Tips on installing Debian

Last week a hard drive crash took out my old Debian 11.5 partition. Debian is currently at 12.7, but 11.5 was an excellent version even though it had a few quirks. Here are some problems with solutions.

"Installation step failed" during Select and Install Software
The default menu selections are mutually incompatible.
Solution De-select all desktop packages. Install a minimal solution with Web and SSH servers and basic utilities. Then click back to install only XFCE for a desktop. Selecting something else, especially Cinnamon, will cause the install to fail on some computers. The goal is to get a working X11 setup. You can run synaptic later to install a better desktop environment.

Don't listen to the guys on the Internet who tell you to use update-alternatives --configure x-window-manager. This could lock you out of your system because the list of alternatives is incorrect if the one you select didn't install. It's safer to edit .xinitrc first.

Unfortunately, xfce handles focus differently from other window managers, so it's a bear to work with.

Booting takes a long time with only a blinking cursor on the screen
Solution Even though there's no indication of what's happening, your computer is doing a file system check. It is better to stop the check and reboot with the "Advanced boot options" or whatever it's called in the Grub menu. This will show a progress number for the check. If it takes more than one hour, it may be fragmented. In this case, it's better to retrieve the files off the drive by attaching it to another computer, then re-format it.

DVD tray doesn't open when scanning multiple CDs
Solution It's necessary to push the DVD tray button exactly one second after clicking. Too early and the tray slams shut, scratching your DVD. Too late and it does nothing.

Cinnamon won't install
Solution Do not click on the main Cinnamon button. Click only on the ones beneath it. It is now impossible to install Cinnamon in Debian 11.5. It worked before; reason unknown. apt install will try and fail to install the current one, and the one on the DVD doesn't install.

Synaptic aborts with "broken packages"
Solution Install only one or two packages at a time. There are many packages on the DVD that lack dependencies. This causes an error that forces you to start over.

If you get the dreaded Red Box in Synaptic, close Synaptic and start over
Solution The next day I realized I'd forgotten to install evince, a PDF reader. I also clicked on forensics-extra-gui and got a red box, which means the package is broken on the DVD, so I de-selected it. It installed it anyway, pulling in over 300 packages from 9 DVDs, including Wayland, wireshark, and some unfamiliar imaging packages. This could easily trash your system. The only way to prevent it is to start over if you hit a red box.

Synaptic fails to configure packages
Solution This happens because synaptic can't figure out where it installed ldconfig. Edit the root's PATH to include /usr, /usr/bin, and /usr/sbin before starting. It can also happen if you select a package marked with a pink spiral. This means you must have a functioning Internet connection to install it.

Unable to boot after installing Grub
Solution It's recommended to let the installer select how the drive you plan to boot from to ensure it installs an EFI and swap partition of the correct size.

Brave browser can't render sans serif fonts
Solution Brave is a good browser, but the latest version can't handle Helvetica or other sans-serif fonts. Instead, it uses whatever default font you might have, which can make the page look unreadably small. This makes Brave useless for anyone running a website. Stick with an older version or switch to Firefox. Brave isn't included on the DVDs.

Why do people still use DVDs for Debian?
Solution Debian is the only distribution that still has many useful older packages that are hard to compile. I typically use the first 13 out of 19 DVDs. Downloading this many over the Internet would be impractical even if they were available. Older Linux users still remember the disaster of Linux's early USB support. So we stick with DVDs.

Another positive is that the sample config files in Debian need only minor tweaking. Be sure to check your apcupsd.conf and run apctest, as apcupsd will happily run while not actually connecting to your UPS.

Someday, somebody will create an OS that handles programs from any OS in a transparent way without emulation. You'll have Windows, Apple, and Linux programs running side by side with no worries. Storage will be so cheap that every known piece of software will be in there, and there will be no need to install an OS or software again.

feb 05 2025. updated feb 08 2025