Old Linux Admin 2008 -->
Home Debian Install + WIFI WIFI Install cont'd Debian Install Done! Cisco Soho97 Config LinuxCmds Firewalls AntiVirusInfo.html Shorewall Firewall Old Linux Admin Series Java RMI Asterisk_PBX_Info Databases - A Research Paper VPN PPTPD Info Aloha Packet Radio Transmission Apache2_Info.html BasicSecurityConcepts.html C_and_Java_Info.html CV.html Fetchmail_SSL_Info.html Hard_Drive_Info.html LVM2_Volume_Info.html MYSQL_Info.html Networking_Info.html Packet_Inspection_Info.html Security_Info_Wireshark_WIFI.html Snort_Info.html Subnet_Mask_Info.html Useful_One_Liners.html New DebianAdmin Site

Here and on the other pages, I hope to provide some help and hints on getting (mainly) Linux semi-Newbies up and running, (but mainly as a recap notepad for myself so beware assumed knowledge if some steps seem missing or vague – I know what I mean so you should check elsewhere as a general rule anyway, like a doctors 2nd opinion, before you go ahead with anything), particularly with Linux-Windows related stuff that I have done/struggled with in the past, for people who are looking into Linux as a learning tool for general pc/networking knowledge, or migrating completely to another Linux/UNIX based system, or combining the two for maximum flexibility as I do with Debian and XP. If there are steps here that seem missing, it’s because I assume basic pc knowledge of the reader for the likes of booting a disk from your pc by changing your system BIOS options etc.
If you don’t know this stuff you should research the web first - I can’t be responsible for your every breath…common sense is required, and there are loads of How Tos on the web
The only way to truly learn something is teach yourself!! Painful and time consuming as it can be MOSTLY!
For example, the Etch Debian Installer programme is so easy to use now compared to some “cryptic” ones a few years ago, I am not going to detail this process as its quite straightforward, and options can be changed later generally, within the working OS later anyway if incorrect…Just be sure you are formatting a disk that does NOT have important other data or your current Windows OS on it so you don’t risk losing your only working system and don’t know how to recover it – that knowledge usually comes sooner than later from desperation ´cause you didn’t think carefully in the first place and rushed in!! (Done that..! haha)
Use a 2nd pc or disconnect your drive with your current OS on it and have only the disk you want Debian installed onto present in the pc to avoid complications if you have little pc knowledge or experience. Again – do your research!! There’s no shortage of “How To´s” on mostly “everything” on the Net…

The first thing to do is engage your brain and get used to looking, thinking and checking your options before hitting the “OK” buttons – (Might save some grief in future, especially with the “remove” command “rm –r / ” ..ahem, oops I just removed all the sub-directories on the whole system in the blink of an eye with NO WARNING!! -Yes - I have done that too, haha...Doh!! – but NOTE !! Only on a system for playing/learning that I can afford to lose and I can replace from backups or just re-install at worst – I always have a working web connected system so I can fix others)
Soooo..go install Debian from scratch I guess...NO real explanatory notes I feel required here except what I outlined above re the disk formatting so you don’t hose anything you cant afford to lose!!
Download and burn a bootable image of an Etch installation CD/DVD from the web, go here
http://www.debian.org/
and read the options for ISOs (the compressed file format for most DVD/CD disks):
I will assume an install from the basic Etch OS option that should work on any IBM compatible pc, even an older one – check the min. spec requirements…
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd
for an IBM compatible: the i386 image, but you could go for an AMD64 etc if you have a newer AMD 64 bit system etc...this may take an hr or so for a 1Mb/sec ADSL connection… get the kettle on…and think about where you are going to install it!
Got it burned to CD? Good.
2) Set your BIOS etc to boot from CD and follow the instructions…I’m going to do it now too and make notes myself to relate here…back later…
INSTALLATION
1) OK back..Get used to reading Linux screens as they flash by, its not all computer garbage”.. same reason I add to my XP box “boot.ini” file with the additional “/sos” switch on the boot options line, so I can see the drivers/system services load instead of a useless XP logo..and it will help you slowly to take in useful info in future when you become more experienced, or it may just say Kernel Panic…reason..blah …and your install has failed so got check the web on your other working system and see what could be wrong…
2) In the Network config section you can set to “configure later” as I want to come back to that once the base system is up, so you know where to do things…
3) If you are going to load in a dual boot environment with Windows on your first partition, you may want to choose the Ext2 file system type so you can read and write to the Linux files from Windows using a neat utility called Ext2IFS.exe from
http://www.fs-driver.org/
and if you a re new with a whole nice new disk to load to just choose Guided Install.
As a general rule, a system likes to use “swap space” to write memory info to disk at a size rule of thumb of 2.5 times your PCs system memory size, so for a PC with 1GB of RAM, make a swap partition of at least 2.5GB of hard disk space. All the OS system can go under the “root” directory “/” (not to be confused with “root” = admin superuser, or an Australian sex act..)
4) Hard drive naming conventions – can be confusing! I’ll try for you:
You can have a max of 4 primary partitions per hard drive, (and a max of 2 hard drives per IDE controller on your Mboard) – numbered 1 to 4. So on the first hardrive attached to the FIRST IDE controller (CONTROLLER numbers 0 and 1 usually, but can be 1 and 2!!) the first drive is (hdA) and the first partition of that drive is hda1. So hdC is the first drive on the 2nd controller, (because the 2nd drive on the 1st controller is hdB) and its first partition is hdc1 etc..get it?
BUT, you can have extended partitions of a primary partition also, so, the first extended partition of the first primary partition of the first drive is hda5! Confused yet? I am….
Summary: the first controller (0), has its first hard drive (hdA) with its first primary partition (hdA1) with an extended partition on the first primary partition (hdA5).
The 2nd hardrive/cd/dvd is attached to the 2nd controller (1) so is (hdc) and maybe has a 2nd primary partition (hdc2) with an extended partition that may be called (hdC6) because we already have a 5…OK…?
5) Cannot access security updates – your not on the web yet – later..continue..
6)DON’T install (*)Desktop as this gives you the default Gnome desktop which I don’t like – we will put KDE on later…Installs system files…
7) Install GRUB to Master Boot Record – yes

OK – you should be at a login prompt after a successful install and removing the cd: to reboot to the OS. If all is well you should at a login prompt:
Login as “root” with the password you gave earlier.
Now, I´ll be slagged by many for using the “root” user account all the time as 1 mistake and you can “wreck” the system, but as a learner, you would never get anything done logging in as your normal user name because you don’t have sufficient privileges and its just tiresome to keep using:

# su root

then password just to enter a command and

#exit

out to the username prompt again etc. and I want to press on..
First thing I like to do is get on the web so I have the latest packages and it covers a lot of ground and principles that will need to become 2nd nature eventually.
Prepare for BIG learning curve here, but dont worry if you find it daunting, just try to follow on the next page. Steve 2008-2022