Debian Try It Youll Like It

download Debian Try It Youll Like It

of 32

Transcript of Debian Try It Youll Like It

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    1/32

    Debian: Try It; Youll Like It

    By Ed Hurst

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2013 by Ed Hurst

    Copyright notice: People of honor need no opyright laws! they are only too happy togi"e redit where redit is due# $thers will ignore opyright laws whene"er they please#%f you are of the latter& please note what 'oses said about dishonorable beha"ior ( )besure your sin will find you out* +,umbers 32:23-

    Permission is granted to opy& reprodue and distribute for non.ommerial reasons&pro"ided the boo/ remains in its original form#

    Cover Art:Paste up of $pen Soure and Publi omain art& reated by the author using%'P on a ebian omputer# aptop image is Publi omain! soure# ebian art logo isP"2! soure#Co"er art falls under P"2and is freely a"ailable upon reuest inse"eral eletroni formats& inluding a "ersion without the te4t#

    $ther boo/s by this author inludeMystic Tales of RomanceandA Course in BiblicalMysticism#

    https://openclipart.org/detail/170792/white-laptop-notebook-netbook-by-qubodup-170792http://alphapapa.net/debian/logos/gallery.htmlhttp://alphapapa.net/debian/logos/gallery.htmlhttps://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.htmlhttp://alphapapa.net/debian/logos/gallery.htmlhttps://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.htmlhttps://openclipart.org/detail/170792/white-laptop-notebook-netbook-by-qubodup-170792
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    2/32

    Debian: Try It; Youll Like It

    %ntrodution

    0: 5hy ebian inu41: %nstallation

    2: 6he 78CE es/top3: E"erything9s a 8ile: Brotherhood of the Commandline;: Safe Surfing

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    3/32

    Introduction

    6his boo/ is aimed at the great a"erage middle of omputer users& profiient but by nomeans a tehniian#

    6here are billions of omputers in this world and it seems most of humanity has

    enountered at least one# 6hey ha"e beome nearly ubiuitous and "irtually neessary formuh of what humans do# 5e an e4pet them to beome e"en more important in thenear future# 5hen operating on this sale& we an9t a"oid thin/ing in broad generalities#

    'ost omputers run some "ersion of 5indows& the operating system de"eloped by'irosoft# 6hey are easily one of the most powerful ommerial influenes on the earth#,othing here is meant to imply 'irosoft is partiularly e"il& but they don9t neessarilyoperate in your best interests# 5e also do not suggest 5indows is inferior& but thepriorities for its design do not put the user first# 5ith 'irosoft& the software is not theprodut# ou as the user are the produt deli"ered to their orporate partners formar/eting and other forms of manipulation for profit# System seurity is a priority& butnot in the sense of gi"ing you ma4imum ontrol o"er the system# 'irosoft seures

    5indows against atta/s on their profit margin# 6hat is how it wor/s with ommerialsoftware#

    %n the minds of most people& >pple is the seond biggest& but they supply both thehardware and the operating system together# %t9s different in many ways from 5indowsand is ad"ertised differently& sold to a different audiene# %t9s by far the most e4pensi"eoption# 6heir attempts to ontrol and onstrain the user are e"en tighter than youe4periene with 'irosoft#

    >nd then there9s e"erything else# 'ost li/ely you9"e at least heard of something alledinu4# %n terms of numerial presene& it9s easily in third plae# %t belongs to a muhlarger type of software de"elopment alled $pen Soure# 6he underlying ode is wide

    open to anyone interested and able to partiipate in writing it# >nyone an hange it tosuit himself# ranted& when you ta/e away the profit moti"e& what9s left is not neessarilyany friendlier to the ommon user who an9t understand the ode& muh less write hisown# 'ost $pen Soure de"elopers are in it for themsel"es& in that sense# 6hey aresrathing their own personal ith for the most part& and you may not li/e the results#8ortunately& a large number of de"elopers do ta/e some interest in the user9s e4perieneand ma/e room for some of the more ommon options users li/e to see#

    So maybe you are stu/ with some aging 5indows 7P mahine and as of >pril 201 it9sno longer supported with seurity updates# But the hardware still wor/s fine# Can youafford a new mahine Can you afford the ne4t new "ersion of 5indows Could yourmahine run it if you bought it

    ou are not stu/ with that# ou don9t ha"e to surrender to the profit.dri"en upgradeyle# ou an still use your omputer and /eep it seure andgain a measure of ontrolyou ould not otherwise ha"e# 6he answer is replaing 5indows with inu4 +it runs on'as& too-# %t9s uite possible the a"erage omputer user an learn to install and runebian with at least as muh sa""y as you ran 5indows# ou don9t ha"e to beome aomputer tehniian to understand it! it9s not that hard#

    6his whole boo/ was written on a ebian omputer#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    4/32

    0: Why Debian Linux

    Starting the hapter ount with Dero is sort of an inside o/e for omputer gee/s&partiularly among those in"ol"ed in inu4# > typial list of things starts with Dero# %t9s a

    metaphor for starting with a lean slate and getting it right& ta/ing ontrol of the results#Swithing to inu4 doesn9t merely put you in harge of things! it grants a sense of poweryou won9t easily get from 5indows or 'a# But it9s really about the people in"ol"ed andthe omputer subulture of %#

    6he primary reason inu4 omputers seldom get "iruses is the inu4 user ulture# 6hereis a powerful sense of ta/ing omputer seurity seriously# Fust the introdutory readingsfor guidane in migrating omputers to inu4 will teah you onstruti"e paranoia# ouwon9t get this from 5indows users unless you go loo/ing for it& but in inu4 it is the firstassumption of the entire user ommunity# ou do get a "ersion of paranoia from using5indows& with all the alerts and anti."irus& anti.malware& et# Howe"er& the bigdifferene is that with 5indows you /now you are helpless& in the sense you will e"er

    remain dependent on others#%n inu4 land& you are only as dependent as you want to be# Geal e4perts in 5indowsha"e a refle4 to /eep their information out of publi "iew# 6oo many of the 5indowsseurity forums are terribly elitist in the peuliar sense of& )5e /now what9s best and wewill tell you what we want you to /now#* inu4 ommunities are not at all li/e that#Plenty of inu4 users don9t ha"e a lue& but those who do will gladly e4plain way morethan you are to learn# So rarely would you get that from a 5indows e4pert that& whenyou do get it& you tend to grab that information and sa"e a opy of it somewhere# 6heplaes where they post suh information often flies under the radar# inu4 information isparaded in the streets and begs for attention#

    ou don9t ha"e to beome an e4pert to run inu4& but it9s atually diffiult to a"oid ahigher le"el of e4pertise unommon among 5indows users# 6his is partly the dynami ofthe sort of people drawn to inu4 in the first plae# 6hey are loo/ing for something theyan9t get with 5indows and part of that searh if often hunting for open aess toe4pertise#

    es& there are preious few "iruses and malware that run on inu4 omputers# Somemaor portion of that few is mere proof.of.onept# 'ost of them reuire the /ind oflueless user beha"ior more ommon among 5indows users and wholly unommonamong inu4 users# E"er hear of >ndroid& the smartphone $S %t9s based on inu4 butaters to stupid users& so it gets plenty of malware# >lmost no des/top "ersion of inu4does that# Besides& it9s the ellphone funtions of >ndroid that open so darn many doors

    to malware in the first plae& funtions you won9t find in any other type of inu4#>ndroid is typially not onsidered inu4 in the minds of most people beause it hassuh a highly speialiDed use# E"ery other use of inu4 tends to be seure#

    %ndeed& inu4serversget more atta/s than inu4 des/tops# >gain& that9s beause thesingle greatest li/elihood of idioy is a ser"er admin who runs the simplest and mosteasily ra/ed software a"ailable for their inu4 ser"er# 6hey use a inu4 ser"er beausethe $S is free andor they belie"e it9s seure& but then dump some goofy& trendy ser"er

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    5/32

    un/ on top of it# 5orse& as non.partiipants in the inu4 user ulture& they ha"e no luehow to perform the most basi seurity he/s and hores# > truly large perentage of the%nternet runs on good& seure inu4 ser"ers ontrolled by well.trained ser"er admins#

    >nd if it matters to you& there are free >? pa/ages for inu4! ust he/ with >? orBitefender& for e4ample# ou9ll notie they protet against 5indows "iruses e"en in

    their inu4 "ersions beause the whole point is wiping out suh threats before they getpassed on to a 5indows mahine# >t last ount& the total number for inu4 "iruses is lessthan 100& and most of those are obsolete# 8ran/ly& it9s the mutual inompatibility of the"arious distributions +brands- of inu4 that almost neessitates eah "irus be builtspeifially for the partiular mahine it atta/s# 6hen again& the default des/topinstallation isn9t running "ery many ser"ies& partiularly those ser"ies ommonlye4ploited as entry points in other operating systems#

    But the number one selling point for inu4 is not all the rap you are li/ely to read fromthe fan.boys# 6hey ooDe with religious fer"or about running their fa"orite brand of inu4#6hey9ll go on at length desribing the oys of things almost no one e4ept a fan.boy aresabout# 6hey assume e"ery omputer user will appreiate what dri"es them# 6hat raDyinu4 enthusiast beha"ior is the primary reason the wider omputer user base is so slowto adopt inu4# 6he single greatest selling point is not e"en the ontrol inu4 gi"es you&but thesenseof ontrol#

    5e aren9t tal/ing about a false sense of seurity# iterally thousands of people arein"ol"ed in de"eloping inu4 and the software! the whole thing is wide open# ou anloo/ at anything you an understand& and learn anything you don9t understand# 6here isnothing to hide and nothing canbe hidden# ou ha"e e"ery ustifiation for resting seurethat you an learn this and do it right& and it will wor/ as well as anything ould to /eepyou in ontrol#

    >bsolute seurity 5ho an really say ust how seure something is until it9s atta/ed

    ou9d ha"e to learn a lot ust to /now how to he/ for suh atta/s& ne"er minddiserning whether the atta/s were e"en ompetent# 5ith 5indows& that /nowledge ispretty obsure stuff& and often reuires speialiDed tools to interpret the raw data# 5ithinu4& it9s less obsure data dumped into a fairly simple log file& if you want it# %t mightbe ompliated& but it9s easy to get# 6he instrutions for reading that data are alreadyinstalled on your omputer& most li/ely ( try loo/ing in )usrsharedo* for a folder li/e)iptables* if you want to /now about firewalls# $r the ountless inu4 manual pagesalready installed for ust about any ommand you might hear about# 5hen thedoumentation on your system is insuffiient& you9ll often find something telling youwhere to get more on the ,et#

    But if you learn the basi information for one thing& it often applies to ust aboute"erything in inu4# >nd if that9s too obsure for you& ust use a searh engine# 6heinformation is all o"er the ,et# Simply use the terms you are familiar with& or oin anyuser forum& or as/ any indi"idual inu4 user# 6hey only reason they might not answer isthey are trying to help lots of other fol/s# 6here are thousands of fol/s out there who9"efaed a long list of really small troubles and are glad to tell about it& along with those fewwho faed more serious trouble# 6he entire inu4 user base wants you to be seure andsuessful# 'ost li/ely they will not be patroniDing to readers#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    6/32

    %n other words& it9s more about the people than about the operating system itself# ou getto hoose what matters to you and how muh you want to learn# %t9s all there in the openbeause of the user ulture# ou aren9t simply getting a new $S! you are oining a largeand friendly ommunity#

    inu4 is all about % and ta/ing ontrol& beoming self.reliant#

    Why Debian, out of the other kinds of Linux out thereebian is easily one of the largestand most ati"e branhes of inu4 de"elopment& a large presene with absolutely nodependene on any single person or ommerial entity# 5hen e"erything starts omingapart& ebian inu4 will li/ely be the last omputer operating system to fall simplybeause too many people are in"ol"ed in it#

    $n top of that& it9s ust about the easiest type of inu4 for finding someone somewherewho either pa/ages that wild and obsure inu4 appliation you see/& or an e4plain inpretty simple terms how to build it yourself from the soure ode# 'ost users agree thatebian is easily the most "ersatile branh of inu4 de"elopment#

    8inally& ebian is "ery /ind to aging omputer hardware# %f you ha"e a mahine that isnearly new& ebian probably isn9t the best hoie# Perhaps you should onsider$penSISE& 8edora or the most reent Ibuntu release# >t the time this is written& GedHat Enterprise +GHE- has ome out with a Beta of "ersion =# $ne it reahes fullrelease& the free ommunity lones of GHE +Cent$S or Sientifi inu4- won9t be farbehind and will be good for reent hardware# 6here are hundreds of other hoies& butthey would be "ery hard to wor/ with unless you had a friend on hand who /new thatpartiular type really well#

    5hile ebian isn9t the easiest& it is easier than most of the rest# 6his boo/ will try to putit in reah of the a"erage refugee from 5indows#

    1: Installation

    ots of fol/s offer "arious /inds of guides to installing ebian# 6his is ust one more#

    Caveats:>s part of this image we are painting here& the author ma/es no apology forinsisting 78CE is the only des/top en"ironment +E- worth onsidering# Plenty ha"ewritten about their disappointments with ,$'E and JE& the two most popular Es#>nother rising star& 7E& isn9t ready for prime time& but might be o/ay for older andslower mahines# ou an e4plore whate"er other /inds of E you li/e later on& but thisboo/ isn9t going to lead you there# 5e will start with the assumption that you will find78CE usable#

    8urther& unless you are running an awful lot of G>'& or you are running hea"y ser"eroperations that we don9t disuss here& there is nothing at all to gain from hoosing the

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    7/32

    6hat said& go hereand li/ on )debian.=#2#0.i3@t some point you9ll be presented with a list of )tas/s* that will inlude des/top& basesystem& et# 6ypially it will pre.selet )printer ser"er* ( don9t be onfused# 6his isneessary if you intend to onnet any /ind of printer to your system& either by able orby wireless# %f you /now you won9t use your system that way& de.seleted that by

    li/ing and remo"ing the he/.mar/# %f you are installing on a laptop& ma/e sure thatthe laptop item was hosen on the list beause ebian /eeps that sort of stuff in aseparate install and detetion routine#

    8or the rest of the options& there is some general ad"ie# %f you see an option to updatepa/ages from the ,et as you go& selet that# ou9ll be as/ed to selet a )mirror* as yourprimary soure of pa/ages and updates# ,ormally the list will start with something loseto your geographial loation& something pretty fast and reliable# 6here9s seldomanything wrong with ta/ing the first one on the list& unless you already /now the rightanswer# 5e an adust this later using a speial tool ebian pro"ides +loo/ for )netselet.apt*-& but right now we ust need to let ebian ha"e a hane to add pa/ages not already

    on the C& e4tra pa/ages that will ma/e your life easier#ou9ll need two good passwords& one for the administrator aount +)root*- and one forthe user aount from whih you9ll routinely operate in inu4 +/eep it simple whenhoosing a user name! abbre"iations are wise and lower ase letters most proper-# >minimum of A haraters is reommended for your passwords& and you should ombinethe ad"ie found hereand here# 6hese ideas still wor/ as well as anything will# on9t getlost on the partition business during installation# 5e are assuming here a omputerde"oted to ebian alone as the only $S& so hoose to replae whate"er else is on there

    http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.2.0/i386/iso-cd/http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/stable/current/http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanualhttp://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanualhttps://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=debian+7+installation+walk-through&sm=3http://archive09.linux.com/articles/28057https://beginlinux.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/creating-a-good-password/http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.2.0/i386/iso-cd/http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/stable/current/http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanualhttp://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanualhttps://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=debian+7+installation+walk-through&sm=3http://archive09.linux.com/articles/28057https://beginlinux.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/creating-a-good-password/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    8/32

    and aept the default partition sheme of putting e"erything in all one partition# ou andeide whether you want to partiipate in the popularity ontest for pa/age seletion#ou pretty muh ha"e to selet to let GIB install as your boot manager#

    uring installation you may be ad"ised to get hold of some speial firmware +dri"ers-#6he installer will pause while you deide and selet to proeed or s/ip it# 8or e4ample&

    se"eral laptops reuire something for Geal6e/ networ/ing# > ui/ searh using theterms )ebian realte/ firmware* lead to a page where you an download the pa/ageindi"idually# ou9ll need to ma/e sure you are on the page for the "ersion of ebian youare installing# >s of this writing that9s 5heeDy! loo/ in the upper right hand orner of thepage below the banner and ma/e sure you are in the right "ersion# Sroll down to thebottom of the page for a list of arhitetures you an download! we are using )i3@

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    9/32

    sreen# ,ow li/.and.drag from the handle at either end to mo"e it to the right side +orleft if you li/e-# et it attah itself& then replae the he/.mar/ to lo/ the panel in plae#ou would probably benefit from hanging the width to ;0 pi4els or so by mo"ing theslider#

    >t this point some of the labels will run sideways# Chanes are you really don9t need

    them one you reogniDe what the ions mean# Besides& ust ho"er the mouse o"er anyitem and you should get a pop.up hint bo4 with the same information# So while you ha"ethis dialog open for panel onfiguration& selet the )%tems* tab# 6his is where a lot ofonfiguration details are hidden# ou9ll get a small window with a list of what9s on thepanel# Selet any one of the items and you9ll ha"e the option to ma/e detailed hoies ofhow it displays# Cli/ on the first item& )>ppliations 'enu#* 8rom the right side of thisdialog& selet the fifth button down& whih should open the onfiguration dialog for thatitem# > new dialog will open and you an de.selet the he/ bo4 for )Show button title*and ma/e the rotated te4t go away so it ta/es up less spae#

    ou9ll notie eah of the other items on the panel are listed in this dialog and you ane4plore the "arious onfiguration options there# 8or e4ample& if you don9t need to use themail notifiation in the ,otifiation >rea& selet that in the list and open the onfig#Che/ the bo4 to hide that from the list of what shows in the ,otifiation >rea# $ne youare finished& lose the dialog and your panel is ready to use#

    $n laptops espeially& it is useful to ma/e the bottom launher panel disappear when notin use# 6hat panel offers the same set of ontrols as the other& and is labeled )Panel 2#*ou an hange what buttons appear# %f you /now that something in the main menu is anitem you will use often enough& you an open the menu from Panel 1& drag the item downto the other panel ( gi"e it a hane to reogniDe what you are trying to do! be persistent( and drop it where you want it# 6he panel will e"entually open a suare where you li/e#%f it turns out you are a little lumsy at this& then drop it anywhere on the panel# 6hen

    right li/ and selet )mo"e* to speifially engage that funtion# ou an easily remo"ebuttons you don9t want to use there by right li/ing and hoosing that from the pop.upmenu#

    Ba/ on the main panel& you an wor/ through the onfiguration submenu to add someitems not there by default# ou might li/e to ha"e a networ/ing indiator for wired orwifi onnetions# $ne added and it shows up on the panel& right li/ to onfigure# ouan hange the label to )5ifi* for e4ample& and then type in the inu4 name for thatonnetion# Chanes are your wifi is alled )wlan0#* ,otie that9s a Dero at the end of thelabel# 6his little tool allows you to see when traffi is mo"ing aross your wifionnetion! more to the point& you an see when it is notmo"ing# Similar /inds of thingsan be added& but don9t rowd the panel with stuff that isn9t important to you# ou may

    need to onsider adusting the width of the panel again if it9s too thi/ly populated#,arrower means more room for stuff& but harder to see#

    Chanes are that by this time you realiDe the fonts loo/ lun/y# %t an easily be muhbetter# %n a later lesson we will learn to add 5indows.type fonts& but for now& we9ll usewhat omes with the system by default# %n the >ppliations 'enu& selet Settings LSettings 'anager# Isually the first or seond item is )>ppearane#* $pen this dialog andli/ on the )8onts* tab# Cli/ the bo4 labeled )Enable anti.aliasing* one or twie until

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    10/32

    a he/.mar/ appears# Cli/ the seletor below that labeled )Hinting* and hoose )full#*%mmediately the fonts should loo/ muh sharper# ou probably won9t need to mess withanything else there for now# o to some of the other tabs at the top and e4plore what youan do with the olor sheme& ion sets& et# 5hen you are through& you an li/ the)$"er"iew* button and go ba/ to ma/e similar hanges under the heading )5indow

    'anager#* $ne you add more fonts& you an re"isit these settings to hange your defaultfonts displayed on.sreen#

    8eel free to e4plore the other options in the Settings 'anager# 'ost people also want toma/e their pointermouse mo"e a little ui/er& and it9s not too hard to figure that out#Selet that item in the settings o"er"iew# 8or the most part& ust inrease the aelerationfator and test repeatedly until you are omfortable# ou9ll probably hange it se"eraltimes o"er the first few hours of use until you get it ust right# 8or laptop touhpads&things get ompliated "ery ui/ly beause there is no simple way of handling it# on9tlose heart! we9ll o"er this later in more detail#

    >gain& inu4 in general& and ebian in partiular& are "ery muh a o.%t.ourself +%-type of omputer tehnology# Sometimes the defaults wor/ fine& but if you want moreontrol& it9s there! you9ll ust ha"e to learn a bit# ou an only get ust so muh hand.holding before you are on your own# %f something really matters to you& learn to fi4 it#ou an9t be laDy with inu4& but the information is most ertainly not that hard to find#

    >nother popular item is the des/top ba/ground or wallpaper# Simply right.li/ on anyblan/ spae on the des/top ba/ground and selet )es/top Settings#* 6he dialog offersyour ba/ground as the first item of business# ou an hoose from a number of images#%f you /now where to find them& you an hoose from your own olletion#

    ,e4t: 8inding your files#

    !: E"erythin#$s a File

    inu4 is an implementation of the Ini4 omputer tehnology ( a type of Ini4& if youwill#

    %n Ini4 and& e"erything is a file# E"ery bit of hardware that the /ernel reogniDes istreated as a file& too# So while inu4 an reogniDe multiple hard dri"es& they aren9t listedas they would be in 5indows using single letters of the alphabet# 5hen you go huntingthrough your system& the "arious /inds of dri"es are listed under a )de"ie* folder# ouwon9t see )C:* and ):* and so forth# ou are more li/e to see )de"sda* and)de"sdb#* Please notie that most fol/s use the terms )folder* and )diretory*interhangeably#

    'eanwhile& the root of the file system is not designated by a letter& but the forward slashsymbol by itself: ( standing at the front of any string of letters and numbers representingparts of the rest of the file system# 6hus& any loation within the file system would startwith the root +- followed by the "arious sub.diretories by whih things are organiDed#6here won9t be a )inu4* folder li/e you ha"e a )5indows* folder& or )Program 8iles*beause the Ini4 onept is a little different# ou9ll see the root of the file systembranhing off in things li/e )usr* and )home* and so forth# Gather than bog down with

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    11/32

    all the mind.numbing details +thisis a deent tutorial-& we9ll fous for now on that lastitem ( home#

    $n your 78CE des/top by default is an ion labeled )Home#* 6hat9s your )home* in thefile system# ou own that stuff and an do pretty muh what you li/e with it& beause therest of the system is proteted from what goes on there# %f you double.li/ that des/top

    ion& you9ll get a pretty simple file manager window& and this file manager is alled6hunar# >s with any other graphial system& you an either drag the orners or sides toget a different siDe +the pointer hanges shape to indiate it-# $n the left is a olumnlisting the most ommon plaes inside your home diretory that most people "isit#6ehnially& the loation of your home within the file system is )home* followed byyour login name# ,otie that we put the forward slash between eah diretory label+instead of the 'irosoft ba/.slash-# %t9s not absolutely neessary to put the trailing slashon there& but it9s tehnially preise to designate that it9s not a file& but a folder with morestuff inside it# >lso& in the standard inu4 argon& you9ll often see it written as )MH$'E*( this is how we indiate a system "ariable# %t translates to )home* for whoe"er has ahome folder on the system under disussion# ou may also see the abbre"iation )N*

    +tilde slash-#

    6here are also a lot folders and files you don9t always see# 6hey aren9t seret& ust /eptout of the way of normal operations# So to ma/e them hidden in that sense& we plae aperiod +or )dot*- at the beginning of the name so we don9t ha"e to loo/ at it all the time#>ll your personal onfigurations are /ept in folders and files with dots in front of them ()dot files#* %f you want to see them& in the menu of 6hunar li/ on ?iew L Show Hidden8iles so that you plae a he/.mar/ in front of that menu item# 6hen you9ll see displayedin the window a onsiderably larger number of ions# >s with any other graphial filemanager& 6hunar an be adusted to hange how things are displayed# Some prefer adetailed list instead of ions& but that may not be your up of tea# E4plore the menu andsettings and deide how it wor/s best for you#

    %n hoosing what olumns to display in that list "iew& one partiular item is adding the)permissions* olumn +?iew L Configure Columns and he/.mar/ )Permissions*-# %nIni4 and we assign permissions to the file system and they are stritly enfored by the/ernel# 6hat9s one of the reasons inu4 tends to be so stable and seure: 6he systemtightly restrits who an do what with the "arious files# Beause the administrator aount+root- an do anything at all& we a"oid logging in with those redentials until neessary&lest by aident we delete something important# Inli/e other operating systems& root andelete the whole thing while the system is running# 6here are good reasons for this& toinlude you as owner ha"ing full authority o"er your own system& but we won9t o"erthat in detail right now# %nstead& ust /eep in mind that it reuires root login redentials to

    do anything to the system& so we always run the system as a ommon user with limitedpower to mess things up#

    %f you really want to understand it in depth& try this tutorial# 8or now& we fous on themost basi onept# Ini4 is designed for multiple users& so e"en if you are on your ownhome omputer and you are the only user& the file system still assumes multiple users#E"ery file on the system has three basi types of permissions based on the "arious roleson the system# E"ery file is owned by somebody& and in regards to file ontrols& we allthat person the )user* +u-# E"ery user belongs to se"eral )groups* +g- that may share

    http://www.techflirt.com/tutorials/linux-tutorial/linux-directory-structure.htmlhttp://www.linuxcommand.org/lts0070.phphttp://www.techflirt.com/tutorials/linux-tutorial/linux-directory-structure.htmlhttp://www.linuxcommand.org/lts0070.php
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    12/32

    "arious le"els of permissions on some files# >ny others who legitimately log onto thesystem& but are not a part of your groups& are )others* +o-# 6hus& the permission ontrolswill inlude designations with ombinations of )ugo* ( usergroupothers# %f you want todesignate them all together& it9s )a#*

    8or eah of these roles& there are three le"els of permission: read +r-& write +w- and

    e4eute +4-# 6here ould also be an absene of any permission# Some files an be turnedinto e4eutable ommands& suh as sripts +in 5indows and& that would be )bathfiles*-# 6he differene is not how the file is labeled& but what permissions it arries# ouould simply write a sript of ommands in a series& sa"e that list of ommands to a file&and ma/e it e4eutable by setting the e4eute permissions to run it as a sript#'eanwhile& you ould let other people run it& but not read it or hange the ontents#Permissions are speifi and e4lusi"e& not inlusi"e#

    %n your file manager window& right li/ on any file in your home folder +or subfolders-#6he onte4t menu will inlude )Properties###* Selet that and a dialog opens with se"eraltabs& one of them labeled )Permissions#* ou9ll see the "arious drop.down items tohange permissions# ou9ll also notie the name of the user who owns it& the appliablegroup name for this partiular file and something about )others#* $n eah of these roles&you an set different le"els of permission# ou an e"en lo/ yourself out of your ownfiles& though you retain the authority to hange that beause you own it# roupmembership is seldom of muh interest on a single.user system& but it beomes importantwhen you need permission to do ertain things from your user aount# 6here areproesses running with permissions in their own groups# Belonging to those groupsallows you to use ertain piees of euipment or to interat with those proesses& beauseyou belong to the same group to whih that proess is assigned# %t9s a omple4 way ofontrolling what an and annot happen on the system to a"oid losing ontrol of how itwor/s#

    8or this reason& it is e4eptionally diffiult for someone to write malware for inu4#6here are no seret permissions and hidden ontrols# 5hen you log into your useraount& you an surf the ,et and anyone trying to sti/ files on your system throughyour browser an only ha"e your user aount9s authority# 6hey an9t slip in a sript ore4eutable file with full aess to the system# 6he worst they an do is delete some ofyour personal files ( that9s what ba/ups are for ( but an9t atta/ the atual systemwithout ta/ing a lot of effort# >s with anything omple4 li/e an operating system& thereare always at least a few "ulnerabilities# >s noted pre"iously& inu4 appears to be muhharder to e4ploit that way#

    >s for seurity holes in the underlying system& the ebian de"elopers are famous forpathing stuff as soon as they diso"er a hole# Seurity updates are pursued aggressi"ely#

    6here is a strong system in plae ust hunting for suh problems& and it9s uite rare thatthe bad guys find them first# 'ost suh holes reuire someone wor/ing diretly againstyou while you are online& and most of us simply don9t ha"e anything they want that bad#%t9s too muh wor/ for too little return#

    ,e4t& we will learn how to he/ for updates on ebian#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    13/32

    %: &rotherhood o' the Co((andline

    ebian won9t fore you to use the ommandline! it will entie you with the most opulentpro"ision for those who dare to learn the magi of the inu4 ommandline#

    ebian organiDes the software offerings into pa/ages and arefully tra/s their

    dependenies# ou ould ustly ause the ebian managers of o"erly fragmenting theirpa/ages& but it does gi"e the ad"antage of preise ontrol# 6he best way of asserting thatontrol is to use the ommandline# 5hile it might be a little tough on those ust learninginu4& you get a little hand.holding for now#

    ou ould do ust about the whole ob of pa/age management and updates from thegraphial interfae if you wanted# %n the 78CE main menu& selet: System L Synapti#ou9ll need to pro"ide your root redentials to do anything with this& so be areful#Synapti offers freuent warnings and information windows# 'a/e it a habit to readthem# ou are unli/ely to understand e"erything you see at first& but gi"e yourself timeand e"entually it will all ma/e good sense to you# $ne of the serets of learning inu4 isrealiDing that you might read the same thing a doDen times before it starts to sti/#

    ?irtually e"eryone who persists will get it sooner or later#Synapti opens up a bit small by default& so hit the seond button on the upper rightorner of the window frame to e4pand it full siDe# %t is organiDed li/e a lot of listingappliations: a left.hand olumn of ategories& an upper window of listed items and alower window for details of those items# 6here are se"eral pa/ages ust about e"eryoneshould add that are not installed by default#

    $ne of them is the Chromium browser# 6his is the $pen Soure "ersion of oogleChrome# ou an ha"e the latter if you wish& but it omes with some stuff added byoogle that ma/es it both a little more sli/ and also a little more li/ely to betray yourtrust# ebian has a different browser by default& but it9s ust smart seurity to /eep on

    hand more than one# ,ot only do "arious websites prefer one or another browser& butdifferent browsers by design offer different types of ontrol to the user# 6he maor reasonfor hoosing ebian in partiular& and inu4 in general& is to ta/e ba/ ontrol of youromputer# et9s install Chromium#

    8irst& let9s ma/e sure the pa/age list is up to date ( it ould hange anytime 2=# >longthe top of Synapti is a toolbar with large ions# 6he first one on the left says )Geload*with some appropriate symbol! you should li/ that first# > pop.up window informs youwhat is happening& downloading the fresh lists of what9s a"ailable# 5hen Synapti isready& e"erything goes ba/ to normal#

    ou an sroll down the list window interminably and in somewhat alphabetial order& oryou an shorten your searh# 6he ion that loo/s li/e a magnifying glass allows you tosearh for /ey words# Cli/ that and in the dialog that opens up& type in )hromium*+without the uotation mar/s& of ourse-# 6he top window will ha"e a muh shorter listnow# 6ypially& the first item in the list is e4atly what we see/# 6here will be se"eral"ariations on the name& but we are going to depend on the system to handle the pa/ageson whih Chromium depends# Cli/ on the little suare in the left.hand olumn of the listand a pop.up window allows you to selet one of se"eral options# 5e want to )'ar/ forinstallation* ( it won9t install immediately beause you may want a lot of other stuff#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    14/32

    Howe"er& another window will pop up informing you of what dependenies will beadded# Fust ma/e the ob"ious hoies& li/ the buttons and the window will lose#

    5e pretend for the moment that we are done# Ba/ up to the toolbar with large ions wesee )>pply* ( li/ this and wath as more little pop.up windows inform you of what ishappening# 5hen the pop.up offers you the option of losing it +the button at the bottom

    beomes ati"e saying )Close*-& do so#

    ou9ll notie also the button between )Geload* and )>pply* is labeled )'ar/ >llIpgrades#* %f you open Synapti& say e"ery wee/& you an li/ this after reloading and itshould tell you if something signifiant is hosen# 6his is one way of /eeping yoursystem updated& but it la/s some of the fine.toothed ontrol you9ll learn to lo"e later#Enough for now that you /now it an be done this way and most of the time there are nohiups# 6he most freuent diffiulty omes when ertain /inds of pa/ages reuire alittle e4tra wor/ from you to update# 6hat9s why we ha"e the ommandline# ou an do itfrom Synapti& but it9s simply not as reliable that way& nor an it be made as reliable asthe ommandline#

    inu4 is li/e any other Ini4: %t9s a ommandline system first# Some time ago a prettyfae was added& but it runs on top of the underlying operating system# inu4 itself seldomdemands muh from your hardware and does so at the lowest le"el possible# inu4behind.the.senes is ro/ solid and reliable beause of simpliity itself# >dding agraphial user interfae +I%- ine"itably reuires tal/ing to a wide range of hardware in awide range of onfigurations& and some of them are fran/ly "ery poorly done# So whilean awful lot of wor/ has gone into the inu4 I%& there will always be some problems#By the way& we all this I% )7* ( short for the 7 ser"er# 5hen things don9t happen towor/ perfetly& you an still get an awful lot done on the ommandline interfae +C%-#ebian in partiular offers a "ery well thought out set of C% pa/aging# %n theory& youould do almost e"erything without 7 at all& and still ha"e e"erything the I% offers (

    musi& "ideos& offie appliations& read P8s and display images& email and e"en surfmost of the %nternet# our author has gone months when the only system a"ailable wasnot powerful enough to run a I%& and did all omputing from a ebian C%#

    5hen you start reading inu4 tutorials& you9ll see referenes to ommandline& C%&terminal and onsole# 8or the most part& they are all the same# 6hat is& you open awindow that offers a ommandline# 6here are se"eral different types# Howe"er& the term)onsole* typially refers to operating without 7 at all# ou will also see referenes to)the shell* ( anient omputer.spea/ for the thin layer of software that allows you to usesome "ery basi ommands to ommuniate with the operating system# 6here are se"eralshells popular with inu4 users& but you only need to worry about the most ommon one&alled )bash#* et used to seeing that name as a primary referene to the C%#

    ou reall at the bottom of your 78CE des/top was a +disappearing- panel# $ne of theitems on there by default loo/s li/e an old style omputer monitor with a bla/ sreen# %fyou ho"er your mouse o"er this& it may say something about the ommandline# Cli/ onthat# 5hat you9ll see is a "ery plain window with some te4t displayed in the upper leftorner# 6he olors an be hanged if you searh through the menu for preferenes! theinu4 onsole is typially light gray te4t on bla/# 6he te4t you see may be rypti toyou& but it indiates the user aount followed by the system9s name for itself +host

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    15/32

    name-# 6hen there is a sort of symbol mar/ing what is alled the )prompt* ( the spot afterwhih anything you type will show up# ou ould type in something raDy andaidentally mangle the way it operates& so we9ll as/ you to be patient and type only whatyou see in this lesson until we ha"e time to introdue more about the C% itself#

    8or now& let9s learn how to manage pa/ages as we did with Synapti# ebian wor/ed

    out a fine system some years ago alled apt# 6here are a series of ommands with optionsrelated to using that term# 8irst& let9s type in the eui"alent of reloading the pa/age list#6ype letter for letter what you see& /eeping in mind that you an use the BJSP& E&right and left arrow /eys and edit what you type:

    apt.get update

    ,otie the spae there& beause this tells the apt.get ommand what to do# Hit E,6EG#ou9ll see the system proessing the ommand& he/ing the "arious plaes where itloo/s for pa/age lists on the %nternet# 6hen the ommand prompt will return and wait forthe ne4t ommand# So we type this and hit E,6EG:

    apt.get upgrade

    %nstead of updating the lists& we are telling apt to he/ if any pa/ages need upgrading#epending on random irumstane& it9s li/ely you may see a response with a list ofthings showing in an indented blo/ of te4t& and an option to selet yes +y- or no +n-#$b"iously you should hit )y* and let it upgrade any pa/ages that need it# %t9s highlyunli/ely to ause any problems at this point#

    $therwise& we need to proeed with adding another few pa/ages you9ll probably wantbut don9t /now you9ll need# 6hose who surf the %nternet may ha"e notied that& despiteall our efforts to mo"e away from some types of media display& a "ery large portion ofthe %nternet still lings to bad ideas# $ne of those is the >dobe 8lash Player# ou andeide you don9t want it and no one will blame you& but most people find it almost

    neessary beause too muh of what they want on the ,et is still in the 8lash format#

    ebian9s apt will allow you to searh the list of pa/ages using speifi searh terms# 6heommand is a little different& but you9ll probably figure out what it means# 5e want aptto searh the ahe of pa/age listings for something related to the 8lash Player& but thelist would be "ery long still# %9ll gi"e you little hint based on the pa/age namingon"entions:

    apt.ahe searh flashplugin

    Calling it )flashplugin* narrows it down uite a bit# %n this shorter list& you will see anitem labeled )flashplugin.nonfree#* 6his simply tells you that 8lash Player is not )free* inthe sense of $pen Soure& where you would be free to hange the ode# >dobe ontrolstheir ode tightly& so we ha"e to aept it as is# So we want to install this& but right nowwe will loo/ at something useful for operating on the ommandline# ou don9t alwaysha"e to type e"erything out by hand#

    Part of the 7 ser"er protools is something we all )mouse.paste* ( you an drag yourmousepointer +holding down the left button- aross a setion of te4t displayed almostanywhere and the mouse pi/s it up in its own buffer& separate from the lipboard +ut&opy and paste- offered in almost e"ery I%# 6he mouse buffer will hold that te4t and

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    16/32

    you an paste it by li/ing the middle button# %f you ha"e only two buttons& li/ themboth simultaneously and it should wor/ the same# 6hus& you an drag your mouse arossthe pa/age name )flashplugin.nonfree* and hold it in the mouse buffer# 6hen type thismuh:

    apt.get install

    ea"e a spae at the end of that# ,ow plae your mouse anywhere inside the terminalwindow where you typed that and li/ the middle button# %n a terminal window& it pastesto the ursor# %t should paste the pa/age name behind the stuff you typed so you an hitE,6EG and it will try to install the pa/age# +Hint: %f you are reading instrutions li/ethis on the same omputer where you are using those instrutions& you an mouse.pastethe ommands& howe"er long and omple4& from the browser to your terminal#- ou9llget a brief warning about liensing& but as you probably /now& you don9t ha"e muhhoie if you want 8lash Player# Fust pay attention to the prompts# uring installation ofsoftware of this sort& where some outside ageny ontrols the liensing& you9ll run into allsorts of noties& some reuiring you to say )$J* speifially# 5hen you see suh asreen of te4t and there9s an )$J* at the bottom& ust hit the 6>B /ey to ati"ate that andthen E,6EG# $therwise you9ll get prompts for y and n& or similar options#

    >t the "ery least you should find the proessing of 8lash Player installation to be a littleentertaining# %t9s pretty on"oluted but the thing downloads and double he/s itself forall its parts& and then installs# $ne it9s done& you9ll get the prompt ba/# ou now ha"e8lash Player and all your browsers should be able to find it#

    ou an use the menu of this terminal window to lose it& but the older orthodo4 methodis to type )e4it* at the prompt& then hit E,6EG# %t will go away# 6hat9s all for this lesson#

    ): *a'e *ur'in#

    8irst& a pop uiD: ou will need a pa/age alled )gdebi#* Based on the pre"ious lesson&install it as you wish# %t will bring with it a few other pa/ages as dependenies# %f youare using apt on the C%& )gdebi* is the full name of the pa/age# $ne you ha"e itinstalled& this lesson ontinues# ou may also want the pa/age alled )ttf.msorefonts.installer* ( a olletion of fonts partiularly well suited for %nternet use# %t omes with aliense# 6his is the ui/est and easiest way to get 5indows fonts +mentioned pre"iouslyfor onfiguring the 78CE appearane-#

    6he problem with surfing the ,et is that most people aren9t paranoid enough# 5e ha"e noreason to be fearful& but the a"erage omputer user is entirely too trusting of what9s onthe other end of that networ/ onnetion# espite the ommerial reality of being in a

    dependent status as a user onneting to the %nternet& one you are on& you are amongeuals# 6he theory was e4plained long ago here# 5hile a maority of ommeriallyowned systems on the ,et assume a highly manipulati"e stane as the norm& you ha"e asignifiant ad"antage& in that it9s your omputer where things are displayed# ou get toset some of the rules for interation with websites& and there isn9t muh the ser"ers ando without simply refusing to ser"e up the information you reuested#

    6hat refusal is& for the time being& uite rare# 6he fol/s on the other end will whine andplay mind games to see/ an ad"antage& but in the end& their inome depends on deli"ering

    http://www.worldofends.com/http://www.worldofends.com/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    17/32

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    18/32

    some speifi reason# 5e shouldn9t put muh trust in oogle any more than e"ery otherpredatory ad"ertiser# 'ost of what9s "isible there for settings you an figure out byplaying with them#

    Inless you ha"e a preferred homepage somewhere already& hoose eitherStart Pageoru/u/o( both of these are searh engines famous for preser"ing your pri"ay# 6he

    first one uses oogle9s searh engine but doesn9t let oogle tra/ you# 6he u/ is basedon ande4 +another good one you probably ne"er heard of- and preser"es your pri"ayust the same#

    6oward the bottom of the page& is a button to ma/e Chromium your default browser#ood idea& but it doesn9t always wor/ properly on 78CE# 6he proper way to do that: the78CE Settings menu L Preferred >ppliations# %f you don9t see Chromium listed in thedrop.down for browser& ust li/ )other* and type into the little window )hromium.browser* +as always& without the uotation mar/s-# %f Chromium ontinues to nag you&ust selet the option to uit as/ing you#

    8arther down the settings page in Chromium is )Show ad"aned settings###* Cli/ on that#

    6he first item displayed now is )Pri"ay#* Cli/ )Content settings###* ne4t# > smallerwindow opens! for the first item you should selet )Jeep loal data only until % uit mybrowser#* 6his has nothing to do with sa"ing your passwords& but ust about e"erythingelse websites inet into your system when you "isit their pages# ou don9t ha"e muhhoie with images and sripts& but you an be pretty restriti"e on the other items listedthere# Choose )Cli/ to play* on plug.ins# %f you want to see a 8lash "ideo& you an li/it# $therwise& you9ll be distrated by busy ad"ertising images you don9t really need tosee# 5hen you9re done with that set of items& lose the window by li/ing )one#* 6henta/e a loo/ at the list of he/.bo4es below the pri"ay heading# 5ithout going into allthe details& it is reommended that you de.selet the first two items and selet the rest#

    ou an enable autofill and passwords& but don9t do that yet# %f you ha"e a really large

    number of passwords for a large number of sites where you ha"e to login& onsider usinga password safe# 6here are se"eral& li/e JeePass& astPass and others# Howe"er& manypeople don9t trust any of the online pro"iders! a better alternati"e omes in the ne4thapter# 8or now& disable that feature#

    6a/e a moment to loo/ at the font settings under )5eb ontent#* ou an ustomiDe indetail& and most people find the default fonts not the best +whih is why we installed the'S web fonts-& and the siDe is typially too large# %f you li/ the ustomiDe button& asmall window opens to allow detailed settings# 'o"ing the sliders will hange the samplete4t# 5hen finished& you an lose that small window# 'o"ing on down the list ofad"aned settings& you probably should enable )Che/ for ser"er ertifiate re"oation*

    and disable running ba/ground apps down at the bottom of this page of settings# 5henyou are finished& you an lose that tab and the settings will be automatially sa"ed#

    o ba/ up to the main menu for Chromium and selet: 6ools L E4tensions# ou won9tha"e muh& but there is a lin/ to the oogle Chrome store for e4tensions# Geently&oogle tested blo/ing free aess to some anonymous users# %f you ha"e an aount onone of oogle9s ser"ies& you an use that login to aess the e4tension library#$therwise& you may ha"e to hunt them down indi"idually from the websites of those whoma/e them# >s it is& on the oogle site& not all of them are free& so pay attention# 6here

    http://startpage.com/http://startpage.com/http://duckduckgo.com/http://startpage.com/http://duckduckgo.com/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    19/32

    will be a searh input bo4 on the page displayed there# ou should searh for and installthree items: >dblo/ +not >dblo/ Plus-& hostery and Cli/ O Clean#

    > fourth nifty add.on is the u/u/o searh button# %nstead of entering your searhterms in the IG bar at the top of the browser& you li/ the du/ ion on your browserand it opens its own searh window# 6he searh results will open up in a new tab# >ll of

    these e4tensions ome with their own tutorials# hostery has a onfiguration wiDard+hint: li/ the )all* option on the blo/ list-# 'ost people turn off the pop.up list+)bubble*- of what9s blo/ed on any gi"en page# %f you don9t understand why thesee4tensions matter or how they wor/& you9ll simply ha"e to ta/e the time to read up on it#

    6o a"oid the oogle aounts tangle& try these lin/s: >dblo/&hosteryandCli/ OClean# ou annot get the u/ add.on& but you an set the u/ as your default searhengine using the instrutions they offer by going to their home page& right.li/ing in theaddress bar at the top and seleting: Edit searh engines# 5hen the Chromium optionspage opens with the searh engine manager& ma/e sure to selet your new searh engineas the default# %f you preferStart Page& they offer a lin/ to an installer to add their searhengine# 6he little dialog that pops up is pretty muh the same ontent as you would see inthe Chromium settings#

    6here are some other seurity tools and you9ll get the feeling they tend to o"erlapsomewhat& yet none of them does it all# $ne final seure surfing addition reuires thatyou install a pa/age made for ebian& but the one inluded with ebian is a little out ofdate: BleahBit# Ising your new u/u/o searh tool or Startpage address.barsearh option& enter )bleahbit download#* %gnore any sponsored lin/s at the top andnotie what omes up first: a page on a website alled )Soure 8orge#* %n general&something you get from that site is li/ely safe and sane& but it so happens that BleahBitis espeially trustworthy# ou an li/ on the lin/ to that page and simply wade throughthe series of pages li/ing the lin/s to download the inu4 "ersion for your ebian

    system# %t will be listed on the download page as )ebian = +5heeDy-* ( get used toseeing "ariations of this# 5hat you get will be dropped into your ownloads folder&whih is in your home diretory#

    6his will be a )deb* pa/age and it9s not "ery large# %f you open 6hunar +file manager-and li/ on the lin/ to your ownloads folder& you9ll see an ion for a pa/age and thename )bleahbit* in part of the te4t# 6he pa/age is made for ebian and at the beginningof this lesson we installed the utility for handling this without the ommandline& whihan get "ery ompliated "ery ui/ly# 6he gdebi utility sa"es you a lot of heartahe# Fustright.li/ the pa/age ion and in the onte4t menu you9ll be presented with the optionto install with gdebi# Selet that! a window pops up demanding your root redentialspassword# $ne you9"e gi"en that password& another window opens# i"e it time to

    proess# ou may see a notie that an earlier "ersion of the pa/age is a"ailable& but we/new that already# 5e want the latest and greatest "ersion# Cli/ the big )%nstall* buttonand let it do its ob# Se"eral things will flash on your display& but e"entually it all settlesdown and that button hanges to )Geinstall* ( that means you are done# Close thatwindow#

    Bleahbit shows up in your 78CE main menu under System ( you aren9t li/ely to e"erneed the lin/ for )Bleahbit as >dministrator* so you an ignore that and run the first

    http://getadblock.com/http://getadblock.com/https://www.ghostery.com/https://www.ghostery.com/http://hotcleaner.com/http://hotcleaner.com/http://hotcleaner.com/http://duckduckgo.com/http://startpage.com/http://startpage.com/http://getadblock.com/https://www.ghostery.com/http://hotcleaner.com/http://hotcleaner.com/http://duckduckgo.com/http://startpage.com/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    20/32

    one# > small window opens up& and a smaller one pops up on top for onfigurationoptions# 6here is nothing there that needs your attention so lose that little pop.up andloo/ at the main appliation window# Bleahbit allows you to hoose what sort of thingsit will remo"e# 6his is alled a )ahe leaner* ( it deletes all the tra/ing un/ thatwebsites use to in"ade your pri"ay# 8or the most part& you should be able to identify the

    "arious things listed in that long olumn on the left side of the window# $ne of the firstitems is Chromium# ou should selet e"erything e4ept Passwords and Searh engines#%f you intend using ebian9s %eweasel +8irefo4- browser& you an selet similar optionsunder the 8irefo4 heading# ou probably won9t need muh else right now# Howe"er& ifyou ha"e run any 8lash "ideos& BleahBit will detet the 8lash oo/ies# %f not& he/ ba/later# Selet both items related to 8lash#

    ,otie that Bleahbit has two large ions on the upper left orner# 6he first is to inspetthe ontents of your "arious browser ahes! the seond deletes them# uite honestly& youshould run this e"ery time you lose your browser& se"eral times a day#

    ,e4t: more safe surfing#

    +: ,ore *a'e *ur'in#

    6he Chromium e4tensions we installed do se"eral things# hostery and >dblo/ wor/together to blo/ the worst ad"ertising# hostery may need some fine.tuning so you anuse ertain features on some sites ( posting omments& for e4ample# $r perhaps you ha"ea 5ordPress blog! hostery blo/s your ra"atar ions by default# ou an learn how toturn off blo/ing for whate"er you li/e# 5hen you are on a page with stuff blo/ed& hitthe ghost ion and hange the settings for that page#

    >dblo/ athes more un/ by default and allows you the option of pi/ing outsomething you don9t li/e and adding it to your pri"ate list for blo/ing# ou an blo/

    things speifi to eah website or for e"ery website# %t does reuire a bit of study to use itorretly& but it9s worth the time# 6a/e a loo/ at the onfiguration options that displaywhen you li/ those ions in your browser9s window frame#

    Cli/ O Clean does something similar to Bleahbit& but does it while your browser is stillopen# Some websites are notorious for ignoring the protools and rules about tra/ing&and a few outright lie about what they do# >fter "isiting some websites& you need to runCli/ O Clean as soon as you lea"e# 6hat would be most maor news media outlets&anything that pretends to be li/e a magaDine +Q,et& >rs 6ehnia& 5ired& et#- andespeially soial media sites li/e 8aeboo/# %f you log onto suh sites& always log out tolea"e it and always run Cli/ O Clean after you lose that tab in your browser or go toanother page# $ne you ha"e set the options you want deleted& you an simply li/ theion& and then selet )Clear pri"ate data#*

    %n reent months the onept of enryption has made the tehnology news uite often#6he idea is to pre"ent outside parties reading some portion of what you send and reei"eo"er the %nternet# Some of this is built into your browser& enrypting your )session* ( theolleted interations you ha"e with a partiular website at one time# 6hat would beespeially important if you do any of your ban/ing online# By default&ChromeChromium does not enrypt your passwords for you& so you shouldn9t allow the

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    21/32

    browser to store them diretly# Howe"er& you an get Chromium to interat with anenrypted )/ey ser"er* already running on your own omputer#

    6he basi software is installed by default on "irtually e"ery inu4 omputer& ebianinluded# %t9s alled nuP +,I Pri"ay uard- or simply )gpg* for short# %t9s a C%program by default and ta/es some effort to learn# 6here9s a /ey ser"er along with it&

    another C% program# Howe"er& you an install a graphial front end that gi"es you someontrol o"er how the ser"er ats& and add a few omponents behind the senes that youan lin/ up with Chromium# 6he pa/age is alled seahorse and you an install that nowif you plan to use it# 5e9"e already o"ered installing pa/ages# Sometimes& afterinstalling you will need to reboot your omputer to ma/e it run properly#

    %f so& one you ha"e logged ba/ into your user aount and on the des/top again& theser"er is already running in the ba/ground# ou probably don9t e"en need to interatwith seahorse diretly# ogging into your aount should log you into the /ey ser"er& aswell! it9s the same password by default#

    ,ow we ha"e to tell Chromium speifially to use this ser"ie# 5e need to hange how

    Chromium is launhed from the ions and menus# 6here are two ways to do this#1. Create a desktop launcher:Gight.li/ on the des/top ba/ground and hoose)Create aunher#* > small window pops up and you an hoose the name that willdisplay with the ion# > nifty feature here is that if you start typing )Chromium* as thelabel& the interfae will offer to finish the ob for you# > seondary line drops down fromthis input bo4 and offers to reate a Chromium launher! li/ on that and let it fill in theblan/s for you# ,o need to hunt down the ion or anything else# Howe"er& we need tohange the )ommand* part# Cli/ in that bo4 and slide down to the right.hand end +i#e#&try the E, /ey-# Hit the SP>CE bar and add this te4t:

    ..password.storeRgnome

    %t so happens seahorse is part of the ,$'E des/top proet& but it wor/s fine on 78CE#Hit the )Sa"e* button and lose this dialog#

    2. Change the launcher on the bottom panel:et the bottom panel to pop up# %f youha"e hanged your default browser to Chromium& it will be assoiated with the ion thatloo/s li/e a globe# $therwise& you may ha"e dragged a launher down from the menu#Gight.li/ and selet )Properties#* %n the window that opens up& along the right side& thelast ion at the bottom allows you to edit the launher# Cli/ that and open anotherwindow that loo/s idential to the launher onfiguration for the des/top# Ise the samestring of te4t and simply paste at the end of the )ommand* line#

    %t would be nie if we ould hange the launher in the 78CE main menu& but it9s not at

    all simple on ebian# ou9ll need to ma/e sure you use the launhers you reatedyourself# 6hat way& from now on& when you start Chromium from your launhers& it willautomatially onnet to the seahorse /ey ser"er and store your passwords there# ,owyou an go ba/ and hange the onfiguration in Chromium under Settings in the menuand enable sa"ing passwords# %t will sa"e them in an enrypted form in the /ey ser"er#6his same method wor/s with the ommerial oogle Chrome browser& but beause ofhow oogle builds it& you may e4periene somewhat buggy beha"ior# 6hat is& it might

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    22/32

    not always load the passwords from seahorse for some un/nown reason# Chromium tendsto be more onsistent on this#

    Seahorse also wor/s for enrypting files and e"en email# 6here are se"eral good tutorialso"ering this and we ha"e no need to dupliate that here# 6ry this onefor generalinstrutions#

    6here is one small item we need to fi4 before this is all done# Beause of some peuliardefaults in the way these things are pa/aged& we need to hange the way the /ey ser"eris onfigured# %n Ini4 and& this sort of thing isn9t stored in some arane database& butsimple te4t files# 5e are going to hange some of those te4t files so that this /ey ser"ermade for ,$'E reogniDes 78CE as a proper en"ironment in whih to run# ou9llneed to open that terminal window again# 6his time we9ll also raise our authority le"el toroot by using the su ommand:

    su root

    >fter you hit E,6EG& you9ll be told to enter root9s password& but you9ll be typingblindly# 6his pre"ents anyone loo/ing o"er your shoulder from seeing that password soeasily# $ne you sueed in laiming root authority& srape the following te4t with yourmousepointer and then mouse.paste it into your root terminal session! it9s all one line#

    sed .i#ba/ s$nlyShow%nR,$'E!Inity!$nlyShow%nR,$'E!Inity!78CE!g9 et4dgautostartgnome./eyring.K#des/top

    %n essene what this partiular omple4 ommand does is hange a handful ofonfiguration files so that they all say that the ,$'E /ey ser"er an run on 78CE#?ery often you9ll go loo/ing online for instrutions to fi4 something li/e this and it willbe deli"ered as a ompliated te4t ommand to be sraped from your browser windowand pasted into a terminal window# on9t pani if you an9t opy this line# %t9s simply theui/est answer& but you an do it manually# 5hile still logged in as root& simply

    na"igate to where those files are#

    d et4dgautostart

    6here are four files that start with )gnome./eyring* with "arious ombinations of labels#ou an edit eah one separately with ease using the ,ano Editor# $n the ommandline&type:

    nano gnome

    Hit the 6>B /ey and it will finish partway# 5hat happens is the 6>B /ey tells theommandline to finish it for you so you don9t ha"e type long filenames and ris/ gettingsomething wrong# $ne you ha"e typed enough that the system reogniDes whih file is

    indiated& the 6>B /ey sa"es you typing so muh# %f there happens to be se"eral fileswith similar names& hitting 6>B will not wor/ uite that well! it will type for you asmuh as they all ha"e in ommon and wait for you to indiate the differene for the restof it& when you an hit 6>B again# 8or the first one& it will display )gnome./eyring.) andwait for you to distinguish whih of the four files that start with that# %f you type g and hit6>B again& it will finish and gi"e you:

    nano gnome./eyring.gpg#des/top

    https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/456149:manage-passwords-encryption-keys-and-more-with-seahorsehttps://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/456149:manage-passwords-encryption-keys-and-more-with-seahorse
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    23/32

    %f you hit E,6EG& this will open a simple te4t editor with ertain ommands listed at thebottom of the sreen# Ising the P, /ey& sroll down until you see a line that startswith )$nlyShow%nR,$'E!Inity!*# Change this by adding without any spaes)78CE* and another semiolon# Beause this is the C%& you anTt li/ to mo"e theursor! use the arrow /eys until your ursor is where you need to type# oo/ing at the

    ommands at the bottom of the sreen& you see something that may seem rypti to you#6he old Ini4 on"ention is that the aret +U- signifies the C6G /ey# CapitaliDing theletters is to ensure you an distinguish them& not beause you need to type it that way#6hus& to sa"e this file& hit C6GV$ ( hold down C6G and hit o# Closing this editor is aseparate step: C6GV7#

    ou need to repeat this proess until you ha"e hanged all four of those files:

    gnome./eyring.gpg#des/topgnome./eyring.p/s11#des/topgnome./eyring.serets#des/topgnome./eyring.ssh#des/top

    Change eah one in the same way& adding 78CE to the list of des/tops that an run the/eyser"er# ,ow type in )e4it* twie& one to surrender the root redentials and a seondtime to lose the window# ou may need to reboot for this to ta/e effet#

    "m$ortant note+>lmost e"erything you ould possibly need to /now about runningebian is already posted somewhere on the %nternet# 6here are no serets& but someissues are rather obsure# ou will need to ta/e the time to learn how to use your fa"oritesearh engine to find that information# 6he ebian user ommunity is one of the largestof all the "arious de"elopment branhes of inu4# > onsiderable amount is pro"ided bythe ebian proet itself& but is often terse and assumes a higher le"el of e4periene thanmost newbies bring to the tas/# %t9s worth the in"estment to learn the ebian approah tothings#

    %n the ne4t lesson we will o"er peuliar hardware dri"er issues the ebian 5ay#

    -: .TI and /IDI. Dri"ers

    6he fol/s who ma/e omputer hardware aren9t always on good terms with the fol/s whode"elop inu4# ou9ll hear both sides blame the other and it really doesn9t matter if whatyou need is simply to use the hardware you happen to ha"e# 'ost of the time& inu4 willwor/ fine with what you ha"e& but we9"e already seen during installation how it9s notalways that simple#

    6his is partiularly the ase with graphis hardware made by >6% +Gadeon- and ,?%%>#'ost of the older hardware by these two giant ompanies is already going to wor/ as wellas it an# Some of the newer stuff reuires a little e4tra onfiguration by the user#8ortunately& the fol/s who ma/e the hardware do pro"ide speial dri"ers for inu4& butthe inu4 fol/s aren9t entirely happy with it beause it9s not $pen Soure# ifferent/inds of inu4 an ma/e it hard or easy to use# ebian fol/s ha"e made it pretty easy&though it9s not always easy to find#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    24/32

    6here are two paths for your Gadeon graphis on ebian# %t9s possible to get a reasonableperformane by installing the speial pa/age )firmware.linu4.nonfree* and rebooting#6his is simply another ase of ebian9s internal politis of de"elopment that these dri"ersaren9t already installed by default# ou an find an e4planation herewith lin/s to some ofthe different hardware dri"ers o"ered by this poliy# Still& this is the reommended way

    for most systems# %t will allow you to do most omputer tas/s& inluding show "ideos& butit will not pro"ide the most powerful fany 3 rendering# ou still need this firmwareeither way#

    %f you really must ha"e the latest and greatest 3 dri"ers& >'>6% Gadeon is o"eredwith its own page on the ebian 5i/i#%f you followed the installation instrutions at thebeginning of these lessons& you may not ha"e to worry about hanging the soures#list fileas noted on that page# Still& login as root and ta/e a ui/ loo/ in )etaptsoures#list#*8ollow the instrutions on the ebian 5i/i for diserning whih "ersion of the Gadeonards you ha"e and whih "ersion of the Catalyst dri"ers you need# 5e are using5heeDy& so that9s the setion you use# 6his page will as/ you to use a different tool forinstalling +aptitude-& so you9ll learn something new# Fust open your terminal window and

    use the same method for obtaining your root redentials as in the pre"ious lesson# 6henuse your mouse to srape and paste those ommands into your terminal and wath it allgo to wor/#

    ou9ll need to reboot your omputer when it9s all done& so surrender root and e4it theterminal and all your other open appliations and li/ the other button ne4t to the 78CEmain menu to logout of your system# $ne of the options that pops up in the window is)Gestart&* whih is what we want to do here#

    6he instrutions for,?%%> dri"ersare ust as easy as for Gadeon# E"en better& there isno firmware you ha"e to hunt down# 6he default dri"er +alled nou"eau- does a prettygood ob if you don9t really need 3#

    amers and hea"y graphis rendering software generally reuire a good 3 display#espite laims to the ontrary& most other fol/s do notie some differene one thespeial dri"ers are installed# 'ost things on your display will paint more ui/ly onto thesreen# 6he inu4 "ersion of ?al"e9s Steam engine games reuire it& but you9ll need todo a lot of researh to run Steam#

    6he point to remember is that& beause the ebian user ommunity is so "ery large andso used to % omputer use that you are uite li/ely to find at least one person offeringuseful instrutions# $ften they will ma/e them simple enough that ust about anyone whohas gotten this far in this boo/ an ma/e it wor/# epending on what you try to do& you9llfind yourself learning how to ompile from the soure ode your own speialiDed "ersion

    of some software#Part of the reason was hinted at abo"e: the politis of inu4 software and how the rest ofthe world li/es to do things# 6he one greatest strength of ebian is the sheer numerialsiDe of the ommunity& but that is also its greatest wea/ness beause it is also one of themost politial branhes of inu4 de"elopment# 6here is no esaping it& so get used to it#6he good part is that there are enough fol/s who don9t are about the politis that theywill help ma/e it possible for you to get what you need#

    https://wiki.debian.org/Firmwarehttps://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietaryhttps://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietaryhttps://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivershttps://wiki.debian.org/Firmwarehttps://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietaryhttps://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    25/32

    %n the ne4t hapter we9ll loo/ at installing something you simply won9t get from ebianbeause of software politis& and in the proess we9ll use the C% some more#

    : .nother &roser

    So we ha"e the Chromium browser& but maybe you prefer the other maor browserfamily& alled 'oDilla# 5e ha"e noted already that ebian doesn9t use the offiial labelsfor 8irefo4& but alls it %eweasel# 6hat9s some more of the politial stuff we don9t reallyare about# 6hey also don9t offer the latest "ersion of 8irefo4%eweasel#

    >s it is& 8irefo4 isn9t e"en the original produt& but is itself the produt of politis withinthe de"eloper ommunity in"ol"ed in "arious 'oDilla 8ondationproets# 5ay ba/when& this was the ,etsape browser# %t had a built.in email lient +,etsapeCommuniator- and some other stuff# 6he owners released ,etsape ode into $penSoure and it needed some serious help# 6he first impro"ed "ersions were alled 'oDilla#E"entually the ore proet was ust a browser alled 8irefo4# 6he 'oDilla name beameused for other things& but the original software pa/age is now alled Seamon/ey# 6heleadership at 'oDilla doesn9t hate it& but they aren9t all that supporti"e of it& either# Somost of the fol/s wor/ing on Seamon/ey are "olunteers /eeping it ali"e# %t9s faster andlighter than 8irefo4& has more tools inluded& and is really easy to get# +%f you prefer8irefo4& ust read along and realiDe that most of the same instrutions apply#-

    ebian has a "ersion of Seamon/ey alled %eape& and it9s also not the latest& so we aregoing to install the real thing# %t so happens that the Seamon/ey fol/s always /eep a fullyusable pa/age that runs ust fine on ebian without any speial tri/s# %f you go totheirmain pageusing your ebian omputer& the website will detet and offer you animmediate download of the orret "ersion# So li/ that blue lin/ and be prepared towait a bit as you pull down 22'B# %f English is not your preferred language& you an

    li/ the lin/ below that to find a list of other language "ersions#So what do we do with that big wad sitting in your ownloads folder %t9s not in theebian )deb* format so li/ing on it won9t summon the gdebi installer# %nstead& we aregoing to learn how to handle it from the ommandline# $pen your terminal appliation#,otie that the prompt has you at your home diretory# 5e need to mo"e oursel"es intothe ownloads folder# %t9s not so hard:

    d ownloads

    %t9s the same ommand used on lots of operating systems& inluding the 5indowsommand prompt# %t9s the abbre"iation for )hange diretory#* 5hat do we ha"e hereet9s as/:

    ls

    6hat9s )S* in the lower ase# 6his is the ommand to list the files present# $ne of themwill say )seamon/ey* followed by some numbers and dots and finally a tar#bD2# 6hat tellsus it is a tar arhi"e that is ompressed using BDip "ersion 2# ou9ll get used to thoseterms e"entually# 6ar is an old Ini4 method of bundling a bunh of files together in theirproper order& inluding folders and sub.folders# 6here are se"eral different ompressiontools and bDip2 is "ery ommon in the inu4 world#

    https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/http://www.seamonkey-project.org/http://www.seamonkey-project.org/http://www.seamonkey-project.org/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/http://www.seamonkey-project.org/http://www.seamonkey-project.org/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    26/32

    5hile it9s possible to do this all at one& you won9t learn as muh that way# 8irst weunDip it& but we need to learn a new tri/# 6ype this:

    bunDip2 sea

    >s before& hit the 6>B /ey# $ne the full file name is all there& hit E,6EG# %n fat&

    unless you9"e been downloading a lot of stuff in between these lessons& it should easilywor/ as soon as you get s and hit 6>B beause no other file there beings with )s#*

    >s for the ommand itself& we aren9t Dipping it up& so it9s )b.unDip* and we ha"e to addthe 2 beause there is a different "ersion without the 2# So we are telling the system torun the bDip2 utility to unompress the file# 5hen it9s done& what do we get 6ry that lsommand again& and you should see that the )bD2* part is gone from the name# %t9s ust atar file#

    6he tar ommand is not uite the same and reuires using swithes to ati"ate speififuntions# 8irst& we want to e4trat the arhi"e +4-& and we would li/e some informationabout it +" for )"erbose*-& to list the files as they ome out# $f ourse& we ha"e to bespeifi to tell it whih file& so whate"er follows the +f- swith is the thing we wante4trated# 6o use any swith& or all of them together +)onatenated*- we put a spaeafter the ommand& then a hyphen with all the single letter swithes:

    tar .4"f sea

    6hat )f* has to be last# Hit the 6>B /ey again and it should hoose the right file& so hitE,6EG# > long list of files will whiDD down the sreen# 5hen it9s done& you an issue lsand you9ll see the tar file is still there& but there is now a new folder alled )seamon/ey#*ou an tell it9s a folder beause the letters display in blue instead of the default te4tolor# Qipped files and tar arhi"es are typially in red letters& ordinary te4t files in thedefault olor& and other files in "arious other olors#

    6here are se"eral different ways of handling this folder that ontains e"erything to ma/eSeamon/ey run# 6he most ommon way is to log in as root and mo"e it into the filesystem somewhere# So use the su ommand and gi"e your root password while we arestill in this same ownloads folder# 6hen we mo"e the folder to a safe plae# 8or now&the standard loation is in the usrloal part of the file system# >s root:

    m" #seamon/ey usrloal

    6hat9s the abbre"iated ommand )mo"e* and the dot in front of slash speifially tells thesystem we are pointing to this folder inside our urrent diretory ( urrent diretory isnoted as a single period# 5e speifially add the trailing slash to the )seamon/ey* folderand mo"e it to somewhere else# %f you hit ls again& you won9t see the blue label forseamon/ey any more# But if you as/ your ls ommand to loo/ in that other loation& youshould see it listed:

    ls usrloal

    8rom here on out& when you see a ommand plastered on the page li/e that& you should/now to automatially hit E,6EG e"ery time# ou should see the seamon/ey folderlisted there#

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    27/32

    ,ow& let9s reate a launher so we an use it# ou an do this on the disappearing panelor on your des/top# %n the first line of the launher dialog we enter )Seamon/ey#* ouan lea"e the ne4t line blan/# %nstead of typing in a ommand in the third& simply li/the button with the folder ion on the right end of the line and loo/ at the window thatpops up# 'ost of the time& it should open to )usrbin#* %t may ta/e awhile to load the

    stuff there& but e"entually the main window will fill with the list of stuff in that folder# Ipnear the left.hand side of the top you9ll see buttons in a row indiating eah of the folderdesignations in seuene# ou9ll see )usr* and )bin#* Cli/ the first one beause it9s)ne4t door* to where you are right now# %n the new window list you9ll see )loal#*ouble.li/ that and the buttons aross the top will hange# ,ow the list shows what9sinside the )usrloal* folder# ouble.li/ on )seamon/ey#* %nside that folder you9ll seefairly long list# Hunt down a simple )seamon/ey* file and double.li/ on that#

    ,ow the launher dialog shows your ommand properly# 5ould you li/e the offiialion Cli/ on the button that says )no ion* and you9ll get another dialog to hunt downthe images a"ailable# 6he initial window will open to display all the standard systemions# >t the top of that window is a drop.down! li/ and selet at the bottom )%mage

    8iles#* 6hat will open a different dialog that should wor/ the same as searhing for the)seamon/ey* ommand& so here is the loation:)usrloalseamon/eyhromeionsdefault*# Selet the file labeled )default@#png#*5e are finished with the launher so you an sa"e it and lose the dialog# 6est yourlaunher now#

    Seamon/ey ontains a lot more detailed options than 8irefo4& but not so many e4tensionsare a"ailable# 8or e4ample& you an9t get hostery# ou an get >dblo/ Plus and youshould& using the menu system to find )>dd.ons#* 6here may be other e4tensions youli/e from the list of what9s a"ailable& but we need something that is built into Chromium( a way to /eep 8lash "ideos from playing automatially# 6his is another plae wheresoftware politis ma/es things a little diffiult# 6here is a 8lashblo/ e4tension& but not inthe offiial list# 8ind it hereand loo/ at the green suares# 6he one on the right is for us#Cli/ that and you will be ta/en to the latest "ersion for Seamon/ey& with the "ersionnumber highlighted for you at the top of the bo4 with the word )%nstall#* Fust li/ thatand you9ll get it ui/ly#

    6a/e the time to wal/ through the entire set of preferenes +Edit L Preferenes-& but youdon9t neessarily ha"e to fill in the information for your email if you don9t want to useSeamon/ey that way# 6here are two items of interest# ou an fore animated graphis tostop playing after one through# ou an also tell Seamon/ey to lean its ahe withoutha"ing to install Cli/ O Clean# 6hat way& while surfing around& you an stop and hit:6ools L Clear Pri"ate ata### Configure it to delete what you want& and then ma/e sure

    you don9t ha"e it as/ you eah time if you /now what you li/e#> signifiant differene between 'oDilla browsers and all the others is the option tomodify the default history settings so that you reuire your browser to present a notie fore"ery oo/ie thrown at it# %t9s a little o"erwhelming at first& sine you9d learn some sitesare tossing two doDen or more oo/ies all at one& many from other domains# %t9sannoying to wade through that many in layers on top of your display& but there is a pointto it# ou an hoose to aept& aept for session only& or blo/# $ne you9"e told yourbrowser& you an tell it to /eep tra/ of that deision for future referene! he/ the

    http://flashblock.mozdev.org/http://flashblock.mozdev.org/http://flashblock.mozdev.org/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    28/32

    )remember* blo/# $ne you ha"e your browser trained& it will remember and handlee"erything aording to your preferene# 6hus& you won9t need to delete oo/iesroutinely& neither from the built.in tools nor when you onfigure BleahBit forSeamon/ey or 8irefo4#

    >s with most browsers& you an he/ to see if it9s up to date with the latest "ersion from

    the menu: Help L Che/ for Ipdates# Beause of how we installed Seamon/ey& it willoften update itself without ha"ing to repeat the entire installation routine# Inless youelet to /eep tra/ of suh things more diretly +there are mailing lists that do nothingmore than notify people of software updates-& you should run this he/ from the menuust about wee/ly& beause there are seurity updates e"ery now and then# %f neessary&t9s pretty simple to repeat this same installation proess eah time#

    5e are almost there#

    3: ,ulti(edia

    ebian omes with most of what you need by default# 5e need to add ust a few itemsfor the ommon media playba/#

    Past releases of ebian didn9t inlude a full range of odes for playing e"en some of themore ommon file types# Howe"er& that hanged with 5heeDy# By default& the 78CEdes/top omes with ?C& a media player that an handle ust about anything in terms offile format# Howe"er it is ust a bit ran/y with remo"able media& suh as audio Cs and"ideo ?s# 6here is an optional pa/age normally offered for 78CE alled Parole# %t9sust a well made front.end for something already installed on your system by default:Streamer# %f you plan to play any Cs or ?s& the pa/age name is parole#

    $f ourse& that won9t be uite enough with most ?s# ou9ll also need ib?.CSS#

    ou may reall a ontro"ersy o"er this little bit of ode that unlo/s ?s so that fol/san play them on omputers that don9t fully ooperate with the wishes of the maor mediaompanies# 6he simplest answer is to obtain the pa/age fromthis 86P site#oo/ at theolletion of files there and selet the latest "ersion of )libd"dss2* for your omputer+i3@

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    29/32

  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    30/32

    8inally& we need to mention P8 readers# %t is possible to get an offiial >dobe Geaderfor inu4& but it isn9t suh a good idea# >side from being a little buggy& it ta/es ane4eptional amount of omputing power to use# 6here are easily a doDen better hoiesmade for inu4 and all of them easy to install from ebian9s own olletion ofappliations# 78CE omes with a rather simple )eP8"iewer* whih is "ery ui/ but

    la/ing in features# ou might easily prefer something alled )oument ?iewer*+pa/age name is e"ine- or the muh older styled host?iew +pa/age name g"-# 8or anatual eboo/ "iewer +epub& mobi& lit& and other formats- you might want Calibre +pa/agename alibre-#

    8or other types of speialiDed software& the simplest way to find something is to searhthe pa/age lists in either Synapti or on the C% for something with the apability youneed# $n the C%& it9s:

    apt.ahe searh apability

    Fust replae the world )apability* with whate"er it is you see/# 5hile the list will returna lot of stuff that won9t help you& suh as "arious lib.this and lib.that& you an often tell

    by the desription what eah item does# Something that loo/s promising an beresearhed "ia your fa"orite searh engine#

    10: Final Considerations

    >s noted from the start& this is % omputing& but you aren9t alone by any means#

    8irst& let9s o"er some final items# %f you ha"e a olletion of 6rue6ype fonts you want touse& you an add them to your system most easily by reating a dot.folder in your homediretory: )#fonts#* Copy your fonts there and they should be a"ailable almostimmediately#

    >lso& if you want to use the C% more& it is highly reommend that you learn to use the76erm# %t9s on your system& but not normally lin/ed in the menu# Create a launher onthe des/top andor your launher panel# Jeep in mind that if you ha"e a large display& thefont siDe should be )A41;#* $therwise& espeially on laptops& you9ll probably need)@413*! that9s what you put after the font swith +.fn-# Here is a sample of the launhommand with traditional olors:

    4term .fn @413 .bg bla/ .fg lightgray

    Gesearh: the ursor swith +.r- determines the olor of the ursor blo/# 6ry ).rs/yblue* at the end of that ommand& orsome other olorsby name# %f you are trulyambitious& learn how topersonaliDe your C% prompt! it affets any plae you login on

    that system& inluding the atual onsole& beause you sa"e it in your )N#bashr#* >ne"en longer and more tehnial "ersion is here#

    >s promised: touhpad users will probably need one speial tool# 6he pa/age name is)gpointing.de"ie.settings#* %nstall this# ou9ll need to all it up from the C% using thesame name as the ommand# > graphial window will open and gi"e you an opportunityto onfigure the most ommon touhpad and mouse settings#

    http://mkaz.com/solog/system/xterm-colors.htmlhttp://mkaz.com/solog/system/xterm-colors.htmlhttp://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Customize-the-Shell-Prompt-40033.shtmlhttp://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/http://mkaz.com/solog/system/xterm-colors.htmlhttp://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Customize-the-Shell-Prompt-40033.shtmlhttp://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/
  • 8/12/2019 Debian Try It Youll Like It

    31/32

    %t9s possible this tool won9t wor/ as you li/e# %f suh is the ase for you& you9ll need to dosome researh on how to use something on the C% alled )synlient* and ma/e testsettings# 6hey are temporary& lasting only for that login session# ou an adust thingsinrementally li/e the aeleration fator +'inSpeed-& turn on srolling +?ertEdgeSroll-&hange the tap.to.li/ sensiti"ity +?ertHysteresis-& et#6his pagefrom another brand of

    inu4 alled >rh is a good starting plae# 5hen you ha"e eah setting you li/e& sa"ethem in a te4t editor +li/e 'ousepad-# Collet them into a file as e4plained there andhange them to the proper format& and reate the neessary loation to store that file withthe proper name# 6he instrutions there will wor/ for ebian# ou9ll need rootredentials for that# Something li/e:

    m/dir et7114org#onf#d

    ou9ll sa"e your file in that folder with the name the page shows you# ou9ll still /eepyour temporary settings until you need to logout# 5hen you reboot& those settings willload and beome more permanent#

    6his and so muh more is out there# %deally& you would ma/e friends with a ebian user

    in meat spae# 6here9s nothing li/e finding a fellow.tra"eler to /eep you sane# ,e4t mostuseful is ust about any inu4 user# Infortunately& most serious inu4 users aree4eedingly partisan in fa"or of their own brand of inu4# %t9s more a matter of theirurrent pleasure than a realisti analysis of your needs# 6he Deal borders on religiousfanatiism at times so be warned#

    6o some degree& you ould