Feel like a n00b!

[Deltagande]

I'm searching for an alternative linux distro to Ubuntu, which now has Unity as its default gui and has almost unuseable scroll bars. So I've been looking at various distros. One of them is Debian, which appears to be the only one you can't install out of the box under Virtualbox, so I found an old hard disk to install it on. Looked very professional, and I was impressed that, after installation, I could immediately access my Mac and the disk on our router. But not my wife's Windows box. Strange.

I thought I would like to see what IP address my debian had so typed 'ifconfig -a'. Program not found! OK, in Ubuntu one can run ifconfig -a, which just gives info, as a normal user, but one has to sudo ifconfig to actually change anything. Typed 'sudo ifconfig -a'. Program not found! Never mind, let's try to ping the windows box. No response from the IP address of my wife's windows box. Strange. Let's see what the network looks like: 'arp -a'. Program not found! No ifconfig, no arp?

And then I noticed. Debian has what looks like the Ubuntu Unity gui and has those shitty scroll bars one has to hover over to see them, and try to catch them with the cursor to use them.

Two questions:

1. I chose the Debian gui on installation. If I had chosen another, would I have got the gui I want, no Unity and permanent scroll bars, preferably with the little arrows at top and bottom.
2. What do I have to do to get standard unix/linux commands like ifconfig and arp?

[Lysander]

I'm searching for an alternative linux distro to Ubuntu, which now has Unity as its default gui and has almost unuseable scroll bars.

You do realise that Ubuntu will not be using Unity anymore as of their next release? 17.10, which is scheduled for October, uses GNOME [the default for Debian]. Also 18.04, the next Ubuntu LTS due out next year, will also use GNOME. Additionally. it's good practice to refer to Unity/GNOME by their proper names - they are technically referred to as Desktop Environments, people don't tend to refer to them as "guis".

I chose the Debian gui on installation. If I had chosen another, would I have got the gui I want, no Unity and permanent scroll bars, preferably with the little arrows at top and bottom.

I don't understand this question. What is the "Debian GUI"? Debian defaults to the GNOME DE. Debian does not - and has never used - Unity. Unity is strictly Ubuntu-based distros only. And its development has been discontinued.

[golinux]

I chose the Debian gui on installation. If I had chosen another, would I have got the gui I want, no Unity and permanent scroll bars, preferably with the little arrows at top and bottom.

I don't understand this question. What is the "Debian GUI"? Debian defaults to the GNOME DE. Debian does not - and has never used - Unity. Unity is strictly Ubuntu-based distros only. And its development has been discontinued.

Sounds like he's talking about GTK 3 issues.

[debiman]

yes, debian puts some system utilities under a PATH that is not accessible to the normal user, so you have to sudo or su to get at them (unless you type the full path).
or, you just install them if they're not.

i must say, if you change distros because of scrollbars, and installing software is an insurmountable problem to you, you should probably stick to something that is preconfigured out of the box.

[bryanmc]

One of them is Debian, which appears to be the only one you can't install out of the box under Virtualbox,

I'm curious what you mean by this? I've never had an issue installing Debian in a vm.

[Lysander]

One of them is Debian, which appears to be the only one you can't install out of the box under Virtualbox,

I'm curious what you mean by this? I've never had an issue installing Debian in a vm.

I think the curiosity, for me anyway, lies in the phrase "out of the box" rather than being able to "install" it in a VM per se.

Unless it needs to be made clear to the OP, Debian is not an out of the box distro.