With the CentOS based IRLP software the output from the ls command was colourised. With Debian this is disabled by default, but is quite simple to enable.

1. Change to your home directory: cd
2. Edit .bashrc with your favourite editor.
3. Goto line 39 and uncomment force_color_prompt=yes
4. Save and quit the editor.
5. Execute the following command to enable the change: . .bachrc

This will enable coloured ls output for the user you are logged in as, but no one else. There is probably a way to enable this globally if desired.