There are many ways of installing Debian, this is just how i do it, hope
this helps somebody, remember, if you break Debian, you get to keep both
parts.
The net-installer-rc2 is still in beta (Release Candidate 2), you can
download it from:
Sarge net-installer-rc2 (choose i386)
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
The type of installation i had in mind for my old machine is one that is
minimal, installing light apps that will render my system lean and quick.
So, there will be no KDE, Gnome, splash screens, or little stars titillating
on the desktop. I will install IceWM, because it's my favorite; XFCE4, WMaker,
Fluxbox, are equally fast and excellent. I want to install the kernel 2.4.27,
my box is standard, there is nothing complex, everything works with kernel 2.4.27.
MY HARDWARE
PII 266
128 MB RAM
Yamaha sound card
Realtek NIC
Riva 128 nVidia with 4 MB RAM
40 GB IDE hd (5400)
Optiquest V73 17" monitor
PS/2 generic 3-button mouse
Logitech iTouch keyboard (spanish)
Monitor's horizontal frequency (30-70)
Monitor's vertical refresh rate (50-160)
ADSL connection
You can find your frequencies from your monitor's manual or googling for your
monitor's brand and model, or manufacturer.
DO NOT USE MINE.
It is a desktop, so users with laptops, adjust accordingly.
AT THE BOOT PROMPT
I inserted the installation CD and rebooted, it brought me to the boot
prompt. There, i pressed F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, and F8. I read
everything, and chose the following boot parameters:
boot: expert noapic nolapic bootkbd=es debian-installer/framebuffer=false
expert-
will allow me to have more control on the installation, there will be
more options to choose from, and i will be able to choose.
noapic nolapic-
will allow me, together with the installation of 'apmd' (the
apm daemon), to shutdown my machine which has an old BIOS, and refuses to
shutdown otherwise.
bootkbd=es-
will allow me to use my spanish keyboard from the start.
debian-installer/framebuffer=false -
will tell the installer NOT to install the framebuffer, which hangs my system
and has affected my fonts in the past.
If you don't understand any of this, type: expert and press Enter.
All set, i press Enter. The installation begins, the first screen comes up,
from here on, after choosing an answer, press the key Enter, or with the TAB
key choose YES, CANCEL, or NO.
Choose your country or region <go down the list and choose>
Select a keyboard layout <PC-style or PS2 connector>
keymap to use <Spanish>
DETECT AND MOUNT CD-ROM
Modules <Continue>
Prompt for modules parameters <NO>
Start PCI card services (unless you use a laptop) <NO>
Unable to load some modules <Continue>
CD-ROM DETECTED <Enter>
LOAD INSTALLER COMPONENTS FROM CD <Enter>
Installer components to load <Continue>
Loading components... <it takes a few seconds>
DETECT NETWORK HARDWARE <Enter>
Module to load <Continue> (here it shows the NIC module to be installed)
Prompt for module parameters <NO>
Start PC card services <NO>
Unable to load some modules <Continue>
CONFIGURE THE NETWORK <Enter>
Auto-configure network with DHCP <YES> (it configures it...)
Hostname <write something short, e.g. debian> <Enter>
Domain name <write your isp domain, e.g. pacific-bell.net>
DETECT HARDWARE <Enter>
Prompt for module parameters <NO>
Start PC card services <NO>
Unable to load some modules <Continue>
PARTITION DISKS <Enter>
a. Erase entire disk (hda)
b. Manually edit partition table
I got no other OS, so i choose 'a' and press Enter
If you got Windows or other, choose 'b', the installer will make it easy.
The next screen will show the different partition schemes:
If you chose 'a' above, the next screen will be:
PARTITIONING SCHEMES
a. All files in one partition (recommended for newbies)
b. Desktop machine
c. Multi-user workstation
The installer will partition the hard drive automatically, without the user's
intervention. Here's how it will partition according to your choice:
a. it will create a root partition and swap
b. A root partition, swap, and /home.
c. it will create the following partitions: /, /usr, /var, swap, /tmp, and
/home, all this without you moving a finger, pretty nifty!
Newbies choose 'a' and continue.
Of course, i chose C
I ended up with this:Ext 3 / 280 MB
Ext 3 /usr 5 GB
Ext 3 /var 3 GB
Ext 3 swap 390 MB
Ext 3 /tmp 399 MB
Ext 3 /home 31 GB
I wanted to try a different file system instead of Ext 3.
So, i went up with the keyboard arrow, to the first partition (/root), once it's
highlited I pressed Enter; on the next screen, i went up with the arrow to
the first line:
"use as Ext 3 journalling file system"
and pressed Enter again. This in turn, took me to a third screen, which lists
all the file systems available:
Ext2
Ext3
ReiserFS
JFS
XFS
FAT16
FAT32
swap area
Physical Volume for LVM
Physical Volume for RAID
NOTE: in this installer, EXt2, Ext3, ReiserFS, and JFS, all work flawlessly
with GRUB, XFS will not, so if you choose XFS, you will have to choose LILO
instead of GRUB from the main installation menu. Naturally, this is the one i
chose.
Once you choose your file system and press Enter, this will take you to the
previous screen, Go down with the arrow until you are at the line:
"Done setting up this partition" <Enter>
This takes you back to the first partition screen, choose another partition,
and do the same all over again until you have changed all the partitions file
system from Ext3 to your new file system, EXCEPT swap. It only takes 2-3
minutes, once you get the hang of it, this installer is hot!
Of course, if you choose "a" or "b" from the partitioning scheme, you only
have to change one or two partitions' file system.
When you are thru with all the partitions, back at the original
partitioning screen, go down with the arrow, ALL THE WAY DOWN TILL THE END OF THE SCREEN, otherwise, you might miss the following line, select it:
"Finish partitioning and write changes to disk" <Enter>
The next screen list the partitions to be formatted, and it says NO by
default for matters of safety, so you don't accidentally screw up. Choose <YES>
It begins formatting...
INSTALL THE BASE SYSTEM <Enter>
It starts installing the base system...3/4 of the way in, it pop up a dialog
box, asking you what kernel you want, choose the one you want.
kernel-image 2.6.8-1-386
kernel-image 2.4.27-1-386
After this is finished, you're back at the main installation menu, and the
next line is:
INSTALL THE GRUB BOOT LOADER ON A HARD DISK <Enter>
If you chose Ext3, ReiserFS, or JFS, GRUB will boot fine, if you chose XFS,
Debian will tell you that it won't work that it will fail, it has NO by
default, press Enter, and it will take you to the line in the menu to install
LILO.
A box will pop up asking you where you want to install LILO:
/dev/hda. Master Boot Record
/dev/hda2: new Debian partition
other choice (Advanced)
I chose the first one, and installed LILO to the MBR.
FINISH THE INSTALLATION <Enter>
The CD ejects, close the CD-ROM <Continue> <Enter>
The machine starts rebooting...
It comes back with the screen:
DISPLAY INTRODUCTORY MESSAGE <Enter>
Welcome to your Debian System <Enter>
CONFIGURE YOUR TIME ZONE <Enter>
Is the hardware clock set to GMT? <NO> unless, you live in England or close.
Are you in the (your continent/your region) time zone? <YES>
Is this info correct? <YES> (if it is)
SET UP USERS AND PASSWORDS <Enter>
Enable shadow passwords? <YES>
Root password <enter it>
Re-enter your password
Create a normal user account now? <YES>
Enter a full name for the new user <you can type anything>
Enter a user name for your account <do it>
Type a password for the new user <do it>
Re-type the same password <do it>
Set the hostname (already done) <Enter>
CONFIGURE APT <Enter>
It gives a list of options <ftp>
DEBIAN DISTRIBUTION TO USE
-stable
-unstable
-testing
I chose Testing <Enter>
Use non-free software? <YES> (personal decision)
Mirror country <choose one close to you>
Choose the Debian mirror to use <choose one close to you>
Here, the screen goes black, and APT starts checking the repositories for the
Debian version you chose, it takes a few minutes.
Add another APT source? <NO>
Use security updates from security.debian.org? <YES>
SELECT AND INSTALL PACKAGES <Enter>
EDIT: HERE, YOU CAN SKIP THIS STEP WITH THE KEYBOARD ARROW AND GO TO THE NEXT LINE IN THE MENU.
Or:
Choose to install packages manually. The program Aptitude will come up, press
the key 'q' to quit (without installing anything), or press Cancel, and you'll be in the main menu, skip to next line to configure the mail. At the end, i installed the packages i needed with apt-get.
CONFIGURE THE MAIL TRANSFER AGENT <Enter>
In the next few questions just take the default answers, nothing to write.
FINISH CONFIGURING THE BASE SYSTEM <Enter>
Thank you for using Debian <Enter>
It takes you to the console (black screen) with a debian login.
debian login: <enter your username> Enter
password: <enter your user password> Enter
(now you've become a user)
Example:
macondo@debian:~$
we have to become root in order to be able to install packages and edit
files. So type 'su' (switch user)
macondo@debian:~$ su <Enter>
password: <enter your ROOT password> Enter
(now you're ROOT)
debian:/home/macondo#
Ok, now i install my apps so i can enter X environment.
the first thing i do is:
#apt-get update
#apt-get dist-upgrade
Here, you can go different ways, the first option is recommended for newbies,
it will come with xterm (terminal) and XDM (display manager). So, now that
you're root:
Option 1:
#apt-get install x-window-system mozilla-firefox mozilla-thunderbird icewm
icewm-themes firehol locales nano
You can replace icewm with wmaker, xfce4, fluxbox, etc
Option 2 (my favorite, it's lighter):
#apt-get install x-window-system-core mozilla-firefox aterm menu icewm
icewm-themes iceme firehol locales nano apmd
I'll install Pine later on.
After you come back, it's time to configure X, i follow the instruction from
the article:
The Very Verbose Debian Installation Walkthrough
http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016
Sections 9 and 10 (it takes all of 15 minutes and will save you hours if not
days).
The reason i tell you to read this, it's because nobody can explain
this better than Clinton De Young.
after reading this 2 sections, it'll take you just a few minutes to configure
X.
So, i say NO to auto-detection, i got an old video card, that only works with
15 bit color. At the monitor's screen i take the Advanced option.
After i'm thru with configuring X, i configure the firewall (firehol), for this, i need to edit the file /etc/default/firehol
#nano /etc/default/firehol
and edit it to look like this:
START_FIREHOL=YES
FIREHOL_LOG_MODE="ULOG"
save/exit
in other words,
Ctrl+O
Enter
Ctrl+X
The first line will activate Firehol, the second will divert the log messages
somewhere else, so the console screen will be free of them, which is
marvelous if you use startx.
The default kernel during the installation was:
kernel-image-2.4.27.-1-386
but my box is a PII, (processors PII, PIII, and P4 use 686) i want this
kernel optimized for my processor, so, i'll install a 686 model:
#apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.27-1-686
If you installed Sarge with the 2.6.8-1-386, you can install the one with the
686 flag at the end.
#apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.8-1-686
If you installed Sid, 2.6.8, you can install the latest:
#apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.9-1-686
For those smart enough to install GRUB, you have to do nothing, no questions to answer, it will install, update the grub menu automatically, at the end, all you have to do is:
#reboot
It can't get any better than this!
If you have LILO installed like me, and no other OS in the hd, just say YES
to the question asked,
#lilo
#reboot
Later on, you can get rid of the old kernel with Synaptic or Debfoster.
When you reboot, you will come back with a new kernel and a working firewall.
If you chose the first option you will come to XDM to log in, on option 2,
you'll come to the console, in text mode, login and use startx.
I finish the configuration of my system with the instructions from the sticky
"Debian Configuration Post-Install"
at the top of the threads list in this forum. It has plenty of tips
contributed by some of the boys in this forum.
Most of this HOWTO is based on tips from this forum (linuxquestions.org)
I hope this helps a little bit.
Good Luck!
This document was written using Nano.
EDIT: i forgot to mention: before installing the new kernel and rebooting, configure the locales.
#dpkg-reconfigure locales
a list will come up, go down the list with the arrows, and select with the spacebar all the instances of en_US (about 3) and any other language you use, choose OK, on the next screen choose your environment language (the language all your instructions will be in) select OK and the locales will be generated.