New Debian31r1 Install - help me optimize - TNT2 - sudo - KDE - Xwindows

hi folks;
it's long-winded....and somewhat of a rant, but in the end, i ask for
some assistance ;-)

After many hours (i.e., days) of futzin with a new debian (3.1r1)
install, which was needed after a munged KNOPPIX install (I know, I
know) -- I think I finally have a usable system....but would like some
further guidance in MANY areas. In the near to distant future, I hope
to get a /real/ mail client and server (MTA/MUA) going, so please bear
with my yahoo.com posts just a little longer.

My frustration level went from bad (dealing with a German only LILO
bitmap login screen, I wanted GRUB -- and a LiveCD knoppix3.6 install
(kernel2.6) and much much more) to worse after trying to install Debian
from ONLY having the 1st of 14 CDs (I was not about to d/l and burn 14
CDs). I ended up with only a "Base" install....then, all the *fun*
ensued :yeah-right: -- yes, i know about the 'network" install, but I
thought most everything needed for a DE would be integrated into that
#1 CD (thinking there were only a total of _4_ **sigh*, but that turns
out to be true for FC4, not Debian. (note: I really feel lke swearing
and cursing, but alas, I will refrain).

Anywho;

***** System Info ******
CPU = Intel PII 350MHz, 100FSB, 192MB RAM
Mobo = Intel 440BX/ZX, 82371AB/EB South Bridge
USB 1.1 support ONLY! (2x), 2x 9pin Serial COM ports (not used), 1
Joystick port (Onboard)

* Display;
Video = nVidia Riva TNT2 Pro (32MB) AGP
Monitor = NEC 17" MultiSync LCD (1280x1024 @60Hz native, 5:4 aspect)

* Sound = Onboard Ensoniq ES1371, SB Emulation (AudioPCI 64D)
Internal Modem = 3Com USRobotics 56K Voice/Fax/data PCI Winmodem (only
use it for FAX-ing, which is rare)
Keys/Mouse = PS/2 104Keyboard, PS/2 Intellimouse w/wheel

* Network components;
NIC = Netgear FA311/312...(no probs whatsoever so far)
Router = 4 LAN, 1 WAN, TrendNET (generic basically)
Cable Modem = Surfboard (service - up to 8mbps/down 1mbps/up)

* HDDs/ODDs
1 Primary Master = 80GB Hitachi
1 Secondary Master = Toshiba DVD-ROM
1 Secondary Slave = Lite-on CDRW 32x12x40

* Installed OSes
Debian 3.1r1 (Kernel 2.6.8-2-i386)
Win98 FE (very minimal and tweaked)

Everything is finally recognized and working now....but I HATED the
fact of 800x600 only - I could NOT for the life-of-me configure
anything looking at that -- the buttons were
*Off-the-screen*...extremely frustrating. hence, if I couldn't turn off
nasty settings, I didnt want to venture onto the Web. I hadn't
experienced that nonsense since 1998. I could NOT even get X-Windows
installed/up/running even after a full 'apt-get install kde' (400+
packages and 40min later)....I finally found through Aptitude (somehow,
through TASKS), that I still needed to
[apt-get install] both 'x-window-system-core' and 'kde-i18n-engb' or
somesuch, just to have a Desktop Env...otherwise I was stuck at the CLI
only. I had previously successfully setup a root login and passwd AND a
User login and passwd -- big deal :-(

I finally found the command 'dexconf' (which accomplished nothing) and
the command 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86' (which allowed me to
reconfigure the Video Card and settings) through reading many of these
groups posts (linux.debian.user) - info found here;

oh - yeah, i tried previously manually editing 'etc/X11/XF86Config-4'
....yeah right! -- my newly founded vim skills (managed to help me
FINALLY edit sudoers using visudo, while messing with the knoppix/LILO
install) couldn't even help me there!

OK - I'll stop there - but note that you've been spared /atleast/ 90%
of the trials and tribulations that occured over the last few days. I'm
FINALLY at 1280x1024 - and with LEGIBLE FONTS!!!!!!!

*** HELP wanted/needed *****;
I have no 'sudo', no sudoers file, no man pages, no 'hdparm' commands
are working, though some things like 'cfdisk' and 'ls -al' work. I
would like to be able to sudo from my one created USERNAME, so I can
easily and safely get system info to post withOUT having to become
root. Aptitude lists WAY TOO MANY diff packages to sort through (I got
lucky with the big 'apt-get install kde' command).

Oh - and even though i selected *local network, no mail* upon Debian
install (twice in a row now, and yes I wiped the partitions and
recreated) ...everytime I login , I get "you've got mail" ....What the
F***k? (i know exim4 somehow got installed, along the way).

I will list output from Konsole for info of what I can;

user@hostname:~$ hdparm
bash: hdparm: command not found
user@hostname:~$ sudo hdparm
bash: sudo: command not found
user@hostname:~$ fdisk
bash: fdisk: command not found

** Hardware related ?? ** (perhaps ACPI or APIC)

user@hostname:~$ lspci -vv
[ snipped for brevity ]
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5 [RIVA
TNT2/TNT2 Pro] (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Ensoniq: Unknown device 0003
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium
TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 64 (1250ns min, 250ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
Region 0: Memory at f5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
[size=16M]
Region 1: Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

notice how the SUBSYSTEM is wrong above....and I haven't even started
trying to get the SOUND working yet..there's what seems to be a PCI
sharing conflict (I know my TNT2 needs IRQ 11, and shares with Ensoniq
which also likes IRQ 11, but usually uses IRQ 5 for SB emulation
(legacy) - also liking IRQ 11 is the PCI modem, which is placed lower
in the PCI slots, and has been fine in Win98)

--> I DO GET some dmesg Boot up errors concerning this I believe,
hence;
[ snipped for brevity ]
agpgart: Detected an Intel 440BX Chipset.
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 149M
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xf8000000
cpci_hotplug: CompactPCI Hot Plug Core version: 0.2
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x1001
shpchp: acpi_shpchprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x1001

I went to the referenced location of failure from boot messages;
file:/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-386/kernel/drivers/pci/hotplug

which lists these files;
user@hostname:/lib/modules/2.6.8-2-386/kernel/drivers/pci/hotplug$ ls
-al
total 548
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2006-02-15 01:55 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2006-02-15 01:55 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 33393 2005-08-16 11:13 acpiphp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8997 2005-08-16 11:13 cpcihp_generic.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9895 2005-08-16 11:13 cpcihp_zt5550.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82017 2005-08-16 11:13 cpqphp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6079 2005-08-16 11:13 fakephp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 112573 2005-08-16 11:13 ibmphp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 108788 2005-08-16 11:13 pciehp.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40088 2005-08-16 11:13 pci_hotplug.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 111944 2005-08-16 11:13 shpchp.ko


and can't determine what to do about it

Tell me what other output/files I can give you for more info please ---
here's my partitioning scheme;
hostname:~# fdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1275 10241406 c W95 FAT32
(LBA)
/dev/hda2 1276 8036 54307732+ f W95 Ext'd
(LBA)
/dev/hda5 1276 3188 15366141 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda6 3189 4145 7687071 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda7 * 4146 4814 5373711 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 4815 4996 1461883+ 82 Linux swap /
Solaris
/dev/hda9 4997 5604 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda10 5605 6820 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda11 6821 8036 9767488+ 83 Linux

During Debian Install, I had to fight to get;

hda8 as /swap,
hda9 as /home
hda10 as /usr
hda11 as /var

but - I'm not sure they are even working/functioning correctly (as they
should)

note also; that above fdisk command required root (as well as cfdisk),
and hdparm, and sudo still give 'command not found' , even as root in a
Konsole terminal window.

Any advice much appreciated

*/end -- long windedness ;-)

.

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