Make Debian 12 Pretty and Useful

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There are a few customisations I have come to love on the personal Debian install. This blog post is meant to describe the steps for my ideal (at this point) Debian 12 post-installation cleanup and provide a few security applications for everyday use and a few programs for light security work.

Download and Install Debian 12

Download the DVD version for 64-bit PC architecture from here:

https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/

Installation-wise, I chose to install the Gnome and nothing else:

I am dual-booting the Linux install with Windows on the same hard disk drive for the odd times when Windows is needed.

No password is inserted for the admin to avoid the creation of a root account that might be hacked.

I went myself for minimal – no extras install, but the games and LibreOffice were still installed. I can always remove them afterwards. There is probably a way to remove all games from the command line interface, but the most convenient (and time-consuming) way to remove the games is through the Software app.

The minor stuff

After the initial Firefox sign-in and synchronisation of all plugins, it is time to move on to the actual customisations.

The first thing to do is to remove the CD-ROM repository. The system update will fail if this repository is not removed.

Open Software & Updates > Other Software tobsoleteab > Disable CD-ROM repositories > Close > Reload (Average Linux User)

If the root user was enabled, the current user needs to be added to the sudo group:

# add user to sudo group
su -
usermod -aG sudo <username>

Restart for the changes to be made.

The next order of business is to sort out the Windows/Linux dual boot clock issue.

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock

The following personal step is to swap the CapsLock and the left Control buttons on the keyboard:

There are just a few letters to add to a file on Linux, and the mod is ready. This is done in the terminal, and the file to change is named “keyboard”.

sudo nano /etc/default/keyboard

Look for the with XKOPTIONS and change it to 

XKOPTIONS="ctrl:swapcaps"

Another reboot is in order at this point.

If you are not happy with the result, change the row back to

XKOPTIONS=""

The major stuff

Most of the major stuff is actually contained in a neat little script on GitHub.

GitHub intial debian script:

https://github.com/SarCoptU/linux-scripts/blob/main/Debian/deb_12_initial.sh

Pick a working directory, update and upgrade the system and install git. Clone my GitHub repository, make it executable and run the script:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/SarCoptU/linux-scripts/blob/main/Debian/deb_12_initial.sh
cd Debian
chmod +x install_script.sh
./install_script.sh

This script is still a work in progress but contains all the useful configuration details and programs I use on a daily basis.

After installing and configuring Oh My Zsh, a theme needs installation. The Kali-like theme will transform the terminal into a Kali terminal, autocomplete included. Instructions from the repository are below. 

wget -O ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/kali-like.zsh-theme https://raw.githubusercontent.com/clamy54/kali-like-zsh-theme/master/kali-like.zsh-theme
vim ~/.zshrc

Set ZSH_THEME=”current_theme” to ZSH_THEME=”kali-like”

Enjoy Debian!

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