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System Installation

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Install debian sarge

Steps

Get files

http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/current/

wget http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/current/sarge-i386-netinst.iso

wget http://ftp.egr.msu.edu/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz

wget http://ftp.egr.msu.edu/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz

Install onto sda3

mount /dev/sda3
pushd /mnt/sda3

mkdir deb-netinst
cd deb-netinst

cp -pr ~+1/* .

cd ../
ln deb-netinst/sarge-i386-netinst.iso

NB, The Debian CD image can be at the top-level directory of any hard disk. Just make sure that the CD image match with the corresponding vmlinuz and initrd.gz. There is no restriction on filename other than it being ended in ".iso".

emacs /mnt/sda3/boot/grub/menu.lst &

Add the following boot entry:

title Debian Sarge net-install
        root (hd0,2)
        kernel /deb-netinst/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=10000 devfs=mount,dall
        initrd /deb-netinst/initrd.gz

and boot into it.

Base system installation

You will be greeted by a welcome screen. Hit ENTER to boot. (If you want a 2.6 kernel, type "linux26" instead.)

After a while you will be asked to select your language. This will affect translation of debian-installer (if already available for your language) as well as the choice of country and keyboard layout.

Sit back while debian-installer detects some of your hardware, and loads additional installer modules from the cd.

Next the installer will try to detect your network hardware and set up networking by DHCP.

Next proceed to "Partition disks".

Now debian-installer starts to install the base system. That is followed by installing a kernel.

The last step is to install a boot loader.

Net installation

Choose "Desktop" and leave anthing else unchecked.

Debian Installer

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer

The Debian-Installer is the replacement for the aging "boot-floppies" installation system used in all previous versions of debian. The Debian Installer will be the installer for future versions of Debian, beginning with sarge. It has been designed to be more modular, easier to use, and more extensible than the old installation system.

News

[30 Apr 2004] Debian-Installer beta 4 released for 10 architectures

Test Candidate 1

We are currently testing candidate images for the first release candidate.

# 110 MB CD image, with Debian base [alpha] [hppa] [i386] [ia64] [m68k] [mips] [powerpc] [sparc]
# 50 MB CD image, businesscard size [alpha] [hppa] [i386] [ia64] [m68k] [mips] [powerpc] [sparc]
# boot floppy image [i386]
# root floppy image [i386]
...

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/installer-i386/tc1/images/floppy/boot.img

Beta 4

For beta 4 of the Debian-Installer, the following images are available for testing. These images will install Debian's testing distribution (sarge). The Installation HOWTO provides a quick walkthrough of the installation process, while the Sarge Installation Manual provides more details. Also, see our FAQ.

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/doc/INSTALLATION-HOWTO

http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/ http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/index.html

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/

Install sarge with the new debian-installer

http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch06.html

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/doc/INSTALLATION-HOWTO

This documents describes how to perform an installation with the new debian-installer, which will be released together with the upcoming Debian release, codename: sarge.

Last update: $Date: 2004-04-28 00:12:37 -0400 (Wed, 28 Apr 2004) $

Recently the debian-installer has switched to ask only the important questions and configure the rest automatically. This also means that you won't get to see the main menu anymore, except when something goes wrong. If you want to restore the old configuration with more questions asked, type "expert" at the boot prompt.

Getting images

The dreaded floppies

If you can't boot from CD, you can download floppy images to install Debian. You need the floppy/boot.img, the floppy/root.img and possibly one of the driver disks.

floppy/net-drivers.img To do an install over the network with a few common ethernet cards, you do not need this driver floppy. If you have a less common ethernet card, or pcmcia, you will need it.
floppy/cd-drivers.img If you have a cdrom, but cannot boot from it, you can boot from floppies, and use this driver disk to complete the install using the cdrom.

Floppy disks are one of the least reliable media around, so be prepared for lots of bad disks. Each .img file you downloaded goes on a single floppy; you can use the dd command to write it to /dev/fd0 or some other means. It's a good idea to them use cmp to compare what ended up on the unreliable floppy disk with the image. If it fails throw that floppy away and try again. Since you'll have more than one floppy, it's a good idea to label them.

The boot floppy is the one with boot.img on it. This floppy, when booted, will prompt you to insert a second floppy — use the one with root.img on it.

Booting from hard disk

It's possible to boot the installer using no removable media, but just an existing hard disk, which can have a different OS on it. These instructions are for i386 systems, such as those running windows. Download hd-media/initrd.gz, hd-media/vmlinuz, and a Debian CD image to the top-level directory of the hard disk. Make sure that the CD image has a filename ending in ".iso". Now it's just a matter of booting linux with the initrd.

If you have grub installed, boot grub, and do the following:

grub>kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=10000 devfs=mount,dall
grub>initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.gz
grub>boot

Note that the ramdisk_size parameter may need to be increased, depending on the image you are booting.

Ater the installer boots , it should find the ISO you placed on the hard disk, and continue with the install. You will not be able to reformat the partition the installer was booted from if you use this technique.

110 MB CD image, with Debian base http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/beta4/sarge-i386-netinst.iso

50 MB CD image, businesscard size http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/beta4/sarge-i386-businesscard.iso

http://ftp.egr.msu.edu/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

hd-media/initrd.gz, http://ftp.egr.msu.edu/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz

hd-media/vmlinuz http://ftp.egr.msu.edu/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz

Installation

You will be greeted by a welcome screen. Hit ENTER to boot. (If you want a 2.6 kernel, type "linux26" instead.)

Sit back while debian-installer detects some of your hardware, and loads additional installer modules from the cd.

Next the installer will try to detect your network hardware and set up networking by DHCP. If you are not on a network or do not have DHCP, you will see an error message. You do not need a network to continue the install, so this can be easily worked around. Select continue and watch the main menu which will appear everytime if something went wrong, so you have more control over the situation. Proceed to "Partition disks".

Now debian-installer starts to install the base system which can take a while. That is followed by installing a kernel.

The last step is to install a boot loader. If the installer detects other operating systems on your computer, it will add them to the boot menu and let you know. By default GRUB will be installed to the boot record of the first harddrive, which is generally a good choice. You'll be given the opportiunity to override that choice and install it elsewhere.