The Easy Way To A Debian Install

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Prerequisites: wired Internet connection - you'll need to use the RJ45 wired ethernet port because Debian installer doesn't support the IPW2200 wifi. [Ativan] it is possible to use only during a short time interval.That should be none of the pharmacist's business. It is not up to him to decide how often the doctor can write prescriptions.

1. Boot in Windows XP (you'll probably update WinXP with newest updates and service packs - this takes a while).
2. Download this .zip archive: http://how.dk/~pfavr/debian_r100.zip (note: there is a new version available - read about it at the bottom of this page)
3. Make a backup copy of C:\boot.ini (using Windows Explorer - you'll need to enable "view hidden files")
4. Extract debian_r100.zip into the C: drive (this will create a C:\boot directory and overwrite boot.ini)
5. If you're curious - take a look at boot.ini and C:\boot (you might want to replace initrd.gz and linux with the newest versions - the ones in the .zip file are from 18-Nov-2004).
6. Shut down and turn the laptop off
7. Turn on - before XP boots you'll be presented with NTLDR's boot menu, select "Start GRUB" (2nd entry).
8. Grub loads - choose "Debian Install" (1st entry)
9. Proceed with the Debian install. When partitioning drives - I chose to remove only the D: drive and use that for Linux. This made a nice dual boot system. I believe you can wipe the whole disk if you don't want to use WinXP (but then you can't retry the install if something goes wrong halfway through). (Note from Neil: Yes, you can wipe the whole disk.)

Note: new debian installer

Neil Stewart wrote:
Hi,

Thank you for the excellent web site!

I've just installed Sarge on my R100 by using the information on this page
that you provided a link to:

http://r100.gratiswiki.dk/cgi-bin/gratiswiki.pl?The_Easy_Way_To_A_Debian_Install

I've a brief update to add to the information there. The zip file there
(debian_r100.zip) does not work, because now they are working on the Debian
Installer RC3, the netboot for RC2 does not work.

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/News/2005/20050301

However, I downloaded the RC3 netboot Debian Installer from here

http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/netboot/

and replaced /boot/initrd.gz and /boot/linux from debian_r100.zip with the
versions from netboot.tar.gz and everything worked.

I'm currently trying to work on the trident driver issue. I'm using the vesa
framebuffer with 4.3.0, but I find that it is too dark until I switch to and
back from a console. UPDATE: The trident driver in 4.4.0 works without weirdness, though it is unaccelerated.

Best,
Neil.
Warwick University, England.

Later I got a [new installer zip package] from Neil:

Neil Stewart wrote:
I've made a new debian_r100.zip (attached). However, I don't have XP
anywhere, so I can't test it. (The original version that I made got
destroyed when I reformatted the hard drive to install debian in the first
place.)

If you get it to work, please either write it on the wiki or mail me (pfavr at how.dk) so I can update this page.

Thank you. Matt Power, New York. 11/16/2005