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Tcofran

Member

Registered: 2024-05-21

Posts: 6  

[SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

Good morning (well in South Africa in any case)

1st post.

I have this old Dell Inspiron 1018 netbook that i thought i would resurrect, as it is a very nice size, I added a ssd. I am a windows guy (never worked on linux), so i thought i would try some linux things for a change..... I installed a few linux derivatives but i never liked any of them, until i tried Devuan. I really like it... Even managed to get QGis installed......

Here is my question....... I looked up a way to install a different browser (midori) via terminal (dont know why), and i managed to break something.....

If i go to Synaptic now i get this message.... Please tell me what to do to fix it.... Dont want to re-install

E: Malformed line 1 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/midori.list (type)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
E:_cache->open() failed, cannot continue.

also, please forgive me if i used the wrong terminology. as i mentioned i am new to linux (but i can learn fast)

aluma

Member

Registered: 2022-10-26

Posts: 646  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

Hi!
1.The files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d are a list of repositories, not programs. Therefore, the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/midori.list file should simply be deleted.
2. midori is not in the Debian 12 repository, so it cannot be installed using Synaptic.
3. Purely subjective, based on experience with a netbook with an AMD E 300 processor, with a single-core N455, if I understand correctly, it will turn out to be a “typewriter” at best.

Regards.

P.S. For weak computers there is a bionicpup distribution kit, you can try it directly from a flash drive.
https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-bionic/

Last edited by aluma (2024-05-21 07:54:35)

Tcofran

Member

Registered: 2024-05-21

Posts: 6  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

Thanks, but as i mentioned.... i am completely new to devuan, well linux for that matter, so a guide to do what i need to do will be appreciated. As for the "typewriter" part..... it is actually usable (even Qgis)

soren

Member

Registered: 2023-04-30

Posts: 142  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

How familiar are you with the command line and a terminal and sudo or su?

EDIT: before trying the below, may we see the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/midori.list ?
As was said, midori is not in the debian repositories, but if you want to keep midori the midori.list needs looking at and fixing first.

<<< only try below commands if all else fails  >>>

What you should do in a terminal is the following what aluma describes in point 1.

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/midori.list 

then in the terminal again do this

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade 

< answer Y for yes to all.

Then go back into synaptic and see if it is working again.

Last edited by soren (2024-05-21 08:09:50)

alexkemp

Member

Registered: 2018-05-14

Posts: 334  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

Here is a command that will help reveal any mis-formed lines in your sources. Run the command (1st line) below in a terminal window & report the results here:

$ grep ^[^#] /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus                  main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-updates          main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-security         main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-proposed-updates main non-free-firmware non-free contrib
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-backports        main non-free-firmware non-free contrib

PS
I work under daedalus, if that was not obvious.

PPS
The command I gave does not make *any* changes to your system. It simply reports on your current setup.

PPPS
sources.list + files within /sources.list.d are config files that affect the setup of the install-program apt.

Last edited by alexkemp (2024-05-21 08:13:38)

Tcofran

Member

Registered: 2024-05-21

Posts: 6  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

Thanks all, will give it a go when i get home.

swanson

Member

Registered: 2020-04-22

Posts: 98  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

I loved the Netbooks! Go for Xfce as desktop, or even lighter; IceWM . IceWM is nice but craves more work with configuring, but that's fun too!

Good Luck!

Tcofran

Member

Registered: 2024-05-21

Posts: 6  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

@soren

Thanks a lot....
Your advice worked like a charm.....

Synaptic working again

Actually, thanks to all for the help

From a Linux Noob

Tcofran

Member

Registered: 2024-05-21

Posts: 6  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

@swanson

as i mentioned in OP... it is such a handy little device. I loaded Qgis, and all my data so that i can sit in the car at my sons school, and look for data for requests that i might get via email...

swanson

Member

Registered: 2020-04-22

Posts: 98  

Re: [SOLVED] Synaptic and sources list

It's a pity that touchscreen devices took the niche of Netbooks. I still have one laying around but I guess the bottleneck today, is RAM.