Welcome to the aptosid Operating System Manual
aptosid is made up of 2 words, Firstly apto which is a Latin word which means to fit, adapt, adjust, make ready, or fit. The second word is sid and is the codename of Debian's unstable branch.
aptosid is an operating system based on the Linux kernel and the GNU project, with applications/programs from Debian unstable/sid and we hold fast to the core values and social contract of Debian.
You no longer need to wait for a new release to always have the latest of anything, including kernels. Once you have installed aptosid, followed by all your favourite programs/applications, all it needs is a dist-upgrade, which is a system-wide software update from debian and specialist packages from aptosid.
This means that re-installing yet another release every 6+ months on your PC is unnecessary with aptosid, as the daily, weekly or monthly dist-upgrade brings everything up-to-date.
It is worth noting, as aptosid uses Debian's unstable branch and due to the very nature of 'Sid', you will need to be prepared to use the Terminal/cli.
With the 'way of aptosid', you will be always up to date and have the very best that aptosid together with Debian 'sid' can offer.
How to use this manual
The aptosid Operating System Manual is a reference for initial learning and refreshing your knowledge of a linux type of Operating System, not only with the basics, as it also encompasses many complex topics which will help you as the aptosid system administrator.
General
This manual is divided into common sections, for example, a subject pertaining to partitioning is found in Partitioning your Hard Drive, and topics regarding the Internet/WIFI are grouped in Internet and Networking. There are some topics that cannot be grouped or require stand-alone status.
For help with a specific program or an application (called a package) that came preinstalled or that you have installed yourself, look at the website of the package help forums, FAQs and online manuals and/or a help menu within that package, to help guide you for any given program/application.
Most good programs/applications also have a help guide via man pages in the terminal. Also check to see if documentation is in /usr/share/doc/<package>.
Please, if you do nothing else, take a moment to read the Quick Start Guide.
As with any new documentation there will be errors/mistakes/typos, although we hope otherwise regarding errors and mistakes (typos we can live with ) please forgive us.
As the body of work grows, more documentation will be added and we at aptosid are sure that this will prove to be a very valuable resource for you and we thank you for being a part of aptosid.
Printing key files of the manual
Hard copy printing of key files as 'portrait' does not allow an overflow code-box to print beyond the physical paper margins, (the manual website does not have this issue due to a code-box being able to scroll across).
While this is not generally a problem for a website, that is for example, a mainstream media site, it is rather critical for any linux distribution where a single line of code input into a terminal maybe as long as 120 characters, and thus is usually wider than a typical A4 portrait page at 12 pt.
Therefore adjust your print preferences to landscape,.
Copyright
All content is © 2006-2012 and released under GNU Free Documentation License. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.
All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their owners whether specified or not.
E&OE
Disclaimer
This is experimental software. Use at your own risk. The aptosid project, it's developers and team members cannot be held liable under any circumstances for damage to hardware or software, lost data, or other direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of this software. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you are not permitted to use or further distribute this software.
Table of Contents
If the navigation bar and / or sub menus do not appear to be entirely correct, please make sure your browser minimum font size is set to no larger than 12 in firefox, ideally 10. Netbook users may need to Zoom Out (Ctrl+-) once or twice to see the main menu, use this Table of Contents .
aptosid OS Manual
- aptosid OS Manual
- How to use this manual
- Table of Contents
- Where to get Help
- IRC !paste
- Credits
- aptosid Quick Start Guide
Mirrors, CD Downloading and Burning
- ISO and system requirements
- Release Notes
- aptosid Mirrors, Downloading and Burning
- md5 Checksum
- Burning in Windows
- Burning in Linux
- burniso script
- Burning without a GUI
Live Mode
The Terminal/Konsole
- sux
- Terminal/Konsole
- Command Line Help
- Tools to know in text mode (tty) - init 3
- Linux Terminal Commands List
- Installing Scripts.sh
Boot Codes
Partitioning Your Hard Drive
- Partitioning your HD using GParted/KDE Partition Manager
- NTFS partition Resizing using GParted/KDE Partition Manager
- Writing on NTFS partitions with ntfs-3g
- UUID, Rebuilding fstab and creating new mount points
- Formatting after partitioning with gdisk
- GPT Partitioning with gdisk
- Disk Naming in brief
- Partitioning your HD using cfdisk
- Formatting after partitioning with cfdisk
- Partition Size Examples
Installation options
- Install Preparation
- Installing to your HD
- First Boot Up
- Booting 'fromiso'
- fromiso and persist
- Installing on a USB-HD - aptosid-on-stick
- Writing aptosid to a USB/SSD stick with any Linux, MS Windows or Mac OS X system
- Booting aptosid over a network
- Virtual Machine installation options
Graphic cards, monitors, Xorg, & drivers
- Screen Resolution and Monitors
- Dual Monitors and xrandr
- Dual Monitors (using binaries)
- AMD/ATI 3D drivers
- Intel 2D and 3D drivers
- Nvidia 3D drivers
- Open Source Xorg drivers
- Firmware detection - non-free
- Adding non-free to Sources List
Window Managers
aptosid LAMP Stack
Internet and Networking
- Tor
- Privoxy
- Firewalls
- Configuring SAMBA (Windows)
- Samba-Server Setup
- SSH Remote Mounting
- X Window Apps via SSH
- GUI SSH with Konqueror
- SSH X-Forwarding from Windows-PC
- SSH and Security
- 56k Modems
- WiFi - WPA_GUI
- WiFi - Setting up for WiFi Roaming
- WiFi - wpasupplicant
- Network switching between WiFi and Cable
- Getting Online - Ceni
dist-upgrade and Package Management
- APT-Guide Cookbook and Sources list
- Installing a new package
- Deleting a package
- Package Hold and downgrading
- Package searching with apt-cache
- GUI Package searching
- Upgrading by Live-ISO
- dist-upgrade of multiple PCs on a LAN
- Upgrading the kernel
- Upgrade an Installed System - dist-upgrade - Overview
- Upgrade an Installed System - dist-upgrade - The Steps
System Administration
- Adding a new user
- Moving /home
- Back-Up with rdiff
- Back-Up with rsync
- Virus and Rootkit Scanners
- Services enable/disable
- Lost root passwords
- Fonts
- CUPS - Printing System
- Sound Mixers
- aptosid runlevels - init
- Upgrading the BIOS with FreeDOS
- Grub2 - MBR Overwritten
- Grub2 - Dual and Multibooting
- Grub2 - Overview