This here is a 3 part how-to on how to install a Debian testing (x86) install from scratch. There are 3 types of Debian installs available at any one time:
Stable. This is currently called Lenny (Debian 5). Once this is released it only receives security updates. It takes it's name seriously, it is extremely stable. The stable release doesn't have the latest and greatest software available, but it is full featured, and did I mention stable as hell?
Testing. This is the release I use, and makes a great desktop. Eventually, Testing is frozen, and becomes Stable. The software tends to be newer, and while not declared stable by the devs, is generally of high quality. Stability is high, though not as reliable as the Stable release, would probably give Ubuntu or Fedora a run for it's money. Testing is currently named Squeeze.
Unstable. This release is always named Sid. It is the bleeding edge of the Debian world, and as such, sometimes things don't work. This guide will mostly work for installing Unstable, just replace all occurrences of
testing with
unstable when editing your sources.list. Don't know what I am talking about? Read on, we'll get there.
Download the Debian Lenny netinstall
cd imageBurn the iso to cd and boot. This how-to uses the curses installer. there is a GUI install for those who like the mouse, it is similar, but not covered here.
So the first thing to do is choose your Language:
Then pick your country. It tries to guess by your language. I chose Canada, 'cause that's where I live.
Choose your keymap next. It defaults to American English, which if you are in North America, is probably good.
Next comes the hostname. I think this is fairly self evident. If it isn't, you may want to think about another distro, Debian isn't for the faint hearted.
The next step is the domain name. If you don't have a domain name, you can leave it blank.
Now comes your Timezone. I chose Atlantic, because I live in Nova Scotia.
Now we get down to the nitty gritty. The next step is partitioning the harddrive. I assume, for the purposes of this how-to that we are installing on a clean drive. The Debian installer can also resize existing partitions, but that's out of scope of this how-to. Choosing
guided partitioning is usually a good bet.
For the next step, choose
Guided -Use entire disk.
Choose your harddrive next:
Now choose your partitioning scheme. I like to do a / partition and a home partition, it makes backups a little easier, and allows you to reinstall Linux, even move to a different distro without disturbing your pron collection :-)
So after that is all done, just choose
Finish partitioning and write changes to disk.
Hit yes, then go get a coffee, this will take 3-5 minutes or more, depending on the size of the disk.
So hows that coffee? We're at the part of the install where we setup user accounts and passwords. I'm sure I don't have to remind anybody reading this that good passwords are important, and never leave a password blank, especially the root password. The installer will ask for the password twice, to verify it, and return to this page if they do not match.
Next step is the first user for the system. It first asks you for the username, then the users fullname. The screenshot for the username has disappeared, but I'm sure you can figure it out.
The installer will then ask for the users password, and then verify it.
Now comes the part where we pick the sources for our software. You pick a country close to you, or one that has good mirrors. I generally pick one of the American mirrors, because the Canadian ones suck.
Then you pick your mirror:
After that, the installer will ask you if you need to enter a proxy server. The odds are you don't, unless you're at work, and then you should know what it is, or your friendly neighbourhood Sys Admin can help you out.
This next step is totally voluntary, it involves popularity contest, a program to track installed packages to rate the...uh...popularity of those packages. Debian, being the kindly, freedom loving types that they are, default it to no. If you feel the need to help them out, feel free to hit yes, it's all anonymous.
No we pick our software sets. in this tutorial, we are going to choose just the
Standard System, unselecting the
Desktop Environment task. Why you ask? This way, when we upgrade the system to Testing, there will be less for apt (that's the package manager) to manage. Tends to make things go a little smoother.
The last step is installing Grub. This is a boot manager that allows you to boot from any number of Operating systems. It will ask you if it's ok to install it to the MBR. Tell it sure, as it's the only OS on this disk (this article, and I assume) and will detect and add entries to any other OS's that may be on other harddisks.
And that's it. Reboot the computer, and you're running Debian Lenny. A very small, almost useless install of Debian Lenny, but it's running nonetheless.
In part 2, we'll upgrade the box to Testing, and get down to installing a functioning desktop environment.
