Software To Install Every Time With Debian Buster

If you love Debian as much as I do and frequently install it, then here a list of software that I install every time with my Debian Buster installs.

Step 1: Setup Repositories For Debian Debian

Before we begin though, we need to make sure that you have your Debian repositories setup. (If you already have your repositories setup, you can skip this step.) When you first install Debian, if you don’t setup your Wi-Fi during the install, Debian will not automatically setup your repositories. You will need to do so manually. But, the steps are easy.

Make sure you are connected to your Wi-Fi network. Then do
cd /etc/apt/

Then find the file called sources.list and use your choice of text editor to edit it (make sure you do as root). For this article, I will use vim.

vim sources.list

Now, you should see something like:

#

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.4.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20200509-10:26]/ buster contrib main

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.4.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20200509-10:26]/ buster contrib main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib

# buster-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib

Comment out the lines with cdrom on it by writing a ‘#’ before both of those lines. And you should use the following repositories listed below.

#

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.4.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20200509-10:26]/ buster contrib main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 10.4.0 _Buster_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20200509-10:26]/ buster contrib main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib

# buster-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-updates main contrib

Note: You don’t need to worry about any country specific repository. “deb.debian.org” will automatically point to the right repository based on your location. Learn more about this at deb.debian.org

Next save and exit the file. Then as root again, type:
apt update && apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Software For Debian

Now to the software that I recommend you install every time. I have the following list unformatted so that there are no formatting errors. I have put comments next to many using ‘#’ to explain what the software does.

apache2 #the ubiquitous web server. #If you want documentation also #install apache2-doc
arandr #you need this software if you want to use multiple monitors
build-essential #a collection of useful compiler programs like g++
chromium #the open source version of Google Chrome #browser
clamav #A 100% open-source anti-virus software. Mainly I use #this to #check for Windows viruses.
dillo #a very basic web browser that does not render Javascript.
elinks #a terminal-based browser
espeak #a text-to-speech software
filezilla #an FTP transfer software
freeplane #An excellent mindmapping software
gimp #a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop for professional level #graphics making/editing
git #software you need if you want to use Github or other git #repositories
gparted #an excellent program that let’s you format drives like USB #drives
ibus ibus-pinyin #ibus is essential if you want to type in other #languages. ibus-pinyin is necessary if #want to type in Pinyin in #Mandarin Chinese
ipython3 #My preferred terminal program to test Python code. This #makes using python3 much easier.
ipython3-qtconsole #gui for ipython3
keepassx #password manager and password generator
librecad #Program to do computer aided design
links2 #another terminal-based web browser
lynx #another terminal-based web browser
mariadb-server #a mysql fork. This is necessary if you want to #run #WordPress or software needing #mysql. #You wclient if installing #WordPress from repository
mnemosyne #software to help you memorize things
openvpn #Software you can use to connect to openvpn servers.
qemu qemu-kvm #qemu and kvm, two great virtual machine #softwares
soundconverter #convert between wav, mp3, ogg and other file types
spyder3 #This is an excellent Python IDE. #If you install this, it #will automatically install ipython3
sshfs #A software for transferring data to and from VPS. It uses SSH, #so it is #much more secure than FTP.
stopwatch #a stopwatch program
ufw #A excellent and easy to use firewall program originally made for #Ubuntu.
vim #My favorite terminal-based text editor
vinagre #software to control other computers via VNC
vlc #an excellent movie and sound player
whois #software to do whois searches on websites
wine #software to run Windows software in Linux

You can install all of these pieces of software individually by doing

apt install the_software_name

So, for example, if you wanted to install vlc, you would write, as root user

apt install vlc

If you prefer to install the list of software I have listed, all at once, here is a script I made to do just that (Note that I removed the comments in that script.) First download the script. Then navigate to where you downloaded it in a terminal, then as root do:
bash debian_buster_software_to_install_every_time.sh

What did you think of this article? Do you use Debian? Do you have any software to add? Let’s discuss this in the comments below.