[PassingThrough]

Greetings all, Frequent visitor, so I decided to join recently and wanted to contribute to the community. I decided to venture out from under the Windoze, OSXt and Ubunpuntedtu umbrella.

I'm impressed with the Ram usage upon startup, which is around 90mb to lower 100s. Since I only have 1gb to start with.

Please feel free to add on, should there be an even easier method.

Linux Mint Debian: LMDE Get your system, "Minty Fresh."

Items needed: 2gb or 4gb usb flash drive, LMDE ISO dvd/cd.
Now this is the method I used, but there are other methods.

0. Mentioned by "Reflex," You should also be able to run the USB Creator program without burning a disc. thx...
1. Format flash drive to FAT32 in a windows machine. I tried formatting it in Ubuntu 10.04 "it didn't turn into a Fat32 of-course. Later on the liveUSB didn't boot into the Dell mini9. But when it was a FAT32, I had no issues.
2. Download LMDE ISO but don't burn as ISO. I used Ubuntu 10.04's burning software and burned it as a file.
3. Insert Fat32Usb into Ubuntu 10.04 or equivalent> admin > startup disk creator.
4. Place newly burnt LMDE disc into cd/dvd drive and "Startup disc creator" should pick it up. Follow the instructions and proceed to create LiveUsb.
5. Dell mini 9> boot and press "0" to get to Bios> enter setup>>boot>USB storage>F6 to move it to the top>F10 to save.
6.Before placing LiveUSB in, let the mini cycle through once. Properly shutdown or restart and for good measure, restart it a second time if you want.
7. Now put the LiveUSB and let it load to boot off flash drive.
8.Install Linux Mint Debian. Just wanted to mention that this is a rolling Distro.
9. Once you went through the lengthy installation, time to update repository: Menu>Admin.>Update Manager>Install updates and reboot.
10. Press "0" again to get to Bios and restore boot sequence.
11. Once your back in the OS, repeat step 9 again if you want to make sure you didn't miss any upgrades.

Install wireless Driver:

1. Menu> Terminal> sudo -i or su -i
2. type in your password to enter root.
3. Now you should see this "#" don't type this symbol. The following lines should look like the following:
4.# aptitude update
5.# aptitude install module-assistant wireless-tools
6.# m-a a-i broadcom-sta
7.# update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)
8.# modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb
9.# modprobe wl
10. lines 8 and 9 might be optional.
11. to properly exit terminal: type "exit" to get out of root.
12. Type exit again to get out of upper level.
13. Restart your mini9 and now you should have wireless.

Installing Linux Kernel headers: Open terminal:No need to get to the lower level as root #, Stay as $.
1. $ Sudo apt-get update
2. $ apt-cache search linux-headers-$(uname -r)
3. $ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Installing Deb files. Below, I will use a site for reference. I don't work for the site or get any perks. It is for the sake of showing how to install a "Deb."
1. Menu>Package Manager>settings>third party software>add.
2. add tab, type http://downloads.sip-communicator.org/deb/unstable/
3. Once added>close software sources>close synaptic package manager> open terminal.
4. type: sudo aptitude update. Note:If it won't let you then do it as "root."
5. sudo aptitude install sip-communicator-keyring sip-communicator.
6. not sure if you need to run apt-get update ...

Usb Webcam drivers below that I've installed but for the life of me, I don't remember exactly how I did it. I used the "wget" command and also dealt with tar.gz files. I'm unsure on how to simplify or explain the use of "wget." If anyone can give some really good examples of "wget" and how to untar a tar.gz file in Linux Mint "Debian", that was downloaded with firefox and moved to the "Desktop," please let me know with some good examples. Doing it in the "Terminal" for the sure win and maybe "GUI."

1. Gspcav1
2. spca5xx
3. spcagui
4. V4l1
5. V4l2
6.UVC video

I'm a linux Debian Novice, "Linux in general." Through a lot of trials and errors, present to the community, my findings. I'm hoping that someone might have a better grasp of the "wget" and the untar of tar.gz files in the terminal. Also, how to install a "bin" file as well.

I'm hoping to install the Aqua aero 9.0 or Aqua aero X 10. theme for gnome. But I am not sure how to go about adding these "bin" files using the terminal. After downloading them with Firefox and relocating them on the desktop.
Linux can be made to look like OSX, Windows or your own creation and I wanted to save these themes.

My system: Darth Vostro A90. Stock 16gb HD, 1gb ram.

I hope that my novice guide will be of some use and more knowledgeable people can fill in the gaps.

Conclusion: My dell being only having 1gb of ram, I also deleted a lot of stuff I'll never use like the open office package and only leaving word processor.
To Delete:
1. Menu>hover over the program and right click>Uninstall

I also disabled some startup applications so it wouldn't have to start up during boot for a quicker boot.
1. Menu>Preference>startup applications

I disabled: bluetooth, check for new hardware drivers, gnome login sound, gnome settings daemon helper, mint update, mint welcome, print queue applet, remote desktop, user folders update, and Visual assistance.

I also changed the theme from Shiki-Wise to PepperMint
1. right click>change Desktop Background>Theme>PepperMint and changed my background to Gloria

Enable Transparent Terminal:
1. Control Center>Desktop Settings>Windows>Use Gnome Composting
2. Open terminal>edit>profile preferences>background>transparent background.

Linux Mint Debian is based off of Debian. Linux Mint 9 on the other hand is based off of Ubuntu, which is based off of Debian.
Since LMDE is based off of Debian and not Ubuntu, while they do share some similarities in command line executions, Some commands will work for 1 but not the other.

Added Oct. 15th 2010

If ever for any reason you press some weird button and don't get to the log in box but get to the command line # itself during boot up. Use this command to get into GUI.
1. # startx
If X refuses to start for you the next time you boot up and does the same thing and gives you the command line #,
1. type service gdm3 start

Things I haven't tried out yet:

Speeds up apps.
1. Sudo apt-get install preload

Jupiter- Power Management applet for intel atoms, the 3 performance modes are really interesting. A screen shot can be found here: http://netbooked.net/blog/jupiter-po...-for-netbooks/

Install Jupiter: I haven't tried it so atm, I don't have a concise step by step but here is a link for the curious,
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=54973

Emerald is not in the repository of LMDE by default. Here is a link:
http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&p=319642

Since we are all using Dell mini 9's or Vostro A90's, it'll be interesting to see what issues or new discoveries pop up when we get enough people playing with this OS. Please add into this forum, anything you happen to stumble on.

End of edit for now. Oct. 15, 2010

Thx again for the links Reflex. Once I get a better grasp and wade through the information you've provided, I'll then proceed to condense it for the community.

Good Luck Everyone...... "Just Passing Through"

[reflex]

Hi. Thanks for the info.

There should be a "edit" button under your own posts. Click it to edit. When editing, fix "modprone". I expect it's supposed to be "modprobe".

A couple more points:

You should also be able to run the USB Creator program without burning a disc. It should be able to run using the downloaded ISO file instead of an actual disc.

As for WiFi, I hope there's an easier way. In Ubuntu, you just need to install the "bcmwl-kernel-source" package and reboot.

And I'm surprised that the webcam didn't work out of the box. But I don't have a webcam in my Mini 9, so I'm not sure if it's unusual.

As for untarring, I usually do it in a terminal. "tar -xvf archive.tar.gz" will extract verbosely from the file named "archive.tar.gz". "tar -xvf archive.tar.gz -C /tmp" will extract files into the temporary directory, "/tmp" ( /tmp gets cleaned with every reboot, so it's a good place to extract files before moving them elsewhere, compiling software, etc). And since my "/tmp" is a RAM disk, it's the fastest place to process files.

Wget is just a simple way to download files from the web. Feel free to use a regular web browser instead. "wget yahoo.com" will download yahoo's frontpage to the current directory.

As for installing .bin themes, got a link to where you're finding them?

[PassingThrough]

Did the edit button for modprobe awesome...

I think the webcam works out of the box. I had a couple logitech and creative labs external usb webcams sitting around. But it didn't detect them, so I had to install those webcam drivers in order for them to work.

For the "bin. files"
Aqua Aero X GNOME-Look.org
Aqua aero. Compiz-Themes.org
Screenshot-Aqua aero. GNOME-Look.org - Mozilla Firefox | Lost Summit

I would download it from firefox but am unable to extract it.

As for the untar the tar.gz, can you run an example program install? A step by step example of a program or file that you actually installed that was a tar.gz? The same with "wget" if possible in the terminal. So that people will get an idea of what to expect and not run into any surprises.

I'll give the bcmwl-kernel-source a shot next time I muck up my OS .

Hopefully when enough info is gathered to make this guide less painless, we can recompile it for everyone to use.

Thank you so much for all your insight Reflex.

[reflex]

Those theme files come with an .emerald extension and are listed as "compiz themes". This info looks promising: EmeraldThemeManager - Compiz Wiki. Also, look for the "emerald" package.

wget is just a simple utility for downloading files. If you're just downloading a single archive, all you need is the url, so to download the current (as of this post) 32bit Broadcom Linux WiFi driver direct from Broadcom and save the file in the current dir:

cd /tmp # I like working in the temp dir
wget "http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5.60.48.36.tar.gz"

(stuff after # is comments and unnecessary)

A .tar or .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 file is just a compressed archive, like a .zip or .rar file. So, there's no 100% certain way to install software from one, anything could be in the .tar file... but something like following commands will usually work. (once again, stuff after # is comments and unnecessary)

Make sure you have the normal build software installed, on Ubuntu/Debian and related distros, install the "build-essential" package. I also use the "checkinstall" package to install the software (but checkinstall isn't strictly necessary).

mkdir /tmp/working # make a directory to work in under the system temp dir
cd /tmp/working # change to it
tar -xvf archive.tar.gz # extract files, replace archive.tar.gz with the actual path
cd TAB # the tar files should be under some directory now, the TAB key should autocomplete the name
./configure && make # configure the build environment and compile
sudo checkinstall # checkinstall is a smarter way of running "make install"

I mentioned it in the code, but it bears repeating: the TAB key autocompletes commands and filenames. Use it. "tar -xvf /hoTABgeTABarTAB" might become "/home/george/archive.tar.gz" (assuming that these files and dirs exist). If no autocompletion comes up, hit TAB again to get a list of possibilities (if the list is empty, you probably have a typo).

Here's some more info about tar files, it's old but still mostly relevant info about compiling and installing software from tar archives.

[DressedToKill]

I have a problem =/ When I try to type my password for the WiFi, nothing shows up. Any help?

[PassingThrough]

I'm not having the same problem with the wifi. Can you change the theme from shiki wise to peppermint and see then if you can type in your password for your wifi?

[perroboy]

I am trying to install the LMDE 32bit distribution I downloaded last week. I created a pendrive and was able to boot into the distro. Most applications work in the live environment, but the installer doesn't work.

I get a message that I am trying to run an application as root, and then the installer quits.

Is there a way to start the installer via cli?

Anyone else having this issue?

Thanks,
pato

[pirinto]

Originally Posted by perroboy

I am trying to install the LMDE 32bit distribution I downloaded last week. I created a pendrive and was able to boot into the distro. Most applications work in the live environment, but the installer doesn't work.

I get a message that I am trying to run an application as root, and then the installer quits.

Is there a way to start the installer via cli?

Anyone else having this issue?

Thanks,
pato

Dear pato,


Sorry for the late reply, maybe others will run into this. Some pendrive creator software don't do well with Mint Debian.
For me this has always done the job:
Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 | USB Pen Drive Linux

Hope this helps