The young Linux hacker - Introduction

An illustrated installation of GNU/Debian

Welcome to the fabulous world of Linux. Since I've had some requests for an howto on installing GNU/Debian, I've chosen to do one. But an illustrated one. It will help lots of people installing it, and I can even, in the worst case, help some with some problems if I can recreate it here. For the moment, we'll just start preparing ourselves entering this *NOT* complicated IT world.

For the chatters: There is a nice IRC server out there for you (if you are seeking for any kind of help) at irc.debian.org.

---- Requirements
Computer : 386 (at least)
Storage capacity : 100mb for basic installation and at least 400mb if you need XFree86 (Windows like) and more services.
Input : Keyboard/Mouse.
Video : A good VGA adapter will be alright and don't forget a screen for the installation.
Memory : 8mb should be alright but 64 is recommended. (If you don't like swap file)
Floppy : 6 disks (only that?)
Ethernet : A Linux Compatible Ethernet Adapter.
Internet : Cable-Modem
For the moment, I don't have any other recommendations. So Enjoy this cookbook! :)

---- Download

First, download the following files.

Driver-1.bin
Driver-2.bin
Driver-3.bin
Driver-4.bin
Rescue.bin
Root.bin
Rawrite2
Rawrite GUI Mode

Or the compact version

Driver-1.bin
Rescue.bin
Root.bin

----- INSTALLATION
Now, use rawrite2 to write those 6 binaries on 6 different floppies.
Once this step is done, just insert the "Rescue" disk in the Floppy disk Drive (FD) and restart your computer.

Press "Enter".

Insert Root disk in floppy drive

Read it or press [Enter]

If you have a 486, you'll see it very often.

Okay, so this menu will guide you through ALL the installation.
Don't worry, even if you can't click with button on your mouse for the moment, it'll worth the pain in the end.

If you have an english keyboard, just choose those two choices, and press enter.

You'll have to partition your Hard Disk [HD] if you want to be able to install Debian.
Note: This installation was done on a virtual VMWare Machine, Debian installation interface detected that NO prior installation have been made on this drive. So be careful if you have another OS.

Again, on this installation, I only had one drive available to suit this installation. So I guess it's normal we only see one. ;)

Here, it complains about the 1024 cylinder boundary. Please be careful with this matter, you may loose all important data when you install a second OS, or simply ading one with a too big partition. Note: NEVER, I repeat, NEVER go over the 1024th cylinder on your boot partition. It may not boot. ;)

As I said before, my HD is factory clean. So it asks me if I want to loose all the "0" that are present on my HD. (Oh well! I hear some l33t h4x0r telling me that there is not even a "0" on a fresh new HD!)

Here, it confirms our doubts. NO PARTITIONS are present. If you see one, message me please. All I see, is 2GB of free space.

The interesting part here, is that we could have made many more partitions. One for /var, one for /home, one for /usr, one for... whatever.
Since you are here, I assume you don't know much about linux, and I therefore did a little stuff for you. Only 3 partitions.
1st one : /boot (for the 1024th cylinder boundary)
2nd one : your swap partition (type 82 by the way)
3rd one and last one : your / partition

Well, whatever, just press enter.

Enter.

If you are in a hurry, choose "NO", if time doesn't matter, choose "YES".

Enter.

We first have to mount your "/" before mounting any other partitions. So in this case, choose "/dev/hda3".

AND PRESS ENTER! ;)

Do you really wanna answer yes here? You have kernel 2.2.18 in hand. I don't think you'll go back with older kernel version. I even plan on writing a simple howto on kernel compilation.

Would your like to mount "/dev/hda3" as "/"?
Answer "YES" here or, you really should install Windows 98!

Now, I missed one screen shot here, I'll do it later today. For the moment, you should have choose "Initialize another Partition". After that step, you should have choose "/dev/hda1".
And now the very same option as selected on this picture.

Enter.

Enter on "/dev/fd0".

Give him what he wants and press enter.

Installing Rescue Floppy. Geeee. I miss the important screenshots and got the stupidest one! :) Sorry folks, missing one will arrive sometimes in a very near future.

Give him what he wants and press enter.

Well, I hope it's not too long for the moment. You'll have to do the same steps again 3 times. (Driver 1/4, Driver 2/4, Driver 3/4, Driver 4/4)

Well, just watch it! :) It wont be there very long.

Enter.

Okay, here, unless you have an extra module floppy, just say "YES".

Choose the proper modules for your adware. In my case, I had to choose PCNet32. (VMWARE doesn't like ANY other NICs)

Please Wait.

If the modules you've selected for your nic, or any other hardware, is working correctly, you should see this nice screen. But wait, it doesn't mean it will work until you SEE it WORKING.
Remember, the GNU/Linux community likes to discourage you from using their products. So they prefer to discourage you before you pass a whole night trying to figure out that your chipset should be supported, but that your card manufacturer added some little slight modification and it WONT work AT ALL.

Enter.

This is an important step of the installation. You should name your computer (if you have many or just one) according to something you know well. It could be one Star Trek/South Park/Simpsons caracter or even all the elements in the periodic table. (Just to name a few)

If you are configuring this Linux Box with your CABLE ISP, it will be simple. Just answer "YES" and press Enter.
If this box is firewalled behind another box, you can give it a static IP adress or set up a DHCP server on your gateway box.

It worked! Yahoo!

Enter.

Choose "Network" and press "Enter".

Enter.

If you are behind a proxy, enter the required information.
If not, press "Enter".

Yeah. The end is near. Oh well, after we will have some package to install.
But as you can see, up to now it's kind of REALLY straight forward. :)

While waiting, we won't loose our time.
Teaching you a little tip.
Press Alt-F2 and look at this.
We have another console waiting for us!!!
Press "Enter" and type "ls" and "Enter".
Wow!!! We have a virtual filesystem if I'm not wrong. :)))

Some infos on running installation processes.

Error messages?

Well, this was a screenshot of you doing "ALT-F2" and enter. :)
Now, do "ALT-F1" and look at the status bar!

Enter.

Press Enter on "Yes" unless you don't want to use the GMT Time. (GreenWich Mean Time)

If you want your linux box to boot from HD without a floppy, just select this option and press "Enter".
If you don't want to tamper with your boot sector, select the floppy option and press "Enter".

Be carefull here.
If you have another boot manager, choose the partition with a number on it, and add it to your boot manager.
If it's not the case, choose the first one to write it to your MBR! (Master Boot Record)

Since you have your "Rescue" and "Root" disks, you can simply choose "Reboot the System" and press "Enter".

You sure?! "YES", "ENTER".

No comments.

"YES", "Enter."

Read this!!! It's VERY important!

Please, choose a complicated password. "hello123" is not the good one... Hmmmm... at least you have letters and number in this password, but I think hackers will try those first. :)

Enter it again.

Using only root is insecure. Add another one.

And please, choose a harder username to find than this one. Hacker will be happy to hack you with "eth1" as a username and "hello123" as a password!!!! ;)

Enter your name if you want. I don't have anything to hide from you. So here is my real name!

Please, choose a complicated password. "hello123" is not the good one... Hmmmm... at least you have letters and number in this password, but I think hackers will try those first. :)

Enter it Again.

If you are installing Debian on a Laptop computer, keep it, you will need it for your NIC. If you are on a standard workstation, simply answer "Yes" and press "Enter".

I guess that if you are at this step, you don't need those modules, so answer "NO" and press "Enter".

Choose "FTP" or "HTTP". It will be needed by "dpkg" and "apt-get".

Answer "Yes" and press "Enter".

Choose the nearest country.

You don't have take the nearest, but usually, they will be the fastest one!

Choose the prettier name and choose "OK".

Still the same old question about a proxy. We don't have any in this case, so we will skip this question again.

Testing to see if it works.

If you want to add additional sources for redundancy, just go for it. But since I am in a hurry, I'll just say "NO" and press "Enter".

Choose "Advanced", you will not have an ugly installation with lots of packages you will never use.
Or choose "Simple" and don't ask me why it's not working.

Quit this things. It heck of a pain in the ass just to learn how to use it. I have an alternative for you. You will see, it worth the wait.
It's one of the forces of Debian, my favorite Distro. AND PLEASE, DO NOT DO A CLICKABLE INSTALLATION, it will RUIN your hard work! LMAO

Yesss! Choose "QUIT"! We don't need you ugly and complicated dselect.
Note: Sorry for you guy or guys. But I DONT like it. I prefer APT-GET!!! :)

If you followed my instructions, we will have lots of fun. So I like this window! :))))

Ready to rock? This is the first screen, and the last you will ever need! You can still press "ALT-F1" through "ALT-F12". But for the moment, it will stop at "ALT-F6" and after we will have installed XFree86, it will stop on "ALT-F7". (Unless you have many X session as I do!)

Logged in. We see the Message Of The Day (MOTD).

If you type "df" and "Enter", you should see that your Debian takes only 79mb. It will grow up a little bit. But not that much. We will keep this simple and little.

If you want to see some stats about your CPU and Memory usage, type in "top" and "Enter".

This screenshot shows only the chooser broadcasted by my main XFree86 server in Exceed.
I can choose between the server (montcalm) or by linux development workstation (Wolfe).

When this how-to will be completed, you'll be able to use linux with a screen, keyboard, mice, or even better, remotely from windows.
This is aimed for the gamers/admins/developpers to support cross-platform development and multi-platform development.
BUT it could be for a learning matter, or even, just protect yourself from the wild! ;)

/ 250mb (2896mb cur)
/ (76mb cur)
/bin (3mb)
/boot 15mb (6mb cur)
/dev (1mb)
/etc (6mb)
/home 1600mb (28mb cur)
/lib (6mb)
/lost+found (0mb)
/mnt (0mb)
/mp3 (2489mb cur)
/proc (1mb)
/root (1mb)
/sbin (3mb)
/tmp 50mb (1mb cur)
/usr 1500mb (240mb cur)
/var 500mb (56mb cur)