Illustrated Guide to Installing Debian GNU/Linux
Dear Debian Installer Team,
Congratulations on the recent release of Debian Lenny.
I would also like to tip my hat to the people who worked on the installation guide[1] and its translations into 16 languages. They did a fantastic job. The comprehensive nature of that 141-page guide is invaluable to anyone who has to perform a complex and/or uncommon task (such as using TFTP to boot a computer over a network from another machine).
The trouble with comprehensiveness is that it frightens a new user who is simply trying to set up a home desktop. For them, Debian's official installation guide is not a good introduction to Debian and it is completely at odds with the spirit of projects like Robert Millan's Goodbye-Microsoft.com[2], where the goal is to provide the simplest possible transition from MS Windows to Debian GNU/Linux.
For people who are new to GNU/Linux and are simply trying to install Debian on a home desktop, I wrote an "Illustrated Guide to Installing Debian GNU/Linux."[3]
The guide is 10 pages long and is filled with screenshots (to make the user feel comfortable). To add a touch of comprehensiveness, I also included 12 pages of appendices to help them select partition sizes, introduce them to package management, etc.
When I wrote the guide, I had the users of Goodbye-Microsoft.com in mind, so I submitted it to Robert Millan, who asked me to send it to you.
I never intended to create an official Debian document, but -- if you think that it is of good quality -- I would be happy to help you turn it into one ("source code"[4] and all 73 screenshots[5]).
Let me know what you think of the documents and please let me know what I can do to help make Debian more friendly to new users.
Thanks,
- Eric Doviak
[1] http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual
[2] http://goodbye-microsoft.com/
[3] http://www.doviak.net/debian/debian_install_guide.pdf
[4] http://www.doviak.net/debian/debian_install_guide.tar.gz
[5] http://www.doviak.net/debian/debian_install_shots.tar.gz
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