Do I really need all those ISOs? (Sarge)
 

Looking at downloading Sarge (Netinst is not an option) but I see there are fourteen 700MB ISOs and one 30MB file.

Is there anyway to find out which CDs I want/need? I can't do Netinst for two reasons,

1. It won't detect my network adapter (Broadcom onboard)
2. I don't want my computer to be MIA for a few days.

I'm not going to want all the packages that come with Debian. But the dev packages are important. Is there anyway I can find our which of the discs I need?

(The total size of all the ISOs is about 9gb.....)

Altec_

good question i want to know the answer also

i usually get the first two, that will get you the base system with gui. you can apt-get everything else you may need from there.

bah isant the debian installer a pain tho?

sarge's is an improvement, still a bit clunky though.

Thanks Rshaw, I'll do that. :)

So when I install, all I'm gonna chose is just the the kernel & Gnome and the rest I'll get by apt-get?

The software is distributed across the ISOs in order of popularity, so the first few discs contain the most common and essential software, and the last ones contain obscure tools almost never used. The first two, possibly the first three, should be fine for a base installation. After that, you can use apt-get to add any special tools that may be missing.

netinst not an option? but that's the best way! :(

Ah well. As said, 2 CDs will be enough. 3 or 4 if you want really picky development and server shaste.

For netinst, I think you can download floppy images from the website.

Doesn't SID contain more and newer drivers? (although it may be very dangerous running sid)

Sid is to be the follow up to Sarge but I have heard although it's not 100% stable, it is ok. I've got the first couple CDs. Then I'm just gonna apt-get all the other stuff I need. THe only server related stuff I'll need is Apache2 & PHP 5 and I'll just compile them myself.

I hope when I install, when it says 'Insert disc X' I can only wish there's an option 'Skip Installation From This DIsk' like in the Mandrake install.

Altec_

And thanks to all of ya for your help!