[H-GEN] Debian X files

[Christopher Biggs]

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"Anthony Irwin" <anthonyi at toolboxsoftware.com.au> moved upon the face of the 'Net and spake thusly:

> I can't remember what most of the apt-get install foo foo2  etc for X and
> don't want to install a ton of crap as I would like to try keep my system
> fairly current on unstable using a dial up connection.
>
> does anyone know a site that lists required and optional debian packages for
> x etc. or could someone tell me how to go about finding out. normally I do
> apt-cache search foo foo2 etc and load anything and everything untill the
> system seems to work but I would like to do a more streamlined install.

The incantation
    # apt-get install x-window-system
will install a sane minimal x-window without any desktop enviroment
crud.  (You might also need to specify "xserver-xfree86").

Also check out "bonzai linux"(sic) which is an 80MB Debian Woody install CD
which contains a minimal woody system WITH KDE on the .iso.  Once you
install it you can apt-get upgrade it to unstable, and treat it just
like any other debian system.   

I've never bothered with KDE before (still don't) but I installed
bonzai linux on a laptop recently just to check it out and was quite
impressed.  The install is a bit rough (you have to run apt-get
dselect-upgrade to install a few 'required' packages missing from the
CD) but overall it's a good way to get a debian-with-X box up without
needing to suck the whole enchilada off the net, or feeding in the 703
CDs of the full debian crawling horror from the pit.   (I love debian,
but there's such a thing as TOO many badly-documented obscure
packages).

--cjb



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