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Installing Debian for the first time. Wish me luck! (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Edit: It works! Not beautiful and shows a concerning amount of "Error" lines on startup but it will do. I got VSCodium and ESP-IDF running, at least – and CMake isn't awfully slow despite it being a crappy 4GB RAM machine (not easily upgradeable). The first boot took a while and I haven't rebooted since, I guess it will be below 30 seconds next time (Mint on same machine but HDD was about 1 minute).

Edit: I hope I chose the right kernel here, surprisingly not much info online on this! Also, I picked "targeted" because the 10-year-old system does not use any cutting-edge hardware and all drivers should be auto-detected, I think.

After some experience with Linux Mint, I gathered the courage to try another distro. I'd like to turn an old laptop into an IPTV receiver plus FTP/OpenVPN/HomeAssistant server with occasional desktop use. I first installed Windows 11 just in case my family needs to use it (it fucking sucks, the built-in PS/2 keyboard doesn't work half the time but that's an issue for later) but now I'll be turning it into a dual-boot setup with Debian as the primary option. Please give me some encouragement, I'm really afraid of new things.

Old pic: https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/d4bf0222-4fc1-42ab-a3e9-464087dec3af.png

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[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

VSCodium

Try Kate.

(The real answer is probably emacs/vim but I'm not that cool.)

[-] SrMono@feddit.org 43 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I hereby grant the application for luck. May your Debian boot and bring joy.

[-] redlemace@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

You make it sound religious. Did i join a religion deccades ago and not knowing it?

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 13 points 1 week ago

If we say yes, do you think we can get tax exemptions?

[-] SrMono@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The first rule of the church of tux is to talk about the church of tux 🙏

[-] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

I use arch btw~not~ ~really~

[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It will do this just once

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Guess what, you're right! Technically, it does boot but

Debian GNU/Linux 13 mmpc tty1

mmpc login: _

does not bring joy.

Also, why is the fan spinning? I've been on this screen for minutes while looking up lightdm troubleeshooting on my phone. Blinking the cursor and Linux backend stuff can't be too CPU-intensive, right?

Edit: fixed. I had broken lightdm by adding the numlockx on script in the wrong place, too eager to get a lock screen with an enabled Num Lock

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[-] banazir@lemmy.ml 30 points 1 week ago

No luck needed, it'll go fine. You pretty obviously have all the experience you need.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Experience? Yes, but I'm also really clumsy and impatient. Lots of things, hardware and software, broke in my hands because I wasn't careful enough. At least there is no personal data on the system right now that I could erase.

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago

That's just part of learning sometimes.

[-] redparadise@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago

You'll have a hard time breaking Debian (unless you make a FrankenDebian) also FYI the Debian Installation Media has a built in Rescue environment for Debian under Advanced Options

[-] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

You don’t need luck. You chose wisely.

[-] Onsotumenh@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 1 week ago

Just a little warning if you boot both OS from the same drive. Windows update can and will break your bootloader at one point (if not worse, tho that's rare). Keep a Linux live or rescue stick around in case something breaks.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I know this, what a pain... I eventually had to install rEFInd on one of the PCs with dual boot.

[-] AldinTheMage@ttrpg.network 21 points 1 week ago

I love Debian. Been using it on my laptop for over a year. Some specific drivers are a little fiddly if you have nvidia graphics but it's not too bad, lots of good info on the debian wiki.

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago

same here even though i don't use it much anymore.

for me, it was both the distro that i had used the longest at home due to rock solid stability and it's become a signal to me that the shop i'm considering working in has rock solid people working on it.

i'm going to miss working on debian in a professional capacity and watching it due it's thing in real world production capacities for millions of people at a time.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

You've used Debian for a while? Well, you might know something about one of the problems that were a factor in my hop from Mint: I installed a stable release in 2020 and used the computer as a MMPC every so often, but then I set up a DVI cable to the family Windows PC so the MMPC became redundant, and will be until we switch from satellite to IPTV next year. The computer lay mostly unused for 2 years and then it turned out that it wouldn't update to a newer, supported release. I gave up troubleshooting that. What kind of distros are most prone to this?

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 days ago

you have to keep your sources up to date if you don't check in regularly and most distros provide a means for doing so. chatgpt should be able to handle this and i think this applies to most distros as well.

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[-] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 18 points 1 week ago

It's Debian. Let us know when you have your first real issues with it, probably some time in 2037.

[-] ranzispa@mander.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

Don't be too hopeful, it will probably be the upgrade to Debian 14 in 2030. And the issue will probably be: yes, you need to change the repo and then full-upgrade.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I had a fair amount of issues back in the day due to debian having limited support for newer hardware with proprietary drivers. I wouldnt be surprised if that still a thing given Debian's modus operandi.

[-] protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago

Debian now prompts users if they want non free drivers in the installer, and the installer it self comes with them so it can boot on platforms that require it, non free drivers and firmware are also in a seperated repository to non-free and enabling them is independent, selecting non free drivers in the installer will enable the non free driver and firmware repository

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[-] Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

I had some getting it to run on a Chuwi HI8 but the thing is a terrible tablet-PC pretending to be a terrible Android tablet...

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

See my newest comment with the monospaced text.

But yeah, not a real issue, I fixed it in 15 minutes. Apparently it was foolish of me to want Num Lock on the lock screen (Czech keyboard layout uses the number row for diacritics).

Edit: Now I fixed that too. I can easily use numbers in my password now!

[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 10 points 1 week ago

This shouldn't be a thing of luck, if you are prepared.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago

No, I'm absolutely not. What desktop environment should I choose? KDE Plasma is tempting - it would be nice to use it before I install it with Arch on my main system - but I don't need the cutting edge or much personalization. I know XFCE best but GNOME is default... GNOME's big launcher looks great for the TV but it's also more resource-hungry and less customizable...

I guess I'll go with the familiar Windows-style XFCE and maybe add big remote-friendly icons later when I configure an IR receiver.

[-] redlemace@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

What desktop environment should I choose

That's the beauty .... You can change any time you want (sudo tasksel) withjout losing your data. or install all of them and choose one each time you login

[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I have been using Gnome for a few weeks (because I have an issue with my tablet and Plasma works badly with it), and it's shit. Very locked in, strange choices regarding how information is presented, waste of screen estate (topbar that sits completely unused)... Plasma was a million times better. If I didn't have this tablet problem... anyway that's my advice. Have fun. Debian is stable, you should be good

[-] Dojan@pawb.social 6 points 1 week ago

I love this, because I feel the complete opposite in some regards. I love the simplicity of GNOME. There are some weird UI decisions; I much prefer to have the dock available on the desktop than to use the application switcher every time, but that's about it. GNOME is very thematically consistent, it's simple, and it works smoothly. It has enough customisation where the sensible defaults fall short, at least for me, but theme-wise I really like Adwaita the way it is.

I use KDE on my laptop though, and I enjoy the tinkering with it. Feel like it's fairly unstable though, Plasma just crashes at times when you tinker with it (though so far it's never happened in normal usage). Design-wise it feels much too cluttered, but there's a lot of options to play with to make things at least almost the way I'd like it.

We're spoiled for choice, and that's awesome. There's something for everyone.

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[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

People who hate gnome so much always confuse me.

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[-] AldinTheMage@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 week ago

I have used gnome, plasma, and xfce and they are all fine. I prefer KDE personally but they're all going to do what you need to do. It's all down to personal aesthetic preference, and picking one won't hinder you in any real way. KDE to me just looks super nice out of the box for my taste, and I like the customization.

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[-] wildflower@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

I recently helped a friend install Debian via sms, it was surprisingly easy, and she had never tried installing Linux before. When installing on a laptop I'd recommend using cable instead of wifi, and then setup wifi when the system is up and running.

Best of luck

[-] BagOfHeavyStones@piefed.social 11 points 1 week ago

Gee! How long did it take to transfer the iso via sms? Did you have to uuencode it?

[-] notagoblin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

🤣 🤣 🤣

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[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

If it’s 10 year old hardware, you should be fine.

I’ve only had problems in Debian with brand new hardware where I have to use the backport branch to get drivers (like for wifi.)

Though mainly I use Ubuntu, where I would not have that problem. Not sure why you switched from mint.

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[-] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Good luck! And don't forget to add the non-free-firmware repo and maybe the other additional ones if you need them. A standard Debian comes without. And if you're following an old tutorial, that might not cover the split between non-free and non-free-firmware which happened somewhat recently in Debian terms. Their own documentation is good and up to date, though.

[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago

Isn't non-free-firmware included by default now?

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[-] notagoblin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Mint is solid, if you use it and it works for you why change? Do you need to bother with windows? What do you use that can't be done on Linux I wonder? Perhaps work out how to set a VM and try out Debian and even windows in a test sandbox so you're comfortable with the processes before taking the plunge. Check out KVM, QEMU, and Virt-Manager.

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[-] Decker108@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

I just made the switch from Win 10 to Bazzite Linux some two weeks ago. It worked so great that I should have done it a long time ago.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I like it so far.

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this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2025
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