Recalling an install of Debian 'Testing' (upgrade from 5 aka Lenny): Good points, challenges, achievements and showstoppers.

Contents 1 Notes 2 YES 2.1 Quite Cool... 2.2 Just Works (With Testing) 2.3 Added 3 NO 3.1 Showstoppers 3.2 Bugs 3.3 Cures 4 Still ToDo

Notes

Journal of a typical install (unstable 30/01/2010)

Apt-Pinning to surf between unstable, stable and testing.

More on sources.list: http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/COMPUTING/debian-principles.html

And here is my draft sources.list

Since Vino is dead, here is the list of recommendations from wiki.deian.org: http://wiki.debian.org/VNCviewer

A bare Debian install doesn't feature build tools so you do have to install headers, make, gcc and the likes. Slackware rules!

• From outside: to scan your target' machine port: nmap -p <port> <ip_address>
• From inside: to check your iptables rules: sudo iptables -F (shouldn't have any on a blank debian)
• From inside: to check outside available services: netstat -lnptu

+ the Tale of the Missing Packages

Bluetooth HowTo Fail

And unrelated Debian information

YES

Quite Cool...

• It's so fast, even with full Gnome Desktop, so low on memory (<200Mb idle @ cold start, <120Mb with Enlightenment16!!)
• Testing as a rolling release model.
• NFS share mounts out-of-the-box.
• locate works as user out-of-the-box.
• Brightness fn keys OK, sceen-off too.
• Wireless OK, after zero-fuss driver install.
• Lock Screen & Leave a Message is fun. Why not?
• Crisp, no fuss, no niceties ...so ut's fast.
• Good Documentation albeit everything is slightly outdated.
• GConfiguration Editor included.

Just Works (With Testing)

• mounting nfs shares
• Compositor in Metacity
• 3G cellphones as Modem (after installing NetworkManager, that is)
• Suspend/Resume (not anymore - sleeps but a pain to come back)
• webradio (mplayer)

Added

• screen
• rsync
• mplayer
• x11vnc
• openssh
• e16, the enlightenment Window Manager
• lxde, the Lightweight X Desktop Environment.
• gDesklets (hey, it's a laptop after all, it may as well look cool. They are quite unfinished though.)
• gomeDO
• TuxPaint
• BitTorrent CLI tools
• VirtualBox
• VLC

NO

Showstoppers

• Testing uses Grub2.
• The gnome desktop comes with remote everything, but openssh-server is not included! You believe services are running, and wonder why you can't connect... ssh now fixed, vino still dead, using good ole' x11vnc instead.
• Upgading to Testing is a nightmare of dependencies, you have to switch between dpkg and apt-get or even synaptic all the time. Took 2 days to 'fix': when something doesn't upgrade, it's discarded; when you finally reboot, there is nothing left of your OS, you have to manually re-add everything that makes an OS: core network files, X server, gnome tools... everything. Keep an eye on udev (broken with 2.6.26) and mono (for circular dependencies: a needs b, b needs c, c needs a, etc... and refuses to install).

Still to try: failure to import virtualmachines created elsewhere will pull the plug on this install.

Bugs

• sudo cd doesn't work when trying to go to an unreadable folder sudo: cd: command not found. Stupid!
• iwl3945 not included, but is opensourced from intel...
• basics as rsync, screen, mplayer or smbfs not included by default.
• no Samba share in Nautilus anyway.
• gDesklets is, to say the least, early alpha. Unrecoverable crashes, popups with warnings, unconfigureable applets...
• Lots of warnings, error messages on boot; nothing in dmesg|tail...
• Messy X start-up with 3 different stages of plain colored screens. Differently colored, of course.
• Tap-to-click disappeared at some point; followed advice to install gsynaptics that restores Tap... and forgets about it as soon as you suspend/reboot;

Cures

• WiFi: Use a wired connection to install 3945 firmware aptitude install firmware-iwlwifi. (You will need to add non-free repository to /etc/apt/source.list, use the synaptics repos manager to do that easily)
• Tap: Look for Touchpad in gconf-editor and tick that box.
• Install openssh. Duh.

Still ToDo

• VirtualBox import of previous virtual machine at latest state with snapshot; get vboxguestadditions in.
• stk11xx patch to flip camera.
• Microphone setup on skype.
• CleanUp error messages at boot
• Run a vncserver that other machines can connect to.