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Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

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sasos90
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Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#1 Post by sasos90 »

Hi everyone!

Until now, I was using Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop environment, and I was having the problems with graphical drivers all the time (with 4 diferent computers). Now I finally want to switch to something more stable, so my first question is, since I am the amateur user of Linux (i think), so am I doing the right step to change the Linux Mint with Debian OS just because I have the problems with graphical drivers? Because honestly I really hate that freezing-the- OS problem all the time.
So my first try was Debian Jessie - KDE desktop environment but I tried it only live for now and I already have some problems with some basic stuff:
- I want to connect to some wireless connection but I can not find/install anything that would show me some list of them. Am I missing some basic philosophy about live version itself? Just where can I see them?
- Opening the application launcher with windows keyboard button.

So my next question is, will I have similar problems with Debian Jessie 8 Cinnamon desktop environment like I had with Linux Mint Cinnamon?

Thank you very much and I apologize in advanced if I really missed these basic stuff somewhere.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#2 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

sasos90 wrote:will I have similar problems with Debian Jessie 8 Cinnamon desktop environment like I had with Linux Mint Cinnamon?
I don't think so, I recently set up Debian jessie on my Dad's laptop and I used Cinnamon for the desktop (he likes his GUIs despite using Sun SPARCStations in university :roll: ) and it was very polished and stable.
I want to connect to some wireless connection but I can not find/install anything that would show me some list of them.
Your wireless card may require non-free firmware to work properly and this is not included in the official Debian release because it is in violation of the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

You can try an unofficial ISO image with the firmware included:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unoff ... -firmware/

...or just buy an Atheros wifi card for not much more than the price of a coffee and fight the power!
:D
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sasos90
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#3 Post by sasos90 »

First of all, thank you for a really quick and good reply!

Ok so if I need some non-free firmware I suppose that I can use that image for installing the http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unoff ... onfree.iso.

But what if I don't use that image, then I need to install the drivers later on correct? In fact, I already installed some firmware at live system, but I just couldn't get it running (wifi).
And I don't want to buy any additional cards for that computer because it si a computer for my job.

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#4 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

sasos90 wrote:if I don't use that image, then I need to install the drivers later on correct?
Yes, you will have to add the "contrib" & "non-free" components to the repository lines in /etc/apt/sources/list then update your package database and install any needed packages.

See https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList
sasos90 wrote:In fact, I already installed some firmware at live system, but I just couldn't get it running (wifi).
You would have to l(re)oad the driver modules manually for the firmware to be loaded, see modprobe(8)
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#5 Post by sasos90 »

Yes I already tried that. Is it possible, that this method is not working always on live version? Maybe I just didn't install proper firmware. Is there some solution which always works?

Thank you!

EDIT: I checked one tutorial about that.
1. So this is what I have in the laptop: 02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
2. Then I installed the firmware which sounds legit: firmware-brcm80211 (I added the contrib non-free flags to sources.list of course)
3. The wifi connection list is still not shown, and I also don't have modprobe installed on that live version. (It is not found in the apt-get install list)

Am I doing something wrong?

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#6 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

sasos90 wrote:1. So this is what I have in the laptop: 02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
https://wiki.debian.org/wl
sasos90 wrote:Am I doing something wrong?
Yes, you're trying to use a Broadcom wireless card, they're not good for GNU/Linux :(

If you have any further problems with your wireless, open a new thread for it -- we're a bit off-topic here.
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sasos90
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#7 Post by sasos90 »

Ok I will definately open the new thread for wireless.

To be on-topic again, I have next question about these firmware things. Is there any other problem which I will get into, since everything looks pretty manual on Debian? WIFI was working automatically on Linux Mint (just drivers were needed to be ticked at the application "Driver Manager". If there are a lot of things that I will have a problem with, I would rather choose some Ubuntu distribution perhaps.

Thank you very much!

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#8 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

sasos90 wrote:everything looks pretty manual on Debian
Yes indeed, that's the way we like it.

In Debian, user control is prioritised over convenience.
sasos90 wrote:If there are a lot of things that I will have a problem with, I would rather choose some Ubuntu distribution perhaps
Yes, that may be a better fit for your needs.
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#9 Post by sasos90 »

Ok in the other hand I will use it for web development (and some Android studio), so no need for complex user GUI magic. Would that satisfy my needs? Still pretty in doubt if I should use it or not... sry

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#10 Post by dasein »

sasos90 wrote:Would that satisfy my needs?
Exactly one person the planet understands all of your needs in sufficient depth and detail to answer this question. Explore your options, via either live medium or VM, and pick whatever works for you.

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#11 Post by GarryRicketson »

so no need for complex user GUI magic. Would that satisfy my needs?
I kind of doubt this would satisfy "your needs", but it does fill mine.
From this DE, I can write my perl scripts, or any other script, any html doc, and use it for web development, also run any editor I need, work with images, and also access internet,and run any program I have. There is no limit to what I can do with this
DE,...yet it is very simple. You can use windows,ubuntu , whatever suits you, but you can not create a DE, like mine with those. Nobody, not me or any one here can create your DE for you, you need to do that yourself, and make it suit your needs.
Image

In this thread: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9196
There is a few hundred examples of DE's , if you can not decide for your self,
you can maybe find something you like , and try to mimic it.

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#12 Post by sasos90 »

Maybe I was too general sorry about that. My only concern is that I will have the same problems with that Debian Jessie 8 OS like I have it in the Linux Mint since it is Debian in the end.
I don't know, maybe Linux Mint has some additional issues with graphic card drivers or something.. I am clueless.
So "Would that satisfy my needs" was meant like, will it work? since I have big issues with Mint.

The best way would be to try it of course. The only problem, that I don't have infinite time to try because it is kind of the working computer and so on..

Thank you again!

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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#13 Post by stevepusser »

sasos90 wrote:Maybe I was too general sorry about that. My only concern is that I will have the same problems with that Debian Jessie 8 OS like I have it in the Linux Mint since it is Debian in the end.
I don't know, maybe Linux Mint has some additional issues with graphic card drivers or something.. I am clueless.
So "Would that satisfy my needs" was meant like, will it work? since I have big issues with Mint.

The best way would be to try it of course. The only problem, that I don't have infinite time to try because it is kind of the working computer and so on..

Thank you again!
Were you using the Mint LMDE (Debian Edition) or the regular Ubuntu edition? There's quite a difference between the two.

The "wl" driver for your WiFi device has firmware in it, but it's a hybrid driver: part binary blob from Broadcom, and part source code that must be compiled into a driver module. So you need to have a kernel module build environment set up on a Live Disc, then install the dkms package, per the wiki. Note that all that vanishes at the end of the Live session.

There's another way to build the actual compiled driver into an redistributable installable deb package for a specific kernel, using module-assistant and the broadcom-sta-source package. That way, you could just install it on the Live session and load the "wl" module, as in the wiki. Let me build one for the stock 3.16 amd64 Debian kernel on my machine...
MX Linux packager and developer

sasos90
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#14 Post by sasos90 »

I am using Linut Mint Ubuntu edition (Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa).

So the easiest way is to install the packages: module-assistant and broadcom-sta-source and then running the command modprobe wl ? Perhaps I am wrong?

Regarding the graphic drivers: In the meantime I also tried to install nVidia graphic drivers (361) from official geforce page and in live Debian Jessie 8 the KDM couldn't be loaded anymore. The commands sudo service kdm start just did nothing (KDE desktop). In Cinnamon desktop version there was also an error which said that Cinnamon crashed .. fallback mode and so on.

Thank you!

spacex
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#15 Post by spacex »

sasos90 wrote:I am using Linut Mint Ubuntu edition (Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa).

So the easiest way is to install the packages: module-assistant and broadcom-sta-source and then running the command modprobe wl ? Perhaps I am wrong?

Regarding the graphic drivers: In the meantime I also tried to install nVidia graphic drivers (361) from official geforce page and in live Debian Jessie 8 the KDM couldn't be loaded anymore. The commands sudo service kdm start just did nothing (KDE desktop). In Cinnamon desktop version there was also an error which said that Cinnamon crashed .. fallback mode and so on.

Thank you!
No no no. In the Ubuntu edition you do it like this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic
sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe wl

sgosnell
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#16 Post by sgosnell »

Linux Mint is not Debian, or even close to it. It's based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian Unstable, but only in the very loosest sense. It's like being related as 4th cousins, legally not related at all.
Take my advice, I'm not using it.

sasos90
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Re: Debian Jessie choosing desktop environment

#17 Post by sasos90 »

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
sasos90 wrote:1. So this is what I have in the laptop: 02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
https://wiki.debian.org/wl
sasos90 wrote:Am I doing something wrong?
Yes, you're trying to use a Broadcom wireless card, they're not good for GNU/Linux :(

If you have any further problems with your wireless, open a new thread for it -- we're a bit off-topic here.
Ok I just installed debian normally, and this stuff works.. more then perfect!

Thank you very much! So the wireless looks stable now.
The thing is, that I also don't have any problems with graphic until now! Looks really promising!!

Thank you very much guys!! And sorry again for my linuxless skills :)

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