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Note: Prior to installing Debian, you must have a place to put it on your hard drive. If you are going to make Debian the only OS on your computer, then you don't have anything to worry about. If, on the other hand, you would like to install Debian on a machine with another OS, such as Windows, and you want to dual boot between the two, you are going to have to get a program, such as Partition Magic, to shrink your Windows partition to make room for Debian, or you are going to have to get another hard drive to install Debian on.

The bottom line is you need some space (I recommend at least 2GB, although Debian can be installed using a lot less) to install Debian on your hard drive. I will leave it up to the individual reader to decide where that empty partition will come from.

Step 1 (Boot from the Debian CD)
After you have downloaded (or purchased) the first Debian disk, place it in the CD-ROM drive of your computer and reboot your machine (I'm assuming it was already on, or you could not have inserted the CD). If the CD doesn't boot, then check your BIOS settings. Please consult your motherboard manual if necessary. If your machine simply cannot boot from a CD, you will have to make Debian floppy disks. Please refer to Debian's web site for instructions on creating these disks.

Step 2 (The Welcome Screen)
Once your machine boots, you will be presented with a screen that says, "Welcome to Debian GNU/Linux 3.0!" There are other install options available, which you may read about by pressing , but I am going to only go through the easiest one; which is the safe install using the 2.2.20 kernel. To begin the installation, simply press the Enter key.

Once you press the Enter key, you will briefly see a penguin at the top-left corner of the screen and some unintelligible (depending on your experience) boot messages; which can safely be ignored for now.

Step 3 (Choose your language)
Wait for the language selection screen with the blue background to appear. This is the first screen of the installer. Select which language you want to use. In my case, this will be English. If yours is English too, select the menu item, "en – Choose this and press Enter to proceed in English", by using the arrow keys to highlight in it red, and then press the Enter key.

Step 4 (Choose Variant)
On the next screen, "Choose Language Variant", select your preferred English variant. In my case, I will choose, "English (United States)". Once you have highlighted your choice, press the Enter key.

Step 5 (Release Notes)
The next screen, "Release Notes", presents you with a little bit of information regarding Debian. To continue, press the Enter key.

Now you should be at the installer's main menu.

1. "Introduction and how to get hold of Debian"
2. "Getting to the main installation"
3. "Going through the main installation cycle - Part I"
4. "Going through the main installation cycle - Part II"
5. "Going through the main installation cycle - Part III"
6. "Going through the main installation cycle - Part IV"
7. "System Configuration - Part I"
8. "System Configuration - Part II"
9. "Installing XFree86 - Part I"
10. "Installing XFree86 - Part II"
11. "Synaptic, Mozilla, Conclusion"