So Last night I was given some good advice from gnif. I went out and bought my drive and a couple of thumb drives. I’m going through the debian website and there’s tons of information there. Is there a guide out there for creating an image on a thumb-drive using another computer-windows then booting off of that thumb-drive to install on a new ssd? I dont have an ISO burning software that im aware of
What OS are you using currently?
im on windows 10 on my laptop( but thats not the computer im converting)
The desktop im turning into a Linux machine has a brand new ssd with no OS on it
Please just go try Linux Mint first. Experiment with other distros in a VM.
Ill quote myself about distros.
Its all the same. Use something thats easy to use and make yourself productive. Do not get sucked into the disease. .
Heres a challenge I give people.
The other distributions provide a learning curve that helps you learn more. That doesn’t need to mess up your work flow. Install gentoo in a VM. install arch in a VM. Etc.
You see what I am getting at? Your a new Linux user. Debian is a good distro. It has its strengths and weaknesses. Its not for the baby. Its a choke hazard. This is not an insult. Learning should be slow and less frustrating 
.I don’t want to see you give up because something is too difficult for what you currently know. Baby steps
Software to make images
RUFUS
Etcher
dd
UUI
1 Like
I think you can just use balena etcher on windows to move a downloaded debian image to a thumb drive
1 Like
I use yumi because I’m a distrohopper 
3 Likes
I will end you 
You know exactly what you are encouraging
I actually use yumi for a toolkit on a keychain but yeah.
1 Like
I also use Etcher, it’s simple to use and “just-works”.
After you have created the bootable USB drive you can use it to install Debian. It varies between motherboard what buttons you need to push to get to the boot menu. If nothing else consult motherboard manual to find out. Common buttons are ESC, F1 and DEL.
1 Like
Ive had trouble creating a BSD install with it. Not sure why. Its great though. I love how nice it looks. Someone cared about minimalism in its design
if you’re on windows rufus is amazing
just tell it to create a bootable USB drive, slap the ISO on it and then plug into the computer, enter into the bios and switch the boot order to the USB stick first and turn on legacy bios
debian has a GUI installer, very handy and easy
btw you should use the netinst ISO, you’ll need to be connected to the internet but it’s just a 300 mb installer
also:
me too, not ashamed, but pacman gave me everything I needed… from fira code to freaking brave so I’m amazed
1 Like
Wow a package manager that does package manager stuff. Its revolutionary.
Not
Glad you like it. Now stick with it. Stop hopping.
bionic let me down a lot on elementary, so yeah…
/s
EDIT: oh I think now I got what you meant…
I probably mispoke, it’s the manjaro repos that are making me glad, don’t know if you can call it a pacman feat actually… manjaro’s official repos got everything I need, brave, fira code, eclipse, idea, vscode, node, everything, while at bionic with elementary there was nothing, even node was on an ancient version.
1 Like
Seconding Rufus.
They’ve given Debian some attention recently, and works well from Windows.
1 Like
OP - I was following your thread yesterday but didn’t comment for lack of wanting to be contrary… however seeing as this still appears current/relevant: Debian is great, but I wouldn’t recommend it for your first install, particularly because you mentioned ‘ease of use’, which I think could possibly translate to working ‘out of the box’. Recommend against encryption or other hardening/security measures until your comfortable. As someone mentioned above, linux mint is a great choice - cinnamon, or xfce, or whatever. But personally I like ubuntu/gnome best and would recommend that as entry - if you’re working with 8gb or better RAM (if not, mint/xfce). 19.04 is the shit for me/my system, but support will run out soon and you might consider 18/LTS or 19.10 (a little buggy for me :/) if you don’t want to have to upgrade/reinstall in the nearish future. My 2 cents; good luck, and welcome to the linux community!
I’ve heard people mention Etcher as a good cross-platform program. I had bad luck with others in the past. The ExplainingComputers channel on YouTube goes over how to burn ISO’s on several of their Linux install videos:
They don’t seem to have a vanilla Debian video, but the process would be the same for any desktop OS. One thing to note that most people forget to warn about is the integrity of the ISO you download. I think on Windows you need to use an online method to check the file. There should be a hash file for MD5, SHA1 or similar. If the number they provide doesn’t match your file when you check it then it is likely corrupted and can still install but cause all sorts of weird errors. I had this problem early in my Linux journey.
I think it is absurd how every single time someone comes around mentioning how they want to use ‘fill-in-the-blank’ OS that people have to turn it into a pissing contest. The title is ‘Debian install’; other OSes are off topic. OP wants to try Debian? Do it! If it doesn’t work out there are Debian based alternatives to a vanilla install.
YouTube and search engines can answer most questions if you know what to ask. If you aren’t sure, there are people here to help.
I havent seen a pissing contest quite yet… and I’ve kept quiet about my distro preferences and thoughts on linux… but I want to say that this is not acceptable and should be flagged if you see a topic devolving into this. I dont want to deter people from making suggestions but if someone comes in here suggesting things and arguing about it then I’m going to stomp it out of existence when I see it. I think people just want to be helpful with their recommendations most of the time.
Be good shepherds to the linux community, and to your fellow users.
3 Likes
This.