Xfce

Debian buster with Xfce desktop environment

I upgraded my Debian box to the latest version, with the default GNOME desktop environment (DE) recently.  Sometimes the computer runs slowly, perhaps consistent with its age.  On searching the cyberworld, several culprits regarding such slowing are pointed out.  Without going any further, my erstwhile DE is found on top, of course apart from the usual suspects (Microsoft, e.g.).  I thus searched for the best DE, one that is not bloated, one that is lean and mean.  I zeroed in on Xfce which was immediately installed.  Many geeks actually recommend it (among others) for lower-end hardware, although it's also useful for the high end computers.

My relationship with computers spreads for less than 40 years, perhaps occasionally during the first quarter of this period, and probably more frequent later with the introduction of the CD-ROM.  The Internet was not available at all!  I think I used Apple DOS and MS-DOS operating systems (OS).  Internet was available in the second quarter, but it was so slow (using the modem) and also expensive.  In this quarter, it was Windows everywhere I looked.  I think I used Windows 3.0, 95, 98 and ME.

The third quarter showed my frustration with Windows prompting my search for an alternative OS.  The software is buggy, not to mention expensive.  I landed with Linux, particularly the free Debian GNU/Linux 3; it was free alright but I spent time reading about the manual pages.  At this time, Linux was still a geeky subject.  I tried several distributions using disk partitions (called multi-boot install).  In this latter period, I used Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 10; in the UNIX-like OSes I tried NetBSD, GNU Hurd, Fedora, YOPER, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and of course Debian (present).

Some DE I used include Luna, Aero and Fluent for Windows, and Enlightenment, LXDE, Unity and GNOME, and of course, Xfce.  I'm now back to the traditional scene of the good old menu system, simple and easily configured.  Why fix it when it's not broken?

"Xfce embodies the traditional UNIX philosophy of modularity and re-usability. It consists of a number of components that provide the full functionality one can expect of a modern desktop environment. They are packaged separately and you can pick among the available packages to create the optimal personal working environment."

Buster

I recently upgraded my Debian system to its latest stable version codenamed buster, or otherwise called Debian GNU/Linux 10.  The process was almost seamless, contrary to what I expected regarding OS upgrades.  I backed-up my files just to be sure (a good practice anyway), but it was unnecessary.  One glitch occurred because I issued the upgrade command from a graphical console window, and the lockscreen program was updated and presumably inserting the default config values.  Later the lockscreen was activated, and typing the password did not work because the display environment was also upgraded.  To fix the broken upgrade, I was forced to reboot and going into safe or command-line mode.  I then issued dpkg --configure -a to try to fix some configuration problems, and also: apt --fix-broken install.  For the next full-upgrade, go the safe text mode route!

One way to make this process easy is by making a small edit at the /etc/apt/sources.list file.  Instead of putting the codename in the entry (like stretch), use its status name, e.g., stable.  One line in that file shows:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

Edit that to:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free

Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

Now you don't have to worry, even if you actually forget which is the latest version of Debian.  The system gets continuous updates just like that.

Now I have a nice working Debian on buster, its latest version, with the accompanying changes in the look and feel of the various programs.  Some updated apps however override the existing config files, and you'll be surprised sometimes.

Way to go Debian team!  Thank you for this brand new working version.  Go Buster!

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.  But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.  And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is good.'" (Luke 5:37ff RSV)

Python With Kivy in Debian

A lot of concepts there...  Why python?  Because it's so simple a computer language that it's usually a first language for learning programming.  Yet, it's so developed and complete as I see it.  Kivy?  Well, it's a python library used in developing mobile apps and other multitouch application software with a natural user interface (NUI); it can run on Android, iOS, Linux, OS X, and Windows, and it's free and open source.* Debian is there because it's the OS I'm using, and I'm learning some tricks while installing Kivy in it.  The insight why I chose Debian is covered in a previous post.

Installing python is simple and straightforward, but you have to choose python3 because python (as python2) is already installed.  This is not a problem in other OS's where python is not installed by default, and installing python will install the latest available version (python 3.x).  Installing kivy may be straightforward in other OS's, but it demands some patience in Debian as I experienced.  This is due to the many dependencies which usually conflict with the more updated versions of others.  The latest version of Cython, e.g., is not compatible with kivy (cython 0.28.4) so I had to force install the 0.28.2 version.

Installing kivy should be very easy and as simple as issuing the command 'sudo apt install python3-kivy' and giving your password.  The dependencies are automatically installed, but when you import kivy, errors glare at you, saying some services are not present or some files are missing.  So I decided to use pip (python package installer), issuing the command 'sudo apt install python3-pip', but using pip directly does not work!  The command 'sudo pip install kivy' fails (pip3 may be used because I'm using python3).  I searched the web and I found out that I had to install some packages that are not automatically installed, namely python3-dev, libsdl2-image-dev, libsdl2-mixer-dev, libsdl2-ttf-dev, python3-virtualenv and libgstreamer1.0-dev.  So I uninstalled kivy to avoid conflicts, and installed all those files.  Kivy still doesn't work as above so I used another trick so that python itself will do the installing.  I guess the package will just work for myself (because I didn't use sudo).  I issued the commands:

python3 -m pip install -I Cython==0.28.2  #install a particular version
python3 -m pip install kivy

Now my python works fine with kivy, but I only tested it with my scripts.  Now instead of searching the web for some apps (maybe for some calculations) that are specific to a problem, I make the programs.  Isn't that cool?  When I decide to deploy some apps (for Android and other platforms), I bet I'll have some problems but I'm sure the web is there to help, as before.

Debian

More than 3 months ago, I posted about my Fedora installation in my desktop computer, and it's smooth sailing since then.  It replaced my erstwhile perfectly running Ubuntu box for 12 years already, just out of curiosity.  OK, admittedly I tried Fedora because I read somewhere that Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux is using the OS personally.  He also mentioned that he doesn't like Debian because it was difficult to install with its many options, or something to that effect.  Well, it was this last statement that got me thinking into going back to my very first open-source OS... what else... Debian GNU/Linux (now just called Debian)!  That was Debian 3.0 (Woody), way back in 2002.

Four years later (2006), I wrote something on how I got and installed Ubuntu 6.06 on my desktop.  It was so easy because they provided free live CDs!  It was no surprise that Ubuntu is based on Debian, and the former just made it easier to use the latter.

Debian 9 overview screenshot

It's good to always return to our roots.  So, I'm back (for good) in debian... it's now Debian 9 (Stretch) using kernel 4.9.0-4-amd64.  The screenshot looks familiar because it also uses GNOME (3.22.2) desktop environment by default.  The user experience is great!

When I got this computer several years ago, it had Windows already installed so I had to install Linux in another partition.  Using the same hardware, linux loads several times faster, and appears more secure and stable.  I don't know if it's the usual, but I don't have any antivirus program running, and nothing seems to matter.  With its more than 21,000 source packages [51k in 2018], the available Debian software can meet almost any need that one could have, whether at home or in the enterprise.  Debian is and will remain composed entirely and exclusively of free software.  All software development within the Debian project, itself, will be free [taken from The Debian Administrator's Handbook].

"Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God." (1 Peter 2.16 RSV)