The OneDrive Client for Linux supports one-way as well as two-way synchronisation and securely connects to Microsoft OneDrive services. Install the OneDrive Client with the following commmand:
Connect the client to your OneDrive account with the following command:
onedrive --synchronize
You will be presented with a message similar to the following:
Configuring Global Azure AD endpoints
Authorize this app visiting:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/v2.0/authorize?client_id&scope=Files.ReadWrite%20Files.ReadWrite.all%20Sites.Read.All%Sites.ReadWrite.All%20offline_accessresponse_type=code&redirect_uri=https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/nativeclient
Enter the response uri:
Use the link to sign into your Microsoft account with a web browser. On successful login, you will be redirected to the response URI displaying a blank page. Copy the URI and paste it into the terminal. On successful authorisation, the client will connect to your Microsoft account and begin to download your data.
Initializing the Synchronization Engine … Syncing changes from OneDrive … Creating local directory: Downloading file … done. Uploading differences of ~/OneDrive Uploading new items of ~/OneDrive
After downloading your data to ~/OneDrive, validate the configuration of the client with the following command:
onedrive --display-config
Enable OneDrive Client for the local user bullseye:
“Before we get started, let me say this upfront: GNOME shell is not a traditional desktop and if you try to use it as one, you will not be very efficient.” AJ Reissig
Unable to get list of updates:
Failed to update metadata for lvfs: checksum failure: failed to verify data, expected yJcztsgVmmvtkn9na5YyQVdyqFNIXlzYUgrACKX
Run the following command to fix the issue:
$ fwupdmgr --force refresh
Enable Network Manager to manage all interfaces
Network manager detects and configures network interfaces to automatically connect your system to available networks. By default, however, it will only recognise network interfaces not declared in /etc/network/interfaces.
Use the following command to open /etc/network/interfaces and delete or comment out any configuration details for the primary network interface.
$ sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
Use the following command to open /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf and set managed=true.
Edit the file /etc/default/grub with the following command:
$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Set the value for GRUB_TIMEOUT to the number of seconds the grub menu is displayed before booting the default entry.
GRUB_TIMEOUT=2
Add the splash option to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
Set the resolution for the graphical terminal. If supported, you can set it to match the resolution of your monitor.
GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080
Apply the changes with the following command:
$ sudo update-grub2
During boot, you can press the [Esc] key to view the messages.
Hide the snap directory
The snap directory in your home folder is not supposed to be accessed manually. Use the following command to hide it from view:
$ echo snap >> ~/.hidden
Hide the Desktop directory
The Desktop feature was disabled in GNOME 3.28. While this decision was not universally popular, developers pointed to the fact that, as an unmaintained feature, it stood in the way of other improvements. Use the following command to hide the associated Desktop folder from view:
$ echo Desktop >> ~/.hidden
Install Syncthing for continuous file synchronisation
Debian GNU/Linux was first released way back in 1993 and has been under active developement ever since. Today, the Debian Project unites thousands of contributors from across the globe with the aim of producing “an operating system distribution that is composed entirely of free software”. www.debian.org
These instructions offer a straightforward path to the GNOME 3.38 desktop running on amd64 hardware. You need a reasonably fast connection to the Internet, an Ethernet connection to your router and a bootable Debian CD image.
It is probably easiest to write such an image to a USB storage device and use that for installation. If the only computer you have access to is running Windows, I would suggest you use Rufus as a means to create a bootable USB flash drive. Depending on your acutal requirements, there are many different Debian images to choose from. If you are following these instructions to install on x86-64 hardware, use the unofficial firmware-11.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso, which supports Intel as well as AMD processors and “includes non-free firmware for extra support for some awkward hardware”.
Debian GNU/Linux will be the only operating system installed on your computer. Ensure that all of your data is safely backed up elsewhere because formatting your storage device will lead to the loss of all data.
In the examples which are to follow, debian is used as the hostname and bullseye as the username. You may of course substitute any names that you prefer. Just be careful to also make the required changes before blindly executing any of the commands. Decide on an encryption passphrase to encrypt your storage device, a user password to secure your user account and a root password to secure the root account. In addition to Debian packages, Flatpaks and Snaps will be enabled as well.
Installing the base system
If your computer uses the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and you are unsure about which settings to use, you may wish to disable the Secure Boot option for the initial setup.
Step 1
After booting the system from the USB stick that you have prepared, continue by selecting the text based installer. With Secure Boot enabled, the menu will look different. Options, however, will be the same.
Step 2
Keep English as the language for the installation.
[!!] Select a language
Language: English
Step 3
Select United States as the location for your system. This will also set United States as the default locale for the system environment. You will have an opportunity to set additional locales and adjust time zones at a later point during the installation.
[!!] Select your location
Country, territory or area: United States
Step 4
Use the keymap that is the correct one for your particular keyboard.
[!!] Configure the keyboard
Keymap to use: your keyboard
Step 5
If your system has multiple network interfaces, set your Ethernet interface as the primary interface to use during the installation.
[!!] Configure the network
Primary network interface: choose your Ethernet interface for installation
If your system has multiple Ethernet interfaces and you are presented with the following dialog, select Continue and Go Back to select a different Ethernet interface.
[!!] Configure the network
Network autoconfiguration failed
Your network is probably not using the DHCP protocol. Alternatively, the DHCP server may be slow or some network hardware is not working properly.
Continue
Step 6
Set the hostname for your system. In this example, we use debian as the hostname.
[!] Configure the network
Hostname: debian
Continue
[!!] Partition disks
Partitioning method: Guided - use entire disk and set up encrypted LVM
Be careful to select the correct target device for your system.
[!!] Partition disks
Select disk to partition: your target disk for installation
Choose to keep all files in one partition.
[!!] Partition disks
Partitioning scheme: All files in one partition (recommended for new users)
Now write the changes to disk.
[!!] Partition disks
Write the changes to disk and configure LVM?
Yes
You may skip the overwriting of the disk with random data by selecting Cancel. Please be aware, however, that skipping this step will cause a reduction to the quality of the encryption.
Step 9
Enter your encryption passphrase.
[!!] Partition disks
Encryption passphrase: your encryption passphrase
Continue
Confirm your encryption passphrase.
[!!] Partition disks
Re-enter passphrase to verify: your encryption passphrase
Continue
You probably want to use the maximum available space for partitioning the disk.
[!!] Partition disks
Amount of volume group to use for guided partitioning: max
Continue
Step 10
Write the changes to disk.
[!!] Partition disks
Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
Confirm writing the chages to disk.
[!!] Partition disks
Write the changes to disks?
Yes
Step 11
You may be asked to scan additional installation media.
[!] Configure the package manager
Scan extra installation media?
No
Select your archive mirror country from the list.
[!] Configure the package manager
Debian archive mirror country: your country
Select the archive mirror from the list. For the fastest downloads, use the site that is closest to you.
[!] Configure the package manager
Debian archive mirror: mirror closest to you
You probably won’t need to configure an HTTP proxy:
[!] Configure the package manager
HTTP proxy information (blank for none): leave empty
Continue
Step 12
The Debian Popularity Contest attempts to map the overall usage of Debian packages with information from installed systems, such as yours.
[!] Configuring popularity-contest
Participate in the package usage survey?
Yes
Step 13
Choose standard system utilities from the list of predefined software collections and deselect all other entries.
[!] Software selection
Choose software to install:
[ ] Debian desktop environment
[ ] GNOME
[*] standard system utilities
Continue
Step 14
Install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive.
[!] Install the GRUB boot loader
Install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive?
Yes
Select your target device from Step 8 as the device for boot loader installation.
Step 15
Remove the installation media before booting into your new system.
[!!] Finish the installation
Installation complete
Continue
Installing the GNOME desktop
You have now successfully installed Debian GNU/Linux on your computer. As yet, there is no graphical user interface.
Step 16
Enter your encryption passphrase to boot into the system for the first time. In this example, the encrypted disk is labelled sda3_crypt.
Please unlock disk sda3_crypt: your encryption passphrase
Log into the system with your username and user password.
Debian 11 GNU/Linux 11 debian tty1
debian login: bullseye
Password: your user password
Step 17
Set a password for the root user by entering the following command. In a first step, you will be asked for your user password to gain sudo privileges:
$ sudo passwd root
Step 18
Install a minimal GNOME desktop by entering the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install --yes gnome-core
If you are installing into a virtual machine, use the following command to enable copy and paste between host and the guest:
$ sudo apt-get install --yes spice-vdagent
Step 19
Restart your system.
$ sudo reboot
Step 20
Enter your encryption passphrase to boot into the system.
Please unlock disk vda3_crypt: your encryption passphrase
From within the GNOME desktop, open Firefox ESR from the Activities menu and re-open these instructions at edafe.de/debian-howto.
Step 22
GNOME power options by default are unfavourable. Open the Settings application from Show Applications under the Activities menu and adjust the power options.
Power Saving
Settings > Power > Power Saving > Automatic Suspend
Suspend & Power Button
Settings > Power > Power Button Behaviour: Power Off
Step 23
Continue by setting the following keyboard shortcuts:
File manager
Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts > Home folder
Shortcut: [Super + f]
Web browser
Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts > Launch web browser
Open a terminal with [Super + t] and, where applicable, use copy and paste to enter the commands set out on this page. Be careful not to miss any punctuation.
Set the time zone for your area.
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Configuring tzdata
Geographic area: your area
Ok
Configure locales for all the languages that your system is going to be used with. Use UTF-8 locales wherever possible.
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
In this example, German and Japanese locales are generated in addition to the default locale for the system environment.
Configuring locales
Locales to be generated:
[*] de_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8
[*] en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
[*] ja_JP.UTF-8 UTF-8
OK
Keep en_US.UTF-8 as the default locale for the system environment.
Configuring locales
Default locale for the system environment:
en_US.UTF-8
OK
Step 25
Add the non-free and contrib repositories to enable the selection of packages that do not meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines or otherwise depend on such packages for their operation.
With the eyeD3 command you can easily set the compilation tag for compatibility of your MP3 files with Apple gear. Just change to the directory containing the files making up the compilation (or soundtrack) and execute the following command:
“We wanted the book to be freely available (that is under the terms of a license compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines of course). There was a condition though: a liberation fund had to be completed to ensure we had a decent compensation for the work that the book represents. This fund reached its target of €25K in April 2012.” Raphaël Hertzog and Roland Mas hope that you will enjoy the book. debian-handbook.info
postfix is Ubuntu’s default mail transfer agent (MTA) and can be configured to deliver mail using a relay host that requires SMTP authentication. Get the necessary packages with the following command:
Begin to configure your postfix installation by choosing satellite system as the general type of configuration. Enter the local machine name as the mail name (eg mycomputer.edafe.de) and the SMTP server address of your email service provider as the SMTP relay host (eg smtp.relayhost.com). Edit the file /etc/postfix/main.cf and add the following:
Create the file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd and make the following entries:
smtp.relayhost.com user:password
Substitute smtp.relayhost.com with the address of the SMTP relay host and user:password with your login details. Continue by executing the following three commands:
The localuser is the system administrator. Substitute user@yourdomain.com with the email address that you would like mail for the root user to be redirected to. Finally, update /etc/aliases.db using the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo newaliases
Mail for the local root user from now on will automatically be forwarded to user@yourdomain.com , using smtp.relayhost.com as the relay host. www.postfix.org, help.ubuntu.com
SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology and is built into most modern hard disks. The smartd daemon is part of smartmontools and monitors a disk’s SMART data for any signs of hardware problems. SMART is available with Parallel and Serial ATA disks, drives appearing as either /dev/hd* or /dev/sd*, respectively. Use the following command to obtain relevant information for your system:
Edit the file /etc/smartd.conf and comment out any lines beginning with DEVICESCAN. If you are using a netbook or a laptop, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/sda:
/dev/sda -a -d ata -n standby -o on -S on -m root -M daily -M test
If you are using a desktop or a server, add the following line for the smartd daemon to monitor the device /dev/hda:
/dev/hda -a -d ata -n never -o on -S on -s (L/../../7/04|S/../.././02) -m root -M daily -M test
See man smartd.conf for more information on how to tailor the operation of smartd to your needs.
Starting smartd
Edit the file /etc/default/smartmontools and uncomment the line containing start_smartd=yes. Restart the smartd daemon with the following command:
Verify that the local root user has received a test message from the smartd daemon. From now on, the smartd daemon will monitor the disk and, in the event of impending disk failure, alert the local root user by email.
“In a world of repressive governments and a growing reliance on insecure networks, there’s no way anyone can be sure their most sensitive messages aren’t intercepted by the forces of darkness. But you can make it mathematically improbable that all but the most well-funded snoops could ever make heads or tales of your communications.” Use Dan Goodin’s step-by-step guide to email encryption and keep your communications private. www.theregister.com
“Bicycle fitting is a subject most people find quite mysterious. Fitting systems with charts and graphs, computer software, measuring devices and ‘rules of thumb’ make for a lot of confusion. But I believe it’s really quite simple”, writes Peter Jon White. peterwhitecycles.com
There are many different tools that you can use to edit configuration files. Because of its simplicity, I personally like to use Nano:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano /path/to/the/file
You can change the default settings for nano by editing its configuration file. For example, to stop nano from wrapping text simply make the following changes to /etc/nanorc: