Lost sys and system passwords

'm trying to resurect an old 9.0.1 instance. I;ve got the instance starting up OK, but i have long since forgotten the sys and ssytem passwords (well I _thought_ I rembered them). In ab case, I found this with a Goolge search:

http://tinyurl.com/yfy5xa

But, when I try that I get:

oracle_at_phsepi2:~$ sqlplus

SQL*Plus: Release 9.0.1.0.0 - Production on Sat Oct 28 12:55:03 2006

(c) Copyright 2001 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.

Enter user-name: / @debian as sysdba
ERROR:
ORA-24314: service handle not initialized

Debian does seem to be the sid:

cat /etc/oratab

debian:/home/oracle/9.01/software/app/oracle/product/release:Y

What am I doing wrong?

And how can I fix this problem?

-- 
"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety."
						-- Benjamin Franklin