Debian 11 bullseye post install.
Why Debian?
I Choose Debian because i like to use an independent Distribution.
Debian runs smooth on my personal laptop and it makes me nostalgic.
i have tried a huge list of Distro’s but always came back for Debian as it runs smooth on my laptop’s hardware.
no frequent update notifications and rock solid stability.
fixes and workarounds for an issue if any can be found easily at Debian Wiki and Forums with a shallow learning Curve.
for more on why choose Debian you can visit here.
Why another Post install Post-PIP?
I just thought of documenting what all things i did after installing Debian.
so if you are expecting a regular post install guide with commands which says you to install this! install that! – this is not the post, instead i like to share you my experience with Debian.
i usually use laptop to surf internet and watch/download movies so this post may seems very basic and not for advance users/admins.
Getting Install Image.
Debian gives us variety of options to download, from CD to DVD, Install images to live ISO to net install ISO and what not.
its year 2021 where we are connected to each other via invisible network -Thanks to Covid Pandemic and i believe if you have access to a PC/Laptop then you definitely have access to Broadband with decent speed.
So without hesitation download a Live DVD or DVD ISO.
If you are connected via WiFi then i strongly recommended you to download ISO with Non-Free Firmware.
i choose a 64-bit 3.7G Non-free install DVD, file name looks like “firmware-11.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso”
here is the link for images having non-free firmware.
i have not downloaded Live Image as i am aware my laptops hardware works out of box with Debian.
Installation is very simple and instructions are all over the internet.
Advice ! Donot use RUFUS tool to write image to USB!
for some weird reason firmware files were not copied to bootable USB via RUFUS and WiFi driver was not loaded during install.Had to use Suse image writer/ROSA image writer to create bootable Debian USB.
only changes as a home user i made was leaving Domain Name and Root Password fields empty.
for partitioning i choose “Guided – use entire disk (It
will create partitions automatically with entire disk)” and later choose BTRFS as type of root partition.
this may not be the case with everyone, users who have data on their disk partitions and just want to give Linux a try and are at risk of data loss by miss they have a huge number of How To’s available everywhere with data disclaimers on internet, pls refer them.
I choose entire disk because all my data is synced on cloud and backed up on an external HDD.
its always a good practice to invest in data backup devices or have a cloud storage account, it will save you from awkward situations and its a must have if you are frequent Distro-Hopper!
Which Desktop Environment(DE) to choose?
I prefer Gnome. as i started using linux with Gnome 2.
so i will select Gnome and Gnome FlashBack(if you want Debian 6 Squeeze like experience).
every DE have its own Pros and Cons its based on user preferences.
XFCE – lightweight, highly customizable, requires very less RAM.
but with 8GB RAM i see no performance lags when compared to Gnome Shell.
Gnome provides a smooth and elegant experience.
KDE – im not a fan of KDE Plasma but its built on latest QT and KDE frameworks.
it gives a windows like feel along with customization options and it responds faster than Gnome.
It’s has an amazing collection of native apps, but still lacks support for biometric authentication like gnome which has pam module integrated with gdm.
if you want to try KDE4 you can go for ROSA linux or any Distro which provides Trinity DE.
memory usage is less or equal to XFCE and almost lightweight. Last time i tried it memory usage after login was around 550MB.
Opensuse has a very amazing KDE desktop, but Debian KDE feels more agile.
Mate & Cinnamon – they were created to mimic old Gnome2 look and feel.
it provides a traditional DE experience and gets the work done.
if you want to experience these desktops then i suggest you try Linux Mint, you will definitely love the distro.
BTW i was intrigued by this Link.
Debian is installed, What Next?
This is what the default screen looks like if you logged in to Gnome Shell.
If you are able to see a Bulls eye and number 11 integrated with Debian artwork, then you are using 101% of your brain.
If you have configured your WiFi network during install, Debian saves the login credentials and you are ready with internet once you log in.
1st thing i did was to start Firefox and login to my Firefox account to sync my bookmarks, history and browser settings.
Debian is shipped with Firefox-ESR by default which is stable and has very smooth experience.
Select Customize and uncheck TitleBar.
it really matters if you have a 11 to 12 inch screen display and don’t want to waste the space for title bars.
As i installed Debian from DVD image, cdrom repository is checked in software sources.
so lets uncheck it in softwares and updates app, else software manager will throw an error if we run apt update command.
Failed to load Firmware messages at Boot,time to give up?
post install Debian will show false failure messages at boot time.
you can ignore it but if you are annoyed by it like me then its time to search debian wiki/forums for workaround rather uninstalling the Distro.
to check what are the failure messages lets use the command dmesg in terminal with Sudo.
and look for failure messages, first one looks like this.
here is the workaround posted at debian forum.
with this failure message resolved we move on to next message about bluetooth.
which is
which requires copying a firmware file to path /lib/firmware/brcm
link to the post is here.
job done!
Missing Fonts!
when you open Google you will see garbage fonts for regional languages.
so we need to install a base font set.
we have multiple font sets like DejaVu, Droid,Gnu freefonts,Liberation fonts,Noto..etc
i like googles Noto-fonts and installed with package fonts-noto
Package Management.
update, install, uninstall software is easy with Debian or on any Deb based Distros.
While most linux users prefer the Terminal, i use Graphical Package manager Synaptic.
by default Synaptic is installed but without package index feature.
this should be installed by default as it makes easier to search package the moment you start typing, but its not that hard to install.
so lets install “apt-xapian-index“.
Installing essential packages.
TLP
I use this software to handle power management for thinkpad.
battery performance is somewhat good but no major difference.
post install you need to start the service by typing TLP start.
you can check the status of this service by using systemctl commands.
you can visit Arch Man Pages for command usage, its very good.
i use systemctl status tlp to check its status.
i usually use this to check system temp and fan speed.
tlp-stat --temp
FPRINT
Install package fprintd and libpam-fprintd for BioMetric login/authentication.
after install you can enroll fingerprint in settings->Users->Fingerprint Login
Next Run the command sudo pam-auth-update and select fingerprint authentication.
now you will be able to use Fingerprint for authentication instead of typing password.
Firewall
as im using this system in home environment, i prefer simple Firewall app like UFW.
if you need more options you can install firewalld.
you can install a GUI for UFW which is GUFW.
open the firewall app and turn the status to on.
Removing unnecessary packages
Games
we get a huge number of games installed in Gnome, as im not intreseted in games i will uninstall them all.
sudo apt remove gnome-2048 aisleriot atomix gnome-chess
five-or-more hitori iagno gnome-klotski lightsoff gnome-mahjongg
gnome-mines gnome-nibbles quadrapassel four-in-a-row gnome-robots
gnome-sudoku swell-foop tali gnome-taquin gnome-tetravex
and then run apt auto-remove to delete unnecessary packages.
Now lets uninstall some software from Gnome Software app.
i find Document viewer, rhythmbox does the job and i don’t need Parental control feature so uninstalled above apps.
Tweaks
Disable – Suspend when Lid is closed.
Enable – Over amplification.
Select weather location.
rest i like to keep the default Gnome settings.
Multimedia Codecs
codecs can be installed easily with Gnome Software app or if you install vlc player it will install codes as dependency.
by default codes are installed and no need for any extra steps.
VPN & Torrents
i use openconnect software to connect to VPN, it supports cisco vpn connections out of the box.
and use Transmission for torrents.
Audio/Video/Image edit tools
For Audio editor – i use Audacity.
Audio Converter – soundkonverter, provides impressive audio compression to file size with Ogg formats.
Video Converter – Winff
Camera – Cheese with video effects plugin gnome-video-effects-frei0r
Video editor – PiTiVi
Image editor – gimp – i rarely use as we get more effects at finger touch with smartphones.
and of course LibreOffice as office suite, not on par with MS office but does the job.
I hope this post will be of help to novice users who want to install debian as their personal system.
well that's the end of this blog, Cheers!👋
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