debian-setup

Installation

Why

Choosing “Expert install” gives us the option of manual disk partitions. When there is only one disk, the simplest configuration is one partition over the entire disk. This however is not ideal as data of /, /home, /var, /tmp, and swap area have different characteristics and require different security measures. Splitting them into different partitions and setting different mounting options addresses the requirements. My rig is hybrid with one SSD hosting the system binaries, one spinning disk for swap and temporary data, and one RAID10 for backup data. Manual partitions make efficient use of the different disks.

The second reason is about installing a customized, lightweight desktop. Like disk partitions, expert install gives the option for not installing the default desktop, which paves way for adding a customized desktop later on. For example, a GNOME desktop reduced to the core. You can even choose not to have a desktop at all.

How

  1. First, boot to the USB flash drive you just prepared. In order to boot to the USB disk, modify the boot order in the BIOS. Note certain USB ports on the motherboard may not boot. If you suspect that is the case, try a different USB port. Once booted, the screen should display “UEFI Installer” in the title; otherwise revisit the UEFI settings of the motherboard.
  2. Advanced options ..., then navigate to Expert install. Note, do not hit Enter yet, if you want to set up hardware RAID (Serial ATA RAID, SATA RAID). Hit E to edit the command and append dmraid=true at the end. However, I would recommend software RAID over hardware RAID. I have since switched to software RAID. Software RAID is set up in the disk partition step. You can continue Expert install without editing it if you want to set up software RAID.
  3. Choose language, locale en_US.UTF-8.
  4. Access the installer using a Braille display.
  5. Configure the keyboard: American English.
  6. Detect and mount installation media. This should recognize the USB drive with the Debian ISO.
  7. Load installer components from installation media: Choose none.
  8. Detect network hardware.
  9. Configure the network. Auto-configure yes as we are using DHCP. Specify the host name. Leave the domain name empty.
  10. Set up users and passwords. Allow login as root: No. Forces the use of sudo.
  11. Configure the clock. * Set the clock using NTP: Yes.
  12. Detect disks.
  13. Partition disks.
    • Choose Manual and see manual disk partitions for detailed steps and information.
    • Or, for the simple cases such as setting up a VM, choose Guided - use entire disk.
  14. Install the base system.
    • kernel: linux-image-amd-64 (this installs the same version but free to upgrade to newer kernel versions while the other option with specific version numbers locks down the kernel to a particular version).
    • initrd (initial ram disk): generic (all available drivers).
  15. Configure the package manager.
    • Use a network mirror: Yes
    • Protocol: https
    • Country: US
    • Mirror: (choose a good one that is near you, e.g. mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu)
    • Use non-free firmware: Yes. This is needed for installing e.g. Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA video drivers.
    • Use non-free software: Yes (which implies also using contrib software). If, for example, you need to install the NVIDIA packages, you must say yes to non-free
    • Use contrib software: Yes
    • Enable source repositories in APT: No
    • Services to use: security updates, release updates, and also check backported software
  16. Select and install software
    • Updates management on this system: No automatic updates (we don’t want model tranining to be interrupted for example)
    • Package usage survey: No
    • Choose only standard system utilities, which includes bzip2, ca-certificates, dbus, dpkg, less, perl, python, openssl, etc.
    • Note, if you want to install a customized desktop, make sure do not select any desktop environment. We will install a lightweight desktop at a later stage. For example, a GNOME desktop reduced to the core.
  17. Install the GRUB boot loader
    • Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable media path: Yes
  18. Finish and reboot
    • Set the system clock to UTC: Yes
    • Reboot

Edit package sources sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list. Since we will not use the USB disk for updates and we have chosen to use network for updates, comment out the line that starts with deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux ....

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