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[Installation] A first Debian install

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Theuthr
Posts: 9
Joined: 2017-08-26 00:14

[Installation] A first Debian install

#1 Post by Theuthr »

The following concerns a Debian net install on a home assembled 3yr old desk top pc, a first Debian install.
Net install is a great idea as it allows one to select, one or more, desktops for the install.

Hardware.
Mobo: MSI B450I (MS-7A40) v: 2.0 which has built-in Bluetooth / WiFi - Intel Wireless-AC 3168.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 1650

Network Install, debian-11.6-amd64-netinst.iso
During the install process the Gnome DT was unticked and the Cinnamon DT selected.
NVMe storage used was blank and manual GPT partitions with UEFI were setup.

Debian “netinst” creates a root a/c and an additional standard user a/c, without sudo.

Initial run.
At first boot the graphical desktop worked but had a large prompt about graphics drivers / firmware
To deal with adding “non-free” proprietary driver items after installation, one needs to read;-

https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware and
https://wiki.debian.org/apt-file

After sorting out the graphics card and other firmware, it was found that the standard a/c would not allow the user to look at all the sections of Logs. Menu > Administration > Logs. (runs gnome-logs.)

Trying to use cmd gnome-logs from root, or “sudo”, threw up error msgs.
So one was forced to read logs with su root; nano [path-to-log/file].
Adding sudo to the std user reduces the cmd to sudo -e [path-to-log] which defaults to nano editor, and enables the use of the users password rather than root’s – root pw will usually be longer than the std a/c.

However, I had previously put a copy of Mint’s LMDE5 (Linux Mint Debian Edition) on a relatives laptop and I noticed that their “Logs” program worked fully.
On checking it was found that LMDE5 added ‘adm’ to the std user group, this made ‘gnome-logs’ display the missing System and Hardware sections. Much quicker and more convenient for initial setup.

I’m not sure if adding “adm” to a standard user creates any security risks – needs some research.
Adding “sudo” to the std user a/c does not add “adm”.

Note; adding “sudo” to a std a/c means it is no longer a std a/c. So if one needs “Parental Controls” and a sudo only a/c, then create another a/c (std) for the children to use.

What will improve security is to add the firewall, ufw and the graphical interface gufw, both available in the Synaptic Package Manager which is already installed. Then turn it on.
Whilst you are there add intel-microcode or amd64-microcode which installs firmware for your CPU.

Errors
Now the focus was how to eliminate each of the errors in the Logs “Important” section.
The list was Firmware missing, KVM disabled by BIOS, SAP error, Bluetoothd failed to set mode and pipewire “Failed to receive portal pid”.

All Firmware items were dealt with as detailed above.

KVM disabled, was set disabled by a BIOS update!
Same update also removed “USB legacy support.” This came to light when a 4GB USB stick containing Clonezilla would not boot. At first Debian was suspect but this proved wrong when the LMDE5 laptop booted it without problem. In some cases 8GB USB sticks need legacy support, so beware.

Bluetoothd, Failed to set mode:
Wireless functions were turned off in the BIOS (not needed use wired LAN) when loading Debian thus one might have expected the system to have handled this a bit better? Fixed with info from Debian forums.
One word fix in file /etc/bluetooth/main.conf, change ‘true’ to ‘false’

SAP error.
SAP stands for SIM Access Profile. Again fixed with info from Debian forums.

The last error message

Code: Select all

 pipewire 
	Failed to receive portal pid: org.freedesktop.Dbus.Error.NameHasNoOwner:
	Could not get PID of name 'org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop': no such name
Get pipewire info;-

Code: Select all

$ systemctl --user status pipewire.service
● pipewire.service - Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; vendor pr>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2023-02-04 18:55:05 GMT; 6h ago
…
pipewire.service file above is owned by ‘root’, so;-

Code: Select all

$ sudo systemctl mask pipewire.service
...
Unit pipewire.service does not exist, proceeding anyway.      
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/pipewire.service → /dev/null.
(really! I don’t know what I am doing but I do expect root to know what it’s doing)
Made no difference to error msg.

$ sudo systemctl unmask pipewire.service
Removed /etc/systemd/system/pipewire.service.
(Unnecessary useless Link was removed!)

If it only exists in ‘user’ space try;-

Code: Select all

$ systemctl --user status pipewire.service
● pipewire.service - Multimedia Service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/pipewire.service; enabled; vendor pr>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2023-02-04 18:55:05 GMT; 6h ago
…
That worked, but now pipewire.socket is complaining,
pipewire.socket: Socket service pipewire.service not loaded, refusing.

so mask that too.

$ systemctl --user mask pipewire.socket
cmd created symlink as above.

Done! No more “Important” errors to clear. Time to backup again.

Other Observations
Updates are not enabled by default, Cinnamon DT. This is something that the more friendly distributions set up by default on initial install. One might only have to change how often to check for updates or select a faster repository.

For Debian 11.6 .Cinnamon check; Menu –> Administration –> Software
Click 3 bar icon on the top panel, in the drop down menu click “Software Repositories”
In the Software & Updates panel click “Updates” tab.

Make sure that Security and Recommended updates boxes are ticked.
Click the “Automatically check for updates:” bar & select check option (but not “Never”)
Click “When there are security updates:” bar and select “Display immediately”

“Debian Software” tab
Ensure that “Officially supported (main) is ticked

If you need to load any non-free items from Debian then tick;-
DFSG-compatible Softw… and
Non-DFSG-compat…

In the “Download from:” drop down menu
one can select “Main Server” / “Server for your Country” / “Other…” where one might be looking for the fastest server.
Hit “Close” when done.

Click 3 bar icon on the top panel, in the drop down menu click “Update Preferences"
Slide "Automatic Update Notifications" switch to the right.

The hope here is that any auto update will be notified, "Automatic Updates" are best left "off" if unexpected changes are to be avoided.

Miscellaneous.
Now that the error msg problem has been solved the following link was posted for me in
forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=152330 (thanks to sunrat)

Not sure how I missed wiki.debian.org/PipeWire#Debian_11, (getting stupid in my old age!) but this document does give a good overview of Pipewire. Worth reading.

Finally, I would have thought that it would be safer to have the ufw firewall enabled with default minimal settings for Desktop users. Better to let the user change it where needed? From a simple user.

Hardware note, the disabled Bluetooth module was fitted with 2 SMA 50 ohm dummy loads.
The purpose of this is to prevent damage to the module were it to be turned on and it transmitted without any antennas connected.
If the module were damaged due to such incorrect use, then in the worst case it could stop the motherboard working.

So far it all works fine.

Edit: added SAP definition.

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