Install from writeable USB

[Charles Chambers <cchamb2@gmail.com>]

Hi, All:

I have a set of Dell Optiplex 620's for which I'd like to install Debian
entirely hands off from a writeable USB stick.  It would seem to me that
preseeding would figure into this process.

The problem I'm running into is that the isohybrid images are write only
(when you dd them to a USB stick), and I can't find anything else that
leads me in the right direction - which would be installing Debian from
a writable USB stick.

Has no one done this before?  It's pretty common in the Windows world.

If the netinst image is the starting point, are any packages included
with the image that shouldn't be strictly necessary just to accomplish
the install and apt?  System utilities and KDE desktop both are
variables when one is preseeding...