On 2023-08-03 at 15:59, debian-u...@howorth.org.uk wrote: > Andy Smith <a...@strugglers.net> wrote: >> Hi Bill, >> >> Your question is more suited to debian-user so I've redirected >> there. Please send replies there (I've set reply-to for that >> purpose also). >> >> On Wed, Aug 02, 2023 at 08:40:51PM -0400, Bill Miller wrote: >>> why cant i just install Debian from a digital cloud? i dont >>> understand why i need physical hardware to run digital software? >>> >> >> You don't. Roughly 60% of our customers choose Debian¹ (another >> ~30% Ubuntu) to run on their virtual machines and Debian is >> available on all major clouds. Also if you prefer container >> technology like Podman or Docker, Debian is represented on those >> registries also. >> >> What are you actually trying to do? > > I suspect you both may be misinterpreting the OP's question. I think > he is asking about doing a net install without needing to start with > a USB stick or similar.
I agree, that's the direction of the original question: "why do I have to create physical (boot) media in order to install Debian, instead of being able to just initiate the install by clicking a button on a Website, as I can do with so many other things?". (Where "clicking a button on a Website" can include initiating a download that then gets automatically run, or that the browser then prompts you to run.) > AIUI the issue is that the installer is started by booting the > system into it, so some bootable device is needed to boot from. > Whether it would be possible for some application to be written for > linux and/or Windows and/or MacOS etc that downloaded the installer > and booted into it I don't know, but I see some obvious > difficulties. Based on shenanigans I've seen people get up to in classes at the college where I work, I'm nearly certain that it would be possible to create a Windows executable which would dump specified data into a disk-image file on the hard drive, and modify the Windows boot configuration to include a boot entry which points to that disk image, and possibly also even modifies the boot setup so that the next boot will automatically use that new boot entry (or at least prompt you to select which boot entry to use). If you then make that disk-image file pivot into the equivalent of an initrd, so that it's free to repartition the hard drive even if that means wiping it, then it should be entirely possible to get into the same installer environment as you could get to with bootable install media. Whether doing that would be either advisable or practical, however, is much a different question. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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