Ok now the first thing we need is to download our installation media (iso format).
Remember earlier I said we have 3 choices
CD (full set of 31 available but only need the first one)
DVD (full set of 5 available but only need the first one)
NETINSTALL CD (150mb) <---This is all we actually need if we have a network connection on the pc we are installing to. This is what i will use for this howto.
they are located here (will add amd64 later)
I386 (x86/32bit install media)CD SETSFULL SETHTTP (full set listing)TORRENT (full set listing)At most you should only need the first cd though you can get just the first one here
Debian lenny (stable) cd1 .iso (HTTP)Debian lenny (stable) cd1 .iso (TORRENT)DVD SETSFULL SETHTTP (full set listing)TORRENT (full set listing)At most you should only need the first DVD though you can get just the first one here
Debian lenny (stable) dvd1 .iso (HTTP)Debian lenny (stable) dvd1 .iso (TORRENT)NETINSTALL CD (150MB)Debian lenny (stable) netinstall (150mb) .iso (HTTP)Debian lenny (stable) netinstall (150mb) .iso (TORRENT)NOTE: I HAVE ONLY LISTED THE DISCS FOR THE STABLE VERSION. THE INSTALLER FOR TESTING IS CURRENTLY BROKEN (NETWORK DETECTION AND HARD DRIVE DETECTION FAILS) SO THERE IS NO SENSE IN LISTING THEM. Note 2: This isnt a problem. Directly after install we can easily upgrade to testing by doing a "dist-updrade" without any problems at all (grabs less than 50mb as off 4/1/09)I will be using the Netinstall cd as i always do (personal preference). This howto will work the same no matter what installation media you use though (netinstall/standard cd/standard dvd all work the same exact way).
Now to get started. I grab the
netinstall cdIt comes in "iso format". After its finished downloading I burn it with my preferred burning app at the LOWEST speed.
Then pop it in the cd/dvd drive and reboot.
Note: Make sure your pc is able to boot from a cd/dvd drive. This setting should be in your bios. It should already be set as such thoughAs soon as the cd/dvd boots this is the first think we will see.
click the pictures for a bigger versionUse your keyboard to highlight
install then hit enter.
Note: During the install your mouse WONT work. Only keyboard. the controls are as follows.
Arrow keys: No change. They work as normal
Number keys: Now change. They work as normal
Spacebar: We use this to add or remove "*" (an "*" means the item is "checked")
Enter: Used to select (similar to a mouse click)
Tab: Navigates between certain areas of the screen (forward,back, areas when we must select) Ill give info on this whenever we need to hit tabAfter we hit install we are presented with the following screen
Choose language:
Just use the arrow key to highlight your preferred language and hit enter. As you can see i have chosen "english".
Next we see this.
Choose country:
Use the arrow key to highlight your country. Then hit enter I'm from the states so that's what i chose.
Next we see this.
Choose keyboard layout:
Choose your preferred layout and hit enter. I have chosen "American English" as my preferred.
Next we see this
As you can see its loading some required components. No action needed from us.
Next we see this.
Hostname info:
Hit the tab key until the red box is on the "text field". You can leave this as is or enter your required info. Now hit tab until the "continue" button is highlighted and then hit enter.
Next we see this
Domain Name:
Hit the tab key until the red box is on the "text field". You can leave this as is or enter your required info. Just remember that if you have a home network setup this needs to be the same as the rest of the computers on your network. Now hit tab until the "continue" button is highlighted and then hit enter.
Next we see this
Configure clock/timezone:
Use the arrow keys to highlight your timezone and hit enter. I am in central timezone so that is what i chose.
Next we see this
Partition hard drives:
Use the arrow keys to highlight your preferred method and hit enter. I prefer to do mine manually so that is what i chose. If your not too farmilar with this though and your sure you want to use the WHOLE disk you can choose guided.
Note: using guided will wipe the WHOLE disk. Including any operating system or files currently on thereNext we see this
Current partition/disk layout:
Note: Yours will look slightly different.In this example I'm going to totally wipe the current drive. You DONT have to do this though. You can select the individual partitions and delete or resize them to give use the free space needed to set up our new partitions for this install. You will need at least 2 new partitions. One mount at "/" and a swap. Swap isn't mandatory but i do suggest it. Especially if you have a limited amount of ram.
Select your action and hit enter. Since im going to wipe the drive and start fresh i highlight the drive (not the partitions) and hit enter.
Next we see this
I want to start fresh (wipe the disk). So i select yes. And then hit enter.
Next we see this
As you can see i have wiped the drive (only took a few seconds). There are now no partitions on it at all. Its all free "unpartitioned" space. Now i need to set up my partitions. So i select the free space entry and hit enter.
next we see this
I want to create a new partition. So i select "create new partition" and hit enter.
Next we see this
Now i want to save some space for swap. So i dont use the whole "21.5GB". I usually save about 1GB for swap. So i hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted. 21.5 GB total-1Gb for swap=20.5GB. So i enter 20.5GB in the field. Then i hit tab until the "continue" field is highlighted. Then i hit enter.
Next we see this
We want our main partition set up as "primary". So i highlight that then hit enter.
Next we see this
Highlight beginning and then hit enter.
Next we see this
Here we can edit some of the "properties/settings" of the partition. Now im not going to get into all the different types of filesystems and they're pros and cons.
We do want to make sure we see a few things here though (highlight anyfield and hit enter to edit its properties/setting).
Use as: This is your filesystem type. I suggest ext3.
Format: I suggest setting it to "yes".
Mount point: We need at least one filesystem mounted at "/". If not it wont let us install.
Bootable flag: The boot flag MUST be set to ON for the partition mounted at "/". Otherwise the system wont be bootable.
I also highly suggest leaving "reserved blocks" at "5%" and "mount options" at "defaults".
You can enter a label if you want.
Now we highlight "done setting up the partition" and hit enter.
Next we see this
As you can see it shows the partition we just set up. As well as some free space. Now we will set up our swap partition. Highlight the free space entry and hit enter.
Next we see this
This is where we set the size of out swap partition. It CANT be any larger than the amount of space left though. Obviously. As you can see i have "970.6MB" left. I'm going to use all this as my swap. So i hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted. Then i enter 970.6MB. Then hit tab until "continue" is highlighted. Then hit enter.
Next we see this
This time I choose "logical". This is just a personal preference. You can choose "primary" if you want. But i always use logical. Then hit enter.
Next we want to make sure the setup looks like this
Its very simple. Just highlight "use as" and hit enter. Choose "swap". After choosing swap it should look identical to the above picture. I should also note that we DONT need the boot flag to be set to on. So make sur eits set to "off. It should already be like that though. After it looks just like the picture above we then highlight "done setting up the partition". Then hit enter.
Next we see an overview of all our partitions. As you can see the two partitions i just setup are listed. But we havent wrote the changes to disk yet.
We highlight "finish partitioning and write changes to disk"
Next we see this
Confirmation:
We do want to go ahead and save the partition scheme so we highlight "yes" and hit enter.
Next we see this
Formatting partitions in action:
We can see the progress of the formatting/partition creation. This step might take a few minutes so be patient. No action is needed from us.
next we see this
Installing base system:
Here we can see the progress of the base system. This is just the most basic/core packages. No action needed by us.
Next we see this
Users and passwords-->root password:
Hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted. Enter a password for the root account. Then hit enter. Make sure its something you can remember but thats hard to guess. Then it will ask you to confirm it. Then hit enter again.
Note: I would like to take this time to explain something. In ubuntu and Ultimate Edition we use "sudo" to preform administrative tasks. This differs in debian. In debian there is no sudo. At least not initially. Instead we use the command "su -" then type the root password to preform these tasks. Then use the command "exit" to drop back to our standard user afterwards. The way to tell if you are temporarily root is by looking at the command prompt. If it says "root@hotstname" then you have root privledges. If it says "yourusername@hostname" then you dont. I feel this is actually more secure to a point though. This way only the person that knows the root password can get administrative privledges. Where as in ubuntu anyone could use "sudo" then type they're own password and bam they would have administrative privledges. However it can also be more dangerous if your not careful. How you ask? Say you use "su -" to gain administrative privledges. Then you walk away without using "exit" first. Examples: Phone rings, baby is crying, somebody is at the door, ect. Then anyone can come along a housemate or whatever and do anything they want. Where with sudo it expires after 5mins (i think it is 5mins anyway). And you no longer can gain administrative privledges without knowing the password to YOUR user account. This being said i actually prefer NOT having sudo. However later in this guide i will show you how to setup sudo (i know some ppl would rather use it).Now back to where we were.
After we confirm the ROOT password we will see the following
Users and passwords-->user full name
Here you can enter the "FULL NAME" for the first user. I usually just use the same as my username though. Hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted then enter your preference. Then hit enter.
Next we see this
Users and password-->username/login name
While this may look just like the previous screen. This is where we actually enter our username (used for login). Hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted then enter your preferred username. Then hit enter.
Next we see this
Enter password:
Now we set up the password for our regular user account. Once again make sure its something you can remember but hard to guess. It should also be different from the ROOT password. Hit tab until the "text" field is highlighted. Then enter your password and hit enter. It will then ask you to confirm it. Just enter it again and hit the enter key.
Next we see this
Configure package manager-->mirror country
This is for choosing a mirror close to you (for the sources.list). Highlight your country then hit enter. Im from the united states so i chose "united states".
Next we see this
Configure package manager-->archive mirror
Here we will pick the actual mirror we want to use. Your list will look slightly different. This is the list for the united states. Highlight the mirror you want to use then hit enter. I usually use "debian.org" but you can chose a different one if you like.
Next we see this
Configure package manager-->proxy info
If you know you need to use a proxy enter the correct info here in the following format (
http://user:pass@host:port). I dont need a proxy so i dont enter anything here. Hit enter.
Next we see this
Configuring apt
All this shows is the process of apt. Its actually just updating the sources.list and updating the package list. This may take some time depending on your internet connection speed.
At this time i would like to pass along a neat little thing i found. While the installer is text based you cant actually tell what it is doing deep underneath. However if you hit alt+f4 it will switch to vt4 (virtual terminal #4). Here you can see all the little things that the installer is actually doing. As shown in this shot.
This doesnt interrupt the installer at all either. As you can see its aquiring the package lists. This is actually a very good way to tell if the installer has stalled/froze ir if there are any errors and what not. To get back to the installer terminal (vt1) simply hit alt+f1.
Now after its done updating the package lists we will see the following screen
popularity contest
This is totally your choice. But i prefer not to use it. So i select "no". Its your chose though. Highlight your chose and hit enter.
Next we see this
Select software
Here we select what we want installed.. Hit tab until the red square is in the middle where the choices are. Highlight each selection and REMOVE the "**" from EVERYTHING EXCEPT STANDARD SYSTEM. Use the spacebar to add or remove the "**". If you have a laptop though make sure there is a "**" next to the "laptop" task. By doing this we will only be installing a command line system. But ill show you later how to build up from there. My theory behind this is that its usually best to install the command line system. Followed by xorg and then your "desktop environment" (gnome/kde/xfce/ect ect). Ive found the system generally runs much smoother. After you have only "standard" selected and "laptop" (if and ONLY if you have a laptop). Hit the tab key until the "continue" field is highlighted. Then hit enter.
Next we see this
Retreiving and installing software we selected:
Here you can see the progress of the software install. Now action needed from us.
Next we see this
Install grub:
This asks you to confirm that you want grub installed to the "MBR". I always select yes. If you chose no it will then ask you to specify where you want it installed to. Hightlight your choice then hit enter.
Next we see this
Install finished/reboot:
We are now finished with the initial install. Your cd/dvd try should open on its own. Remove the disc from the tray and close it. Lastly hit enter. The system will now reboot.
Next we see this (hopefully as long as everything went well)
We should boot to a login prompt as shown. Remember we didnt install xorg or a desktop environment yet. We will be do in that soon tho. So right now we just have a command line system.
Keep checking back. We will be upgrading to squeeze "testing" next followed by installing xorg and the core of gnome (we wont install the whole thing only what we ACTUALLY need. Hopefully this guide has been very informative so far.