[plug] help with ftp and debian..

[James Devenish]

In message <002101c3d589$7b5aa600$7100000a at DRIFTA>
on Thu, Jan 08, 2004 at 09:48:14AM +0800, Paul Stone wrote:
> Now, Id like to be able to do all the various commands from my remote
> machine rather then on the linux box myself, so do I have to install telnet?

What you'd normally be after is a "shell" service. Telnet is not secure
enough for administration because of its lack of encryption (and, also,
I doubt it offers compression or X port forwarding). Therefore, it is
recommended that you use "SSH 2". (Your home computer will need an SSH
server and your remote machine will need an SSH client.) SSH is commonly
used for shell sessions, file transfers and port fowarding.

Another option is to install "webmin". I have no experience in this
myself. I looked at it briefly but I prefer to use shell services
anyway. You will want to lock down your webmin, too, using passwords and
encryption but I assume it comes with some documentation about this.

> 2)
> xwindows... I thought I chose to install it using the simple module
> installation tool (along with "webserver" and "SQL" in the same spot) but
> when I type "startx" nothing happens. Did those programs really get
> installed? it was from the program that asks you what typical use of the
> machine would be then installs things easily.. I'm not sure what its called.

It might have been tasksel.

> 3)
> how do I configure programs? is there an easy menu-like system for any of
> them or is it all config files? I managed to use VI to edit the apt-get
> sources which wasnt too bad, but it takes a bit of getting used to.

In most cases, the method of configuration is tackled on a programme-
by-programme basis. Your options basically fall into two categories:
editing the text files directly or using "front ends". Some desktop
environments come with graphical front-ends for common programmes,
though it is common that you can find text-only front-ends.