Round ‘em up

• Pentium 2 CPU or better
• 64 MB RAM or more
• 2 GB Hard Disk Drive or 1 GB Compact Flash Drive
• Two network cards, or three
• Plug one card into the modem, one into a local switch or your PC
• A CD-ROM drive – only needed for installation!

…and install Debian

1. Go to http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ and download the i386 (or whichever architecture best describes your CPU) Minimal CD image. This will allow us to download the latest packages and minimize much of the fluff associated with Linux.
2. Put the CD in your aging hardware (hopefully she works!) and boot from that CD. You might have to change your BIOS boot order if you don’t see any Linux boot screen.
3. At the boot screen, push enter to start the installation process.
   • Make sure a network card is plugged into the modem!
4. At the Network Detection screen, select eth0, and see if you get an IP from the cable modem. The IP should look like a public IP address.
   1. 1. Unplug the the cable/DSL modem, wait 30 seconds for a complete discharge, and plug the modem back into the wall. Wait for the lights to cycle on the modem and retry the eth0 detection.
      2. If you still do not get a public IP, plug the ethernet cable into other nic, see if eth0 detection works on that nic.
   • If you don’t get a public IP address:
   • The whole idea is to make “eth0″ the connection to the Internet/modem. While this boils down to semantic preference, it will make your life easier if you stick to the common preference.
5. When it asks for this information:
   1. Hostname: name_of_the_computer
   2. Domain: electronox.net (or any other Fully Qualified Domain Name)

6. At the Partitioning Guide, select “Automatic with separate partitions for /usr /var /home /tmp / and swap.”
   1. You may delete the swap partition after the Partitioner figures out the layout for you (less disk access).
7. I personally would not participate in the package tracking.
8. DESELECT “desktop,” use ONLY “standard system” when asked in the Package Manager.
9. Choose your local college campus or an equivalent mirror for speedy package updates and downloads.
10. Create strong passwords!
11. Remove the CD and reboot the computer.