Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 4

v0.2

Xfce

The first thing I'd like to cover is the customisations I did and why I did them.

I didn't like the desktop icons.  They were just yuk.  I found it difficult to open them - perhaps their target "doubleclick" area was too small.  So:

• Application Menu > Settings > Appearance > Icons > Gnome
• Much better
• ps .. subsequently I had problems with the doubleclick ... right click and .. "open" .

Wallpaper - For the first time, I've found some really nice wallpaper in the default install.

• Application Menu > Settings > Desktop
• Choose your wallpaper

Yup, that's it.  They are the only two things I changed.  And I love the desktop.

I had a look at the Xfce website, and there are a couple of webpages that are REALLY interesting - additions to the basic install ......

• http://wiki.xfce.org/consoleaddict
• http://wiki.xfce.org/recommendedapps

Synaptic is your friend.


Other Stuff

I was going to leave this for a bit and round it out, however since I have a Licence renewal Simulator in a couple of days, perhaps I should concentrate on that.  Although this is fun as a diversion.

Looking at Xfce has made me keen to look more closely at the GnuStep Desktop, Lxde, Fvwm and a couple of others (including JWM and Fluxbox) to see just what we can do to make a nice easy desktop.  At the moment though, Xfce is just beautiful.



Later ...............

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 3

v0.2

I finished the previous part having just booted into a nice shiny Gnome 3 desktop in Virtualbox.  It certainly was a change to what I was used to.

Before I get started though, what the Guest Additions do for you are that they allow seamless mouse movement between Guest and Host, and the ability to re-size the Guest desktop.  Just drag and it all works.  Three other features I'll mention in passing here are the ability to mount a DVD drive or ISO image, the ability to use a USB memory stick (after you have introduced it to Virtualbox in the USB section) and the ability to set up a shared folder between the two operating systems.

Gnome 3

I have to say that my initial experience was somewhat jarring.  I sort-of worked out some of the functionality, however it still largely felt like a bad visit to cartoonland.  I think I shall have to let it sit for a while, see if I can find a straightforward set of documentation and then re-visit.

Despite my reservations, I can perhaps see the point of the developers in that new users MAY find it a good experience, though I still wonder.

Xfce

Whilst I had used Xfce a little in the past, I was keen to see how it had developed in the latest incarnation. Those who are used to Debian being associated with "old" software have obviously never visited the "Testing" branch.

I re-did the Netinstall and put Xfce as the desktop of choice so as to see what came with it.  I found the log-in screen a little different to what I was used to (I use gdm and I assume this was different) however it went fine.  I don't care for the Debian starry wallpaper and need to do some reading to see how to replace it for the bootup and login.  The Xfce desktop came up very nicely and I had a great feeling about it right away - I can understand Linus's comments now about abandoning Gnome for Xfce.  I checked the "About" menu option and found it was Xfce 4.8, the latest version.

About now would be a good time for a screenshot, but I won't.  Instead I shall use the wonder of text to describe it (you'll thank me for not exposing you to the starry paper background).

Debian has Xfce set up with three bands by default.

• Of course there is the desktop in the centre which has three icons at the top left for "Home", "Filesystem" and "Trash".  Right click the mouse and a menu allowing you to create desktop icons or select properties or applications, appears.  
• Along the top is a panel reminiscent of the Gnome 2 setup.  On the left is a main dropdown menu of applications, then a shutdown button next to it.  On the right at the top are the icons for the default 4 workspaces, the time and the network status.
• At the bottom is a panel in the centre that works a little like the OSX "Dock".  There are six icons by default.  Minimise Windows, Terminal, File Manager, Web Browser, Find Applications, and an icon that allows you to open any folder in your home folder in either the file manager or terminal.

It is rather pointless talking about standard applications that come with Debian because it is easy to simply use the package manager and install those you like and eliminate those you don't.  I will say though that those that stood out to me were Iceweasel v9.0 (ie the running latest release of firefox) and LibreOffice.  I also like the lack of some of the major applications that come with Gnome by default that I just don't use.

So in contrast with my initial impression of the latest Gnome, I rather like Xfce.  I'll leave this post here (and get back to what I should be doing) and next time I'll talk about some initial customisations I have done to make things just that bit better.


Later ..............

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 2

v 0.2

In Part 1 of this post, I talked generally about the requirements for setting up a Wheezy Gnome VM in Virtualbox.  I shall assume that you have the Machine specified, but not installed yet.  I shall also be rash and write these notes from memory.

Installation

• Start the VM.  If you are using a Windows host, it will politely ask you to tell it where the installation iso is, otherwise, you will need to let it fail, then use the "Device" menu at the top to select the CD netinstall iso image and restart.
• The standard Debian installer screen is your first port of call.  If you want a Gnome desktop, just continue.  I never bother with the graphical install since it is just a more complex version of the standard text interface.  But then, I like the Slackware installer as well ......
• To install a desktop OTHER than Gnome, go to "Advanced" and you will find links to a number of alternatives including KDE, Xfce and Lxde.
• Now you need to simply proceed through the standard Debian installation routine for what you want.  There is an EXCELLENT Debian installation guide at "Howtoforge" entitled "The Perfect Desktop Debian Squeeze" which I strongly recommend.

Installing Guest Additions

If you are using the Gnome 3 desktop,  the initial log-in will be slow while it works out that it cannot use the standard Gnome and will fall back to the "classic" look (which you could also select on log-in the first time).  The steps I followed to get the guest additions installed and Gnome 3 running (I also described the guest additions with Debian in another post - read it and you can tell me where I differ to it):

• Open a "root" terminal.  I'll describe the commands to type in between the "  " ....
• "  aptitude install synaptic "   Synaptic is a nice graphical package manager that has its uses.
• "  aptitude install module-assistant  "   Module assistant is the key to installing guest additions
• "  m-a prepare "     This gets module assistant to load the dependencies for the guest additions
• Start Synaptic, search (there is a magnifying glass button for search) for " virtualbox " and mark any installed virtualbox package for removal (they will be marked as guest additions), then " Apply "
• The tricky bit is coming up
• You need to mount the "guest additions iso" which is located in the installation directory for virtualbox.  You can either select "install guest additions" from the "device" menu on the VM or you can use the " device " menu and CD/DVD selection to search for the guest additions iso.  In either case, you should make sure it is mounted.  It will appear mounted under " /media/cdrom0 "
• Once you have it mounted, use the root terminal to "  cd /media/cdrom0 " and to execute the "VBoxLinuxAdditions.run"  as shown in the next part
• "  bash ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run "   using the root terminal after changing to the iso.   You need to have the "  ./  " in front of the Vbox..etc because it explicitly tells Linux where the file is.  (ie a period and forward slash).
• At some stage, it will complain that there are already Guest Additions installed - ignore it because you just deleted them and it has detected the remnants.
• Once this is completed, reboot the VM and you will now have an accelerated Gnome 3 desktop.

That's it for the moment.

As always, corrections or additions welcome.


Later ................

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 1

v 0.2

 This post has grown significantly since I started, so I've had to split it up ...... here goes ..

I'm a fan of Debian Linux.  Whilst Ubuntu is fine, Debian just sits right with me.  Same with Virtualbox.  I have had a Debian Squeeze virtual machine on my laptop and desktop for some time and thought I'd explore a bit further. 

One thing I did recently was to explore the concept of using a Debian VM as an encrypted volume.  Whilst there are some other means of encrypting files and partitions, I've found it is quite effective to install a Debian encrypted VM and use that.  It is quite straight-forward, as I described in an earlier post installing to an old laptop. Free and neat.

What I have been thinking of recently, though, is exploring Wheezy (Debian Testing) and the new Gnome.  I'd been hearing a few things about it that disturbed me, and I have been eager to explore a bit, since I have shown a few people Debian recently, and they love it.  Gnome in Squeeze is quite easy for them and I've been wondering how they would fare.


Wheezy Netinstall

First, how do you find an ISO to install?  Easy - search on "debian installer" and it will take you to the page from which to download a "netinstall" image.

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/i386/iso-cd/

You can see from this that this is the link to the "i386" image.

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso

Now, what is a "Netinstall" iso image?  It is a Debian Installer cd image that will install a base Linux system onto your computer from which it then connects to a Debian Repository to download the remaining files to produce a complete system.  Note, you need to be connected to the Internet when you use the Netinstall image - I guess that is .. er .. why it is called "Netinstall".

Virtualbox

Given that Virtualbox is free and available for all common platforms, I've found it most useful.  I can run a copy of the same Linux VM on both my Windows desktop and my Mac Laptop. 

For those who don't know, Virtualbox started as a private, open-source project many years ago before being bought by Sun, who continued developing it, before in turn being bought by Oracle who have thankfully kept the project going.  The latest can be downloaded from http://virtualbox.org  .  You will need both the version for your platform, and the guest additions (which install into virtualbox easily).

Preparing Virtualbox for Gnome 3

I have two Wheezy VMs - one for Gnome and one for Xfce desktops, to see what is available and how best to tailor Wheezy for what I want, however I used the same recipie for both VMs.  It is pretty straight forward to prepare a VM in Virtualbox, and you can always read the documentation or Google for some pointers, so I'll only cover the particulars of my install.

• I started the new Gnome VM by calling it WheezyGnome - Virtualbox immediately figured it was going to be a Linux VM.  
• I created an expanding volume, max 15 gig
• In the Display section, I gave it 128 meg of video memory and ticked the 3d acceleration

Gnome 3 needs 3d acceleration to give you the best "experience" otherwise it starts in a fall-back mode.  When you first install any Linux distro with Gnome 3, you will need to start the fall-back mode until you have installed the "Guest Additions" to the VM.

Next ...

Next I'll talk about how I got Gnome 3 up and running in Wheezy ...



Later .....