my experiences trying to install Etch

["D. Hugh Redelmeier" <hugh@mimosa.com>]

I was trying to install the Debian for the first time and ran into several 
issues.

I would send this to installlation-reports but I seem to need a
running Debian system for that.

Can anybody suggests how I should proceed?  (5) is a fairly serious block.

Context:

Me: long-time Linux user.  This is my first Debian install.

Computer: eMachine T2625
- Atlon XP 2600+
- 640M RAM
- 8G hard disk (small, not original, not previously partitioned)

Installation medium:
  debian-40r0-i386-DVD-1.iso

I used the GUI installer.

Issues:

1) it wasn't clearly documented that even though there is a sequence
   of 3 DVDs avaialble for download (for i386), only the first is
   needed for (many?) installs.


2) I saw no published checksums for the .iso files.  I find checksums
   are a nice confidence-building measure.

   For example, with Fedora I download the .iso from a random mirror
   but download the checksums from the master site.  This has revealed
   problems at least once.

   Even better than checksums would be signed checksums.


3) When I booted the installation DVD on my internal DVD writer, all
   went well until this step failed, even on retry:

	Load installer components from CD:
	  loading jfsutils-udeb

   I avoided this problem by starting over, and booting from the
   internal DVD reader.

4) For partitioning, I selected "Guided - use entire disk" and
   "Separate /home partition".

   - it allocated less swap than there is main memory.  At least at
     one time, swap had to be at least as big as main memory or the memory
     would not be used. 

   - I was allowed to second-guess a number of partition attributes
     proposed, but not the partition size, perhaps the most important
     choice.

   VT4 said: Partman: Error: unable to determine maximum new size for
	partition

   It seems as if the partitioner thinks that if I change the size,
   the proposed partitions must actually exist.

5) far into the package install, just after X11 configuration, the GUI
   stopped with

	Configuring cupsys
	Installation step failed
	An installation step failed.  You can try to run the failing
	item again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else.  The
	failing step is: Select and install software

   Retrying the whole "select and install software" step seems
   brutal.

   VT4 shows:

	in-target: No Gutenprint PPD files to update.
	 ...
	in-target: updating the gdk-pixbuf loaders list for GTK+-2.4.0...
	in-target: done.
	in-target: 
	in-target: Setting up desktop-base (4.0.1)...
	in-target: 
	in-target: tasksel: aptitiude failed (255)
	main-menu[1363]: WARNING ***:Configuring 'pkgsel' failed with error code 1
	main-menu[1363]: WARNING **: Menu item 'pkgsel' failed.