debian my way
I think I have solved the video card problem by not doing anything,
waiting a couple of days and trying a new install. This time I
grabbed the newest kernel, headers and source in the archive and
everything is thankfully back to normal.
When I install Debian I don't usually choose the Desktop system, as
it installs both Gnome and KDE. I do not mind this, an if I were to
run Sarge on my desktop I would happily have all kinds of window
managers and desktop environments installed because you generally
only update packages when a security patch comes along.
But because I seem to think I
need the latest and greatest
software, I try to install only what I use, as the updates in Sid
come fast and furious. This is what I generally do once the system
boots after an install:
fresh install:
change sources to unstable and update/upgrade
First root commands:
apt-get install zsh-beta emacs-snapshot-gtk screen rsync ssh sudo rxvt-unicode
chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh orchid
visudo (add myself with NOPASSWD)
Desktop:
xfce4 gdm xorg
To get all the plugins:
apt-get install `apt-cache search xfce4 plugin | cut -d" " -f1`
Emacs Stuff:
w3m-el debian-el dictionary-el
Multimedia:
emms cdrecord mplayer acidrip
transcode cplay grip k3b
Docs:
diveintopython rubybook rutebook autobook elisp-manual ebook-dev-alp
devhelp-books zsh-beta-doc gdb-doc autoconf-doc libtool-doc make-doc
gcc-doc newbiedoc debian-reference emacs-lisp-intro glibc-doc
apt-howto-en
Kernel:
We need kernel sources and headers to build the nvidia driver
apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.17-1-686
linux-source-2.6.17 linux-image-2.6.17-1-686
cd /usr/src/linux && sudo tar -jxvf linux-source-2.6.17.tar.bz2
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.17 /usr/src/linux
(now reboot into the new kernel)
Drivers:
nvidia-glx module-assistant
run: m-a a-i nvidia to build the driver
sudo modprope nvidia
(I really should get a non nvidia card one day)
Games:
foobillard bzflag bzflag-server flightgear
Programming:
build-essential gdb manpages-dev autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex
bison gnu-standards make gcc debhelper cvs
Utilities:
screen htop pciutils usbutils aspell dictd ntpdate wamerican-large
dict-wn dict-moby-thesaurus dict-foldoc dict-gcide dict-jargon
spellutils unclutter mail-notification
Chat:
gaim irssi erc
Browsers:
w3m firefox
Browser-Plugins:
libflash-mozplugin mozilla-mplayer
Java:
sun-java5-plugin sun-java5-jre sun-java5-fonts
(agree to liscence without reading it)
Fonts:
msttcorefonts ttf-larabie-deco ttf-larabie-straight
ttf-larabie-uncommon ttf-mikachan ttf-xfree86-nonfree ttf-bitstream-vera
x-ttcidfont-conf ttf-dustin ttf-freefont ttf-gentium ttf-summersby
Graphics:
imagemagick gimp
Other:
gftp evince bittorrent nanoblogger