Debian box building - advice

[Brian Walker <bfwalker@net-yan.com>]

Greetings all,

after having taken the momentous step of recompiling a kernel (thanks 
guys ... connected well now) I am researching how to build the best 
Debian box.

Googled, and loads of good advice on how to choose the components. When 
it comes to the physical build, all seems easy enough. I want to install 
a working Debian system on that soon-to-be-formatted disk. Google is not 
so helpful. Box builders, can you clue me in?

When it comes to the part where I fire up the new computer for the first 
time, IIUC, the motherboard BIOS will send the usual messages, then stop 
in dismay. The next step is to format the hard disk. In the absence of a 
CD of the installation, how should I proceed? I downloaded 
byld-1_0_3.tgz, which gives a mini-distribution on one floppy (I suppose 
I could use tomsrtbt as well?) - will that suffice enough to

1. format the disk
2. allow me to enable a working net connection to download the necessary 
 installation files?

Guidance appreciated

Brian

--
Brian F. Walker
Registered Linux User 270078
Debian GNU/Linux