Quick Debian Install Guide
The official Debian Installation Manual is a definitive guide to installing Debian. However it's rather too long for an impatient character like me, so I wrote this quick guide for my own reference.
Assumptions
- PC with a floppy drive
- Debian 3.0
- Fast Internet access (all packages will be downloaded from a Debian mirror site by the installer)
- Linux experience
Preparations
Find out which network adapter you have and look in Section 4.2.2 of the install manual to see which installation set supports your network adapter. For example, I use an ethernet card which uses the via-rhine driver, so I went for the compact installation set.
Download the rescue.bin and root.bin floppy images from Section 4.2.3 of the install manual.
Write the images to floppy according to the instructions in the install manual.
Decide the following (or find out what they should be set to):
- Partition layout ( loads of info about this)
- IP address / DHCP
- Hostname
- Default gateway for Internet access
- DNS server IP address(es)
Choose mirrors located near to you from the list of mirrors. This will be used to download the debian packages. Write the URL down.
Installation
Insert the rescue floppy. Boot the machine. When prompted, insert the root floppy.
The rest is left to your own devices - I'm really not inclined to talk you through a series of menus (use the Install manual for that). One thing to remember is that you need to choose the network installation option at the step called "Installing the Kernel and Base Operating System". You will then be prompted to configure networking and specify a mirror site to download from.
Make yourself a cup of tea while it downloads. Once all that is done I say no to dselect and do all the rest with apt-get.
Here endeth the guide