My blind husband, Tom, has used very old Debian version Jessie on a very old machine for many years. Something finally broke or got corrupted.
So we are planning to buy a new small computer (Kingdel Desktop Computer, Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM 256GB SSD, Intel HD Graphics 4400, 6xCOM RS232).
We plan to install Debian 12 stable (or possibly 11 if that turns out to be better for our needs). I mainly use Windows, but have done a bit of reading about Debian, and sometimes use the Raspberry Pi OS on a Pi 3 and a netbook.
Tom wants Debian to boot into the console/terminal, and plans to use GUI only for occasional web browsing. He uses a DoubleTalk speech synthesizer and Speakup, plus an Alva braille terminal -- the hardware requires COM ports, hence our choice of computer. He uses Mutt for email and text browsers Lynx, Links, etc.
What is the best way to start? debian-live-12.2.0-amd64-gnome.iso? Something else -- jigdo?
Tom will want to hear what's happening during installation. Will the live version provide that option?
We have a copy on a flash drive of the data from the older machine (everything under /home). What is the best way of re-installing all this personal data after the system has been installed?
Are these types of questions answered on a web page somewhere, so I don't need to bother you good folks unless we run into problems?
Thanks very much,
Sue and Tom Fowle