Which Debian iso image to use

[th3tr4n]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum as well as Linux world, so please bear with me. I've been reading around about linux and decided to give it a try. Few key stroke on google took me to the Debian website and the download page. Just right there I'm already confused don't know which one to download. There are several images such as debian-504-i386-CD-1.iso and so on up to 31. My question is do I have to download all of these images or just one then burn it to the CD. Thank you for your inputs and have a great day.
Best regards

[coopstah13]

you most likely dont' need all CD's, they just put all the software they provide on the CD's for people without internet access

probably, if you download the first DVD, that will be sufficient

personally, if you have a good internet connection, i recommend using the netinstall cd, that way you only download the things you actually want to install during the installation process, and the initial install is much smaller

[th3tr4n]

Hi coopstah13

Thank you for your reply.
OK let say I'm going to use DVD images, then which iso image should I use since they have 5 images for downloading. If I use the debian-504-i386-DVD-1.iso would it be sufficient? If I use net install as you suggested, the problem is I don't know if my computer has working network card (it's single board computer). And what about driver? I assume that linux installer should take care of this. I think I just put my hardware together and try with options that are available.

[oz]

If I use the debian-504-i386-DVD-1.iso would it be sufficient?

Welcome to the forums!

I'm pretty sure that the 1st DVD ISO file will provide all that you need and the others are extra software. I personally prefer the netinstall ISO files to downloading entire distribution CD/DVD ISO files. Of course, if you have no working internet connection on a machine, it's not so good.

[th3tr4n]

Got it. Thanks a lot ozar. Have a good one.

[Jonathan183]

If you are unsure of an internet connection and unsure what you will install I would go with dvd1 and dvd2. I have done an install and got prompted for the second dvd for a couple of packages.

Part way through the install process you have the option for adding additional dvds - I suggest you do this, it makes it easy for you to install software and displays software packages.

Good luck with the install

[masinick]

Like the others, I would highly recommend the "netinst" image. If you have enough bandwidth to download a DVD, I'd say you have enough bandwidth to use the "netinst", and you can tailor your system to have just what to want on it; start small, then add exactly what you want.

If you really do not have bandwidth, then you can buy CDs and/or DVDs at any number of distribution shops that are widely advertised - if you cannot find advertisements, check out Distrowatch.com, which usually carries two or three advertisements for CD, DVD, and USB stick vendors.

[thrifty_bob]

IMO, if you think you might be installing/reinstalling more than one time, get the first CD or DVD, otherwise, when you reinstall a bunch of times in an effort to get things the way you want, or get them configured right, you'd need to redownload all those packages every time. Running the install from a DVD or CD goes a lot quicker, and assuming your network connection works, Debian will download any additional packages needed from the mirrors.

Not a complete linux noob here, but to be honest, a lot of times its easier to reinstall than to try to hunt for answers how to reconfigure after the fact, or clean up the mess from an attempt at reconfiguring. Every time you have to ask a "gee its messed up, how do I fix it" question, it will be a day spent on your side, plus many others time spent as well, so the end result is that you end up spending a lot less time doing a 1/2 hr reinstall than trying to fix a goof by asking a question after trying to change things.

just my 2 cent view

[oz]

My personal preference is the netinstall method as stated earlier, but I generally don't have to re-download or re-install when anything goes wrong.

Instead, I do the netinstall, then add any major packages that I might want. Next, the system gets tweaked, then I create a system image of the partitions. Doing this takes about 3 to 5 minutes, and it takes about the same length of time to restore the image should the system become totally broken.

The problem I've always had with downloading entire distribution CD/DVD disks is that much of the software on them usually becomes out dated within just a few weeks. Still, I can respect the methods of others and why they might choose a certain way of doing things.

[thrifty_bob]

I have to admit, that in many cases, I had installed the way I wanted, and screwed things up by installing other things, or trying to change things, and when as a result, things didn't work, it was just easier to reinstall, than to go begging help.

The worst has been losing the ability to boot. Some distros are nicer than others as far as how the install finds or doesn't find other versions of linux when they install grub. Debian is at the top of the class, there, I'd say because it seems to recognize other distros on the drive and add them to the boot menu. I now maintain a hand written copy of the partition setup and make a copy of /boot/grub/menu.lst over to a flash drive before doing any partition or install stuff. I have 3 distros, and obviously no guru here, so it has gotten ugly when I've installed new things, and found the grub menu only contains the newest distro I was playing with. That alone has been cause for many reinstalls in the past. I've learned from pain and suffering to make notes and copies, I suppose.

For future reference, could you tell us how you saved and restored to that "save point"? I am guessing gparted? I've made copies that way, but never immediately after install, and never tried restoring that way.