Guys, I need some advice. I am wanting to load Debian for the 1st time ever since using Fedora Linux 2 years ago. My only question is what is the best way to get this installed on my system? I know I can download the disk but I want to have the latest packages as possible which after reading their site, it sounds like I should do the "network installation". I want to do the "testing" install of Debian via network install but am not sure how hard this is for someone that has never done this before. Can you guys offer any advice as to what I should do?

I know there is Ubuntu but I really want a server based OS that is rock solid and I am not sure if Ubuntu can handle a web, ftp, mail server, & desktop system.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Here's the installation manual which you might want to look at a bit. http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/

A base-install shouldn't be too hard, and I hear it's easier than the woody install. I don't actually know how much has changed. You can look at the steps here: http://www.brunotorres.net/en/sargeslide There's a bit of info on each step too. You can see if you know everything. If you can you could also just install it though the more you know in advance the less likely it is that you'll need to reinstall afterwards since something isn't to your liking and is hard to change otherwise.

Yes the best and easiest way to do this is with the net install option. I haven't messed around with installing Debian lately, but if I recall you can choose which distribution/branch (Stable, Testing, Unstable) of Debian you want during the install. You might have to boot with the expert option to do that, again I don't recall ATM. Since Sarge is about to be released, according to the lists, probably within the next week or two ( *crosses fingers & knocks on wood* ) it will become the new stable version of Debian; so I would use that if you want to run a Debian server with newer packages & kernel. You can go ahead and install it now. Sarge is getting security updates ATM as well.

As for Ubuntu it can perform the same functions as Debian. But I would go with Debian IMO.

So you recommend I go with Sarge...I am looking for the net install and can't seem to find it. Is there a net install per Debian version or is it all the same?

Click Here:
Net Install/Debian Installer Page

Its a small ISO file about 100MB.

Can I load this on a USB drive and boot from this or must it be disk?

I am stuck at one particular step...

http://www.brunotorres.net/en/sargeslide/39

I only downloaded everything from a one 100MB boot disk and planned on doing the "net install" for everything else and now am at the step you see above. Since I don't have another disk on only have the 100MB net install disk, do I press "no"? After I press "no", I get the option to use:

- CD
- HTTP
- FTP
- edit sources list by hand
- File System

Can someone point me in the right direction on what I need to do to get the net install process going?

Choose either the HTTP or FTP option. Then select the server closest in proximity to you. You might want to have at least one backup repository in your sources.list just in case the main one goes down so when the install asks you if you want to add another server say "yes". When it prompts you again to add another server just tell it "no". And the install will continue.

As for slide 39 in the link you posted, select no and continue on with the install.

Unfortunately I don't have the install running in front of me (seperate machine or virtual) at the moment, so I can't confirm the exact steps but it goes something similiar to what I have just previously suggested.

Look here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=261506

I did select HTTP and picked a random server to download from. Then I got this screen...

http://www.brunotorres.net/sargeslide/en/i/pic40.png

No matter what I picked, it says it had errors downloading stuff and it then gave me the option to just complete the install, which I did.

Now my install is complete and I installed nothing except a base system. How can I fix this? I am at a non-gui login & have no clue what to do now? It seems that I installed a base core version of Debian and have nothing else.

Any advice on what to do from here...?

The thread posted by yotamk above should help put you in the right direction. How did I miss that myself I dunno...

But anyways I will suggest this real quick:

At the command line huh? Now comes the fun part! Type this:

$ man apt-get

Learn it. Live it. Be one with it!

Now su to root. So say you want to install gnome or kde, from the root prompt type this:

# apt-get install gnome

or if you want kde:

# apt-get install kde

Also install a login manager:

# apt-get install gdm
or
# apt-get install kdm

That will give you a "GUI" and a GUI login manager. You can also use aptitude from the command line to install these or any programs. But read macondo's thread for an idea on what to do.

What were the errors ? You may wish to select a different mirror, if some packages were installed but not others.

Anyway, depending on how confident you feel, you may want to just exit out of Tasksel (shown in pic40.png), check your sources.list:- then run an update, and install only the packages you actually want. E.g.Further to Macondo's excellent guide to the Net installer above, you may want to have a look at his post-install sticky http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=224547. For what it's worth, the stage you're at is where Debian's package management really shines -- you have a fully functional (minimalist) Linux installation, and can now just apt-get anything that you feel you might need; nothing more, nothing less

Cheers,

mj

EDIT: Yep, what he said. My typing really is too slow...

I get this error when I try and install GNOME and or KDE...

Building dependenc tree...done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you if you are using the unstable distro that some require packages have not yet been created or been moved out of incoming.

Since you only requested a single operation it is extremely likely the package is simply not installable and a bug report against the package should be filed.
The following info may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet depenancies:

kde: Depends: kde-core but is not going to be installed
Depends: kde amusments but is not going to be installed
Depends: kdeaddons but is not going to be installed
Depends: kdeadmin but is not going to be installed
Depends: kdeartwork....
Depends: kdegraphics...
Depends: kdemultimedia...
Depends: kdenetwork...
Depends: kdepim
Depends: kdeutils
Depends: quanta
E: broken packages

So then I try gnome and I get the same thing. I then try the command:

Use when you are not sure about the exact name of the package

will install firefox

First you need to configure your network connection. Then you need to configure apt sources. You cannot use apt-get unless you have sorted out these two preliminary steps.

What type of network connection do you have (modem/isdn/dsl/ethernet)?
What is the output of "ping www.google.com" (don't type the quotes)?
What is the output if you first use the "su" command (without quotes), then type the root password when asked, and then type "ifconfig -a" (without quotes)?