Please forgive the direct reply, I get the Debian-User list digest, and any reply I make will "break the thread" anyway.
Like you, I enjoy a "minimalist" install, at least at first. Let me give you my experiences with the various Debian install styles. It used to be that the Business-card and Net-install images would do a base install without a network connection, creating a truly minimal Linux installation. I would then edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include one or two repositories, add "dselect" by hand (apt-get update; apt-get install dselect) which is the old, minimalist, non-graphical package dependency manager, and start the process of choosing the applications I wanted. The last time I tried, the Net-install would still do a base installation without a network connection, but the BBC would not. "Expert" mode using any of the Debian install images will allow you to select whether or not to install a graphical "desktop". Don't worry, "expert" mode is very straightforward, following the defaults is all that the less interactive setup processes do. I recommend people try "expert" to learn the steps required in setting up a basic system. Be aware that the Debian installer does not collect all information first and then do the work, it will prompt for steps as required. So, it seems to take longer but you get far greater control than with more automated/automatic installers. If what you want is a minimal install to start, don't worry about what is on the install disk. Just tell the installer to only build a "Base System", and that is what you will get. I know I'm a dinosaur for still using dselect as my package manager tool, but do give it a try. Oh, and "search" in dselect is started with "\", and "next" is "/", "+" to add the highlighted package, "_" to purge it. Those are the keys I use most. When you're ready for the big package sets like Xwindow, Lxde, etc, there are meta-packages with names like "KDE-all" that will do the heavy lifting for you. I think you will find that even with what seem to be "extra" packages on the install disks, for the most part very little cruft gets installed. Unlike some other distributions *cough*Ubuntu*cough* the Debian install disks do not automatically build an entire system for you unless you ask it to. So even using DVD#1, you can say "base system" and a basic system is all you'll get. I like DVD#1, and had a great time playing with it when making up this blog post, "Linux's Killer Feature: Flexibility" http://anarchic-order.blogspot.com/2011/02/linuxs-killer-feature-flexibility.html Peace, and do experiment a bit. The worst thing that can happen with a botched install is to reinstall, which is not all that much work after all. Curt- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/CAGY8_s3mesRURR_aruFxSTvOb52eZXtLbTeq_qZ7KcTK=wa...@mail.gmail.com
