Ade Malsasa Akbar contact
Senior author, Open Source enthusiast.
Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 01:41

What To Do After Installing Debian 12 Bookworm


This advisory tutorial will help your first time using your computer powered with Debian 12. This tutorial complements our previous Debian 12 GNOME Install Guide we practiced together. We compiled five simple tips and tricks below for you. Happy working with Debian!


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A. Basic Preparations

 

Touchpad got reversed? Make it normal again: open Settings → Touchpad → disable Natural Scrolling → close.

Wifi not working? First aid is to use USB tethering: pick up your phone → connect it to laptop via USB cable → go to phone's Settings → enable USB tethering → laptop connected to the internet.

Terminal key? For long a time Ubuntu user, we want to open it by simply pressing Ctrl+Alt+T but Debian doesn't do it. To take it back: Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → click Plus button to bottom → give it name Terminal → give it command 'gnome-terminal' without quotes → click Shortcut button > press Ctrl and Alt and T keys simultaneously → OK → Apply.  

Software updates? First time working with Debian requires you to update your software system. To do so, run your Terminal and type the following command lines followed by Enter. You might need a few gigabytes download for this one. 
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade 
$ sudo apt dist-upgrade

Once finished, you will be ready to install further programs and games from more than 10,000 software packages distributed by Debian 12. Just see your Software from applications menu.

 

 (An example of Software Manager showing FreeCAD a 3D computer aided design program that works with CNC machines)


B. Browser and Privacy

Debian 12 includes Firefox ESR web browser. 


Want more privacy? We strongly recommends DNS encryption for everyone. You can do it by hitting menu → Settings → type "dns" into search box → see section Enable Secure DNS → select Increased Protection → select provider "NextDNS" → close Settings. For your information, this security technology is called DNS over HTTPS.


Need titlebar? Take it back: right-click browser window to the top → Customize... → enable Title Bar to the bottom → Done. This will bring back normal title bar so you can easily work with browser window as usual.


C. Multimedia and Games

 

Debian 12 can play MP3 and MP4 already therefore no need to install additional codecs anymore. However, if you work with multimedia everyday we have recommendations below:



OBS Studio: sudo apt-get install obs-studio

The tool every teacher and YouTube livestreamer would use. 

 

OpenShot: sudo apt-get install openshot

To video editor that is simple to use similar to Windows Movie Maker.


D. Email

 

Evolution Mail Client is your email app. Whatever your email service is (Gmail or Yahoo! or AOL) you can set them up with Evolution. 

 

To configure your email app: run Evolution →  Welcome to Evolution! → click next buttons to the email username and IMAP settings → enter your email address for example admin@gmail.com and your name → let it automatically setup them for you → it will ask for your email account's password → type it → OK → system will ask about keyring passwords → just click OK → finished. For Gmail, you might be asked for verification via several more windows. Once setup done, Evolution will show your emails. 

 

E. Dualbooting with Windows


One thing a Debian user ought to know is that Debian provides replacements to proprietary fonts you already know from Windows:

  • FreeSerif = Times New Roman
  • FreeSans = Arial or Calibri
  • FreeMono = Courier New

 

However, if you are forced to use mentioned Windows fonts in your school or office, consider to copy the files with .ttf extensions from C: partition under Fonts folder and paste them to your Debian's Home in the .fonts folder.

 

Good luck!


This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

 

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