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Written by: lightnin1973
Debian GNU/Linux
For those of you who have heard of Debian and want to try it, let me assure you the installation process is not as tough as it sounds. Once you do get a working system running, you'll be very glad you did. Debian's package management system, named apt-get, is extremely useful for installing and removing programs and their respective configuration files to and from your system. The apt-get sources will allow installation of literally thousands of packages and also provides an easy way to perform a network install of Debian. Debian is also very highly configurable and the stable versions are, as named, very stable. I have used rpm-based distros in the past and I would definitely say I will be a Debian user from now on.
My preferred installation process is as follows:
1. Install a base system (the stable version, called Woody) and make it work!
2. Make any system configurations necessary.
3. Update and upgrade to a newer version, either testing or unstable.
Don't let the names fool you, the unstable version, called Sid, is not all that unstable. I use it, and many other people have only ever used the unstable versions. I suggest downloading the Woody cd #5 to get the basic stable system installed.
Flavors!
The first thing you should know about Debian ISOs is the different "flavors" of the Linux kernel that are available. Each flavor kernel is available on separate cds and have their own bootstraps. Each cd is bootable and contains everything you'll need for an installation.
The first flavor kernel is "vanilla". This is a plain-jane, standard kernel package for Debian. It includes almost all Linux drivers as modules, as well as a rescue floppy, one root and four driver floppies. Strangely enough, vanilla is the only true flavor used as a name for the different kernel flavors....
The next flavor is "compact". This kernel has less of the multimedia drivers but more of the network drivers, eepro100, ne2k-pci; as well as several common RAID controllers.
The next flavor is "idepci". This kernel will only support ide and pci hardware. This flavor can be helpful if you encounter problems in the installation process, but once you get a base system in it's better to get yourself a different flavor and get your loader to point to the new flavor.
Last but not least, the "bf2.4" flavor. This is the one most people use, compiled for most modern computers. Labeled as 'experimental' by Debian developers, this kernel has support for just about everything usb, and has more network drivers for newer NICs. This is the kernel I use, as well as most other Debian users I know that use 'stock' kernels. Flavors idepci, vanilla, compact, bf24 are all contained on the first cd. Discs two, three, four and five contain vanilla, compact, idepci and bf2.4, respectively. Each cd is bootable and contains the installation program called 'dboostrap'.
Here comes the fun part.
Put your preferred cd in the cdrom drive and reboot the computer. if your BIOS is set to boot off the cd, it will boot into Debian; if not, reset your BIOS to allow cd booting. All that aside, the first screen you'll come to is a welcome note. If you are using cd one, press F3 here to see the different kernel options. The default for cd one is idepci. I highly recommend using the bf2.4 kernel here. At the prompt labeled "boot:" type bf2.4 and press enter. This will bring you into dbootstrap. To navigate within dbootstrap, use the right arrow or Tab key to move `forward', and left arrow or Shift-Tab to move `backward' between buttons and selections in the current screen. Use the up and down arrow to select different items within a scrollable list, and to scroll the list itself, the space bar selects an item such as a check box and enter to activate choices.
The first steps of installation are very simple. First, choose your preferred language. Next you may or may not get some release notes, press enter to get past those. The next panel you get to will be the Main Menu. This menu will have a large list of operations to be performed. At the top of the list you will find the operation that needs to be performed, as well as two or three alternates. The first step is to configure the keyboard. I personally have seen more than one variation on this step, some versions have the keyboard configuration earlier than others, so don't freak out if it doesn't appear here in your case.
Next you'll partition the hard drive. DO NOT USE THE STOCK PARTITIONER TO RE-SIZE NTFS PARTITIONS!! It could seriously mess up some stuff. Use another program such as Partition Magic. There's a few open source ntfs re-sizers out there as well. I can't tell you exactly how to size your HDD as the partition sizes will be different for everyone, but generally speaking the more RAM you have, the smaller the swap partition needs to be (type 82). Some people prefer not to use a swap partition if they have lots of RAM. I have 512 MB and a 32 MB swap space, and I rarely get into swap space, if ever. You'll also need to make a root partition, Linux native format (type 83). It's also a good idea to split up the hard drive depending on how you are planning on using the system. If you plan on having a huge web server or lots of users, put the var/mail and/or user home directories on their own partitions. This will make your life much much easier if something goes wrong in the future. If you've already partitioned , this step will be skipped and you'll go directly to swap and root activations.
A multi-disk how-to can be found here: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Multi-Disk-HOWTO.html
A recommended partition scheme can be found here: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386...tioning.en.html
Initializing and activating these partitions is as easy as pressing enter.
The next step is to install the kernel and driver modules. Again, press enter. Assuming you'll be using a cd for installation, choose cd and press enter. As you can see from the menu, Debian can be installed from just about anywhere, network, hard drives, other partitions, sounds fun. You may not be prompted for alternate devices here, depending on which version and flavor you are using.
The next three steps will be configuration. First, PCMCIA, then any device drivers, then the network. If you have no PCMCIA controllers, this config will be removed later on in the process. as for extra device drivers, I have never needed to install any extra modules but feel free to take a look at what is available. Be aware that some modules require string arguments to operate properly so make sure you know what you are inserting and make sure the arguments are correct. Network configuration is slightly more complicated, but just barely. If you have a dialup net connection, you still must give your computer a hostname. Be inventive here if you like. If you have an operating network card, use DHCP/BOOTP to auto-config your ip address. If the DHCP fails, don't worry, keep on going or you may go back a step and see if there is an extra module you may need to load in the 'device drivers' step. You will also have the option to configure the device manually, if you know the required information, use this option. If you can't make it work here, don't worry, you can fix it later.
Next you'll be prompted to install the base system. just press enter, if it prompts you to insert your cd just press enter again. The base system is under 70 megabytes.
The next step is to make the system bootable, which means installing LILO somewhere on the hard drive. Follow the instructions on the screen for the best location!
The final step in this process is to make a rescue floppy, but sometimes you'll be prompted to reboot, again depending on version. When you reboot, be sure to remove all media from all drives. It's a little scary to go through the steps only to come up to an installation screen! So take the discs out before you reboot. If all went well, the system will boot up properly. If not, you may want to try a different flavor kernel or perhaps re-install the base system.
Post Base configuration
If the system booted, congrats! You'll come to a welcome screen and a post base configuration and installation procedure. You'll first need to configure your time zone, then passwords. If you want a secure box, enable MD5 passwords, then enable shadow passwords. Otherwise, your passwords will be stored as plain text in /etc/passwd. Next you'll set your root password. This is the single most important password of the system, so pick a good one! Once the root password is set, you can create a user account. Give the user a name and a password. Just as any other debian system, it is not a good idea to use the root account for daily usage. Root is just too powerful, and security and accidents are the two best reasons to use a limited daily account. If you want to add more users later on, use the "adduser" command.
The next configuration will be PPP, which is Debian's dial-up program. If you are not using dialup, do not choose to set up PPP. If you do choose to set up PPP at this time, be absolutely sure you name your dial-up connection "provider". The config program should set up PPP properly the first time, but if it doesn't, there are some rather complicated steps you can take to configure it using basic text editors. Details can be found here: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386...-config.en.html
Remember that PCMCIA from earlier? If you don't need it, it will be removed here.
The next step is to configure apt-get. Remember this is Debian's package manager. If your network is working properly, you can add ftp and http sources here as well as the cd currently in the drive. It's my suggestion to only use the cd, it's much faster. All we want now is to get a working system with a window server as well, so just use the stable cd. We'll get back to apt configuration a little later.
The next step is to go ahead with package installation. There are two main programs Debian uses to install things, tasksel and dselect. The easiest by far is tasksel, you choose a pre-rolled set of packages, such as a windowing syste, scientific programs, an office suite, etc. It's very easy to select and install packages this way and this is the method I would recommend. Dselect is very tedious and a little aggravating to use, due to the sheer volume of available packages. It could easily take an hour to sift through dselect. So just use tasksel for now, select your packages, select finish, and apt-get will install all your selected packages.
Pay attention to the console output here, there may or may not be a few questions asked. If there are excessive errors, you WILL have to restart tasksel. Once that is finished, you'll be prompted to set up a mail service, I have never used this utility. If you do not wish to set up email this way (there are easier ways), just press 5 and enter. Once everything is installed, you should be able to log in. I usually reboot at this point, just to make sure. If you have bad xF86 problems here, x-server configuration can quickly become complex. Another review or how-to would be in order for xF86 configuration alone.
Upgrading to a newer version
There are many reasons to upgrade to a newer version of Debian. The stable version uses very old software, Gnome 1.4 for example. If Debian developers declare a version to be stable, the software used has to be bulletproof. Version cycle time is usually about two years, which is a very long time in terms of software life. You don't have to upgrade your system if you are satisfied with it now, but tools have come a long way and there are even more packages available for the unstable version.
Upgrading Debian is radically different than any other operating system I have come into contact with. If you wish to use an ftp or http source, you'll have to add that source to your list. As root, type in "apt-setup" to open the configuration program. From here you can select http or ftp, I always use ftp. If you wish to upgrade using a cd, obtain a copy of the desired version and flavor. Insert the cd into the cdrom drive and open a terminal. Type "apt-cdrom add", then answer the questions. This command will add that cd into the apt-get sources list.
To begin the upgrade process, type "apt-get update", followed by "apt-get dist-upgrade". As if it were magic, you can watch your system upgrade itself. If you want to fine-tune your system once you get the upgrade complete, you can use apt-get along with dselect as a very powerful package selection and installation tool, however as I stated before, sifting through thousands of packages can be tedious. Instead I like to use aptitude. Once your system is in place you can use it too, simply type in "apt-get install aptitude" and then type "aptitude" to run it. Any packages not installed can be found under "Not installed packages". Check out www.debian.org to see all of the packages you can use.
If you want to update the kernel to the 2.4.20 kernel (unstable uses 2.4.18), newer kernel images can be found in aptitude under "Not installed packages". Select the kernel you want by highlighting it with the "+" key and then press "g". This will update and install the new kernel. There will be a note given along with instructions on adding do_initrd=yes to /etc/kernel-img.conf. You can do this later on if you wish. Now you must tell LILO to look for the new kernel image. As root, open /etc/lilo.conf in your favorite text editor. In the "image=/vmlinuz" stanza, add the line "initrd=/initrd.img". Save lilo.conf and then type "lilo" at the prompt. The normal output should be something along the lines of "linux added, linuxOLD added". If you get any errors, check /boot to make sure the new image is there. If not, some step was missed. Run aptitude again and make sure the new kernel downloads. Once you get the new kernel in place, reboot the computer and everything should operate smoothly. If you wish to change back to you old kernel, change lilo.conf back to the way it was and delete the new kernel image. I ALWAYS make a backup of a conf file before I change anything, I cut and paste the original and name it originalFilename.bak. I suggest you do the same.
This process is not as complex as it may seem, but do read any message that may be displayed and handle any error early on in the process as they may get bigger with time. If you have any questions or need help, there is an installation guide that can be found at http://www.debian.org/. The official installation guides are much longer than this one and get very specific and precise, and also link to several other how-to and faq documents. The process I have explained here is my personal preference and the easiest way to get an unstable Debian system on a home computer.
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