Yep, Please accept my apologies for cc'ing your message to the list, but you provided a good undo for my problem. Others browsing the archives/google should see this if running apt-get autoremove disables the GUI.
# apt-get install gnome brought back the essentials I needed back. Whatever else that is gone, I can install when the need arises. It suggested me to autoremove everytime I installed a new package. I didn't have screen running when I executed apt-get autoremove, so I didn't have a typescript of the episode. I will look into text-based screenshot tools. It's sort of the thing I should know about, and don't. Anybody who has suggestions can send me an e-mail off list. Thanks you very much for you help. Having my computer boot to the shell was a back-in-time trip. I was about to pop in an old Madonna cassette tape into my boombox and pretend it was 1989. The bsdgames package would have completed the ambiance. Oh, I can go on and on; it was quite funny actually. --- On Mon, 10/5/09, Stefan Monnier <monn...@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote: > From: Stefan Monnier <monn...@iro.umontreal.ca> > Subject: Re: apt-get autoremove > To: debian-user@lists.debian.org > Date: Monday, October 5, 2009, 10:17 AM > > I installed the AMD64 Debian on > my AMD64 box (emachines T6520 by the > > way). Ever since the time I installed it, > everytime I ran apt-get, > > I was given a couple screenfulls of package names that > were no longer > > needed and could be removed by apt-get autoremove and > 512M of disk > > space would be freed. > > Did you check these screenfuls to see if they contained > some > applications you like to use? > > > I sort of feel stupid about taking it's advice. > It does appear I will > > have to reinstall Debian because of it. (I > thought Debian stable was > > stable because it didn't have such serious problems as > this. > > Granted it didn't freeze up with an Amiga-style > fireworks display, but > > I still wish I had known what was going to happen.) > > My guess is that somehow some install you did in the past > ended up > removing the `gnome' metapackage (which doesn't itself hold > any files), > so that most of your desktop environment became > "non-requested" and > hence candidate for autoremove-deletion. > Try "aptitude install gnome". > > > Stefan > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org