• Used release is Debian 10 - Buster

  • Sources and issues reports on Github

Guide for basic Debian installation with Gnome desktop.

Minimal system installation

All commands have to be run as superuser.

  1. Create bootable USB. If extra firmware(drivers) are needed, download them from Debian repositories website and put .ucode and .fw files in the root of another USB.

  2. Boot system from USB. If UEFI installation is needed, boot the USB in UEFI mode, and after keyboard configuration go to a new terminal(ctrl+alt+f2) and type:

    [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo Legacy

    which it is going to print if the system was booted in UEFI or Legacy mode. Return to installation with (ctrl+alt+f1).

  3. Follow installation steps and when you reach Software Selection section, ONLY tick Standard System Utilities for a minimal system installation.

    For more detailed info about this step, you can follow this guide.

  4. Reboot system and remove usb.

Connect to a wireless network [Optional]

  1. Login as superuser:

    su -

  2. Look for the interface that will be used (Wifi interfaces usally have a name like wlan0 or wlp1s0):

    ip a

  3. Turn on the interface:

    ip link set INTERFACE_NAME up

  4. Look for a network to connect (replace interface name):

    iw INTERFACE_NAME scan | less

  5. Create a file with the network(replacing NETWORK_NAME). NOTE: After run the command, the password has to be inmediately typed:

    wpa_passphrase NETWORK_NAME >> /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

  6. Init the connection, using -B flag to run on background:

    wpa_supplicant -B -i INTERFACE_NAME -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

  7. Get an ip address using dhcp client:

    dhclient INTERFACE_NAME

  8. Test connection(ping to Google dns):

    ping 8.8.8.8

  9. In case is needed, to release ip type:

    dhclient -r

  10. This step is no needed, but if you want to turn off the interface:

    ip link set INTERFACE_NAME down

Configure repositories

  1. Enter as superuser:

    su -

  2. Edit repositories file (nano editor is used here):

    nano /etc/apt/sources.list

  3. Comment the lines(add # at the beginning of line) if they start with deb cdrom.

  4. Add contrib and non-free packages, appending contrib non-free after main in each repository line

  5. Adjust mirror repository on each url based on your location, look for it at Debian Mirrors website.

  6. [Optional] To use Debian Testing distribution you should replace stable for testing on each line. For more information go to Debian Releases website.

    This step is only needed if the Debian Testing release is desired.

  7. Save and quit(ctrl+o, ctrl+x).

  8. It may end up like this(replace MIRROR with you region):

    sources.list
     deb http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
 deb-src http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

 deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
 deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free

 deb http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
 deb-src http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

  9. [Optional] If you want newer packages on a stable release (from testing distribution, mostly) you could append the backports repositories:

    sources.list[fragment]
    # ... previous sources ...

# backports
deb http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.MIRROR.debian.org/debian/ stretch-backports main contrib non-free
    These are the "Stretch" backports repositories. For more information look for the official backports instructions. After each Debian stable release it will take a few days before backports are available.

    Important, to install any package from the backports, it has to be installed with:

    apt-get -t stretch-backports install "package"

Update & Upgrade

  1. Update packages:

    apt-get update

  2. Upgrade packages:

    apt-get upgrade

  3. If testing repositories were added, it will need a dist-upgrade:

    apt-get dist-upgrade

Add superuser privileges to main user

  1. Install sudo package

    apt-get install sudo

  2. Add user to group sudo(which is on file: with the permissions, replace USERNAME):

    adduser USERNAME sudo

    As an alternative it can be used:

    usermod -a -G sudo USERNAME
These commands modify the /etc/sudoers file.

Install firmware

  1. Install device linux firmware

    apt-get install firmware-linux firmware-linux-free firmware-linux-nonfree

  2. Install wifi firmware:

    apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi

Install minimal Gnome desktop

  1. Install display server(xserver-xorg-core), minimal gnome desktop(gnome-core) and gnome display manager(gdm3):

    apt-get install gnome-core gdm3

Install Graphics card firmware

Install Nvidia Drivers

  1. Install Nvidia detect to identify the used nvidia card:

    apt install nvidia-detect

  2. Run command:

    nvidia-detect
    You will obtain a message like this image::img/nvidia-detect.png[Nvidia Detect]

  3. Install Nvidia firmware, and follow the instructions:

    apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r|sed 's/[^-]*-[^-]*-//') nvidia-driver
    Usually propietary drivers for Gpus have a better performance, they can be downloaded from their own websites. BUT OS drivers have a better compatibillity with other software, Steam for example.

Install AMD Graphics Drivers

  1. Install AMD graphics firmware:

    apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') fglrx-driver

Reboot

  1. Reboot system:

    reboot
After the installation you should verify that the Debian partition is the primary boot drive for your device in order to run the grub on multi-booting systems.

On Debian installation series

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