Re: [tlug] Debian 7.1 New User / General Advice?

[sylvain.vedrenne@example.com]

> Lyle here - new to Debian.  Any general advice about it?  Is Iceweasel
> an acceptable browser
Hi,

Iceweasel sure is acceptable, it "is" Firefox, except for the name
and logo, because "[..]the artwork in Firefox had a proprietary copyright
license which was not compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines",
see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation_software_rebranded_by_the_Debian_project

> 1) The installation took a Really Long Time.

Same experience here. The Debian install appears to be much slower
than the Ubuntu install, for example. But Debian is more focused on
freedom, stability, and security.

> 2) There was an error message when I booted up the machine after the
> installation saying that "Gnome-3 failed to load"

The "GNOME shell" session needs special graphic features. Try to select
"GNOME Classic" as default. You need to fine-tune your graphics
to be able to run the fancy "GNOME shell". That's one reason why
GNOME 3 is controversial:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_over_GNOME_3

I haven't used KDE for years. Here's one way to find KDE packages:

  $ apt-cache search kde

It looks like the main package is 'kde-standard'.

  # apt-get install kde-standard

to install KDE.

> 3) I [..] want to get Japanese working on
> it if possible.

It's like for all distros. This page might help you start:
https://wiki.debian.org/JapaneseEnvironmentE

Regards,
Sylvain