debian installation

nigham · 11-19-2003, 03:33 AM

hi

decided to try to install debian linux.. have been using red hat for some time; i get the impression that debian is more complex than that. so a few questions

- i notice there are upto 7 (?!) binary .iso images available. how many should i download if i want the basic desktop setup (office,cd-burning,samba,a few games?) as well as apache?

- is there any better installation guide than the one on debian's website?

i am a

so apologies if these are too obvious

thanks

rehab junkie · 11-19-2003, 05:12 AM

You only really need CD1 of the binaries to get you started. Or, alternatively, download the network installation CD image (it's only around ~180mb) and download only what you need

Get that at http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/

dake-bonoist · 11-19-2003, 07:11 AM

if you've got decent bandwidth and some time jigdo works pretty well.

fire it up on your work computer on friday afternoon...when you come back on monday you'll have all the iso images

julien.r · 11-19-2003, 08:03 AM

perhaps you can wait until the next release of Debian (December ??).
There should be a new installer, with automatic hardware detection and other funny things :-D

nigham · 11-19-2003, 09:32 AM

thanks people...

i'll probably try out this baby over the weekend.. may the Force be with me!

ssaigol · 11-23-2003, 02:46 PM

On the Debian CD it says that the packages are arranged in order of popularity. So getting the first 3 CDs will meet your needs.

Drago · 11-27-2003, 05:03 PM

Also if you're just getting the first cd type "bf24" (without the quotes) at the boot prompt and you will get a slightly newer kernel. 2.4.18-bf2.4 instead of 2.2.20. You could always compile a kernel yourself after installation, though.
Here is a installation guide i have heard good things about.
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016

EDIT: Added link to guide

rehab junkie · 11-27-2003, 07:15 PM

bf24 is fine... but a bitch to compile another kernel around. I've had nothing but trouble with kernel updating under Debian... all my hardware is supported under bf24 so I'll just leave it with that, unless someone can convince me that a newer flavour will be of advantage on my P3 system.

Drago · 11-27-2003, 07:52 PM

Well the only advantage of compiling your own is a custom kernel that runs slightly faster. bf2.4 is fine though, I use it on my system with no problems.