrote:My assumption was that Debian came in a "complete package" like Windows 98 or 2000 at that time.
As Garry mentioned, that assumption is incorrect, in those days inexperienced users almost always had a difficult time getting a working system installed.
In addition, things like video cards and sound cards almost always gave trouble, especially when they were newer than the software.

There existed at the time, a few derivative distros that had been developed precisely to give an out of the box experience to noobs. I don't have a clue if you could still find one somewhere today.

If I remember correctly you might have to dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 as root in order to get startx to bring up a GUI, it was before the days of Xorg, also as Garry mentioned, which you may be familar with from Ubuntu.

I advise against ever connecting that old Potato system to the Internet for any reason, chances are you will be owned very quickly if any malicious malwear still checks for the old vunerablities.

You should probably try to setup your VM with very low stats, maybe i386 with as little as 256MB.

It might be what you consider fun learning this way, however, I doubt you will find many people who would consider helping you (which likely translates as doing it for you) do it, fun.

I don't know if you have found this yet or if it would help you.
https://www.debian.org/releases/potato/ ... ig.en.html

ght4361
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#12 Post by ght4361 »

GarryRicketson wrote:The biggest problem seems to be in finding everything needed, all though the archives are good, some things seem to be missing.
GarryRicketson wrote:No, it does not and, it is quite different.
The problem I ran into, like I mentioned, when I installed Xorg, it required firm ware for the mouse, and I was never able to get X working properly, without Xorg, (X11), a desktop environment can not run.
This is something I didn't understand until now. Thanks for clarifying.
Thorny wrote:If you think about it, that may make sense.
So adding another such remark here wouldn't help much, would it?
Thorny wrote:I advise against ever connecting that old Potato system to the Internet for any reason, chances are you will be owned very quickly if any malicious malwear still checks for the old vunerablities.

You should probably try to setup your VM with very low stats, maybe i386 with as little as 256MB.
That's for sure. It would be an offline only machine. I have already configured it with low stats.
Thorny wrote:It might be what you consider fun learning this way, however, I doubt you will find many people who would consider helping you (which likely translates as doing it for you) do it, fun.
What makes you think I want someone to do it for me?

That would defeat the purpose. Everyone has to start from some point. I will check the link you have provided but if you just want to be ironic, please refrain from posting on this thread any longer.


Recapping, this is indeed much more complicated than I thought.

I remember reading in various magazines back in the day about how Linux was already the standard in computer graphics for film and television. These systems surely would have used a desktop environment for such an application, wouldn't they? Though it might have been a different distribution.

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Thorny
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#13 Post by Thorny »

ght4361 wrote:
Thorny wrote:It might be what you consider fun learning this way, however, I doubt you will find many people who would consider helping you (which likely translates as doing it for you) do it, fun.
What makes you think I want someone to do it for me?
Nothing makes me think you want that, what I think is that it would come to that. After all, look how far you got by yourself up to now. I didn't mean it maliciously. Just that it is likely to be a long painful process doing what you are trying through a forum. If I could help you on site, I would try. I was just trying to be realistic. I think I saw at least one other poster who thought it a fun project, don't let my comments deter you.
ght4361 wrote:That would defeat the purpose. Everyone has to start from some point.
Absolutely, in my opinion, there are better places to start if one wants to learn Debian.
ght4361 wrote:I will check the link you have provided but if you just want to be ironic, please refrain from posting on this thread any longer.
I did suggest a link that could have been found easily with a search.

By the way, you don't get to choose who posts but do have the option of whose posts you read.
ght4361 wrote:Recapping, this is indeed much more complicated than I thought.
I think you are correct and I urge you to consider that carefully.
ght4361 wrote:I remember reading in various magazines back in the day about how Linux was already the standard in computer graphics for film and television.
My memory of that time is different, I thought Apple was known for graphics. Granted, IOS was very like Linux and BSD.
Last edited by Thorny on 2018-02-01 09:10, edited 1 time in total.

ght4361
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#14 Post by ght4361 »

Thorny wrote:
ght4361 wrote:
Thorny wrote:It might be what you consider fun learning this way, however, I doubt you will find many people who would consider helping you (which likely translates as doing it for you) do it, fun.
What makes you think I want someone to do it for me?
Nothing makes me think you want that, what I think is that it would come to that. After all, look how far you got by yourself up to now. I didn't mean it maliciously. Just that it is likely to be a long painful process doing what you are trying through a forum. If I could help you on site, I would try. I was just trying to be realistic. I think I saw at least one other poster who thought it a fun project, don't let my comments deter you.
ght4361 wrote:That would defeat the purpose. Everyone has to start from some point.
Absolutely, in my opinion, there are better places to start if one wants to learn Debian.
ght4361 wrote:I will check the link you have provided but if you just want to be ironic, please refrain from posting on this thread any longer.
I did suggest a link that could have been found easily with a search.

By the way, you don't get to choose who posts but to do have the option of whose posts you read.
ght4361 wrote:Recapping, this is indeed much more complicated than I thought.
I think you are correct and I urge you to consider that carefully.
ght4361 wrote:I remember reading in various magazines back in the day about how Linux was already the standard in computer graphics for film and television.
My memory of that time is different, I thought Apple was known for graphics. Granted, IOS was very like Linux and BSD.
Fair enough. I guess this page is a better place to start: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/main ... rt.en.html

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Thorny
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#15 Post by Thorny »

ght4361 wrote:Fair enough. I guess this page is a better place to start: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/main ... rt.en.html
That seems sensible. Once you've gone through that, you will know a lot.

You can also lurk in Debian forums, here and others and read a lot posts that answer questions. Eventually, you can read the question, try to think how you would answer, then read on to confirm the solution.

ght4361
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#16 Post by ght4361 »

Thanks for the information. I will probably keep this as a side project and instead focus on learning more about Debian.

dawg161
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Re: Installing Debian 2.2r7 with desktop environment

#17 Post by dawg161 »

If anyone still cares about this, I managed to get a working copy of Debian 2.2 (Potato) running in a Virtualbox (v. 5.2.18) in 2019.

The problems seen here seem to be a problem with Potato's installer rather than anything about Virtualbox.

I let the graphical program in the installer attempt to configure
Xfree86 a couple of times and then when was returned to the terminal for another attempt I hit control c

The installer then tried to fix the rest of the system that didn't involve x.

I then logged in, did su - and ran xf86config

Most of the default options worked. The mouse needs to be PS/2 at
/dev/psaux

I picked the simplest graphics that was good enough for me (color, but just VGA) because I just wanted to play around with the early versions of the software. I also chose a clockchip of IBM RGB 51x/52x(autodected) based on this website:

https://superuser.com/questions/719270/ ... virtualbox

let it save the file, logout of root, and then type startx and you're good to go.

Honestly, it's remarkable how usable a system you get from June, 2000. But it's also true that my next oldest VM, from October, 2005, is far closer to present day than what you get from this.

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