Erik Christiansen <dvalin@internode.on.net> writes:
On 09.08.13 21:23, Mark Trickett wrote: Cause: Ubuntu NetworkManager had overwritten /etc/resolv.conf with crap: 192.168.1.254 Also, /etc/network/interfaces only had an entry for lo. eth0 was missing.
That is by design. As at 8.04 or 10.04 (the last time I looked), NM will ignore any interfaces specified in interfaces(5). It makes sense that if a fresh install is to have NM, it should lack interfaces(5) entries.
First: sudo apt-get remove network-manager # Since it overwrites # /etc/resolv.conf on each reboot.
In case anybody hasn't realized it, "remove" leaves config files around (including e.g. init files), which is a little icky and a (probably negligible) performance hit. Use "purge" to get rid of those as well. aptitude search ~c # lists removed-but-not-purged packages.
Fix: Put two nameservers back into /etc/resolv.conf
See also "resolvconf" package if you have >1 system writing to resolv.conf (e.g. two PPPoEs, or DHCP + OpenVPN).
Added eth0 to /etc/network/interfaces (Including "auto eth0", for auto ifup at boot.)
IMO you want both "allow-auto eth0" and "allow-hotplug eth0", although the latter is completely ignored on Ubuntu systems because the udev script that implements it is missing. Presumably NM is expected to replace that. Also you can write >1 on a single line, so instead of auto foo iface foo ... auto bar iface bar ... I prefer allow-auto foo bar baz quux allow-hotplug foo bar baz quux iface foo ... iface bar ...
When I last installed debian, there was an LXDE version. I think it is a much better choice for laptops.
At the boot: prompt of the installer, pass desktop=lxde. During the install the tasksel task prompts for something like "desktop environment" -- which one you get is goverend by the desktop= option, which almost certainly also has a debconf/preseed longhand form that I'm too lazy to look up. See also F1...FN help screens, see also amd64-installation-guide (or whatever arch) package, also available on debian.org website somewhere. I also highly recommend theme=dark during the installation.