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Debian Text only install

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Calum:
how do i install debian in a text only (no GUI) way? my video card is not compatible with whatever GUI debian tries to open during the install, and i'm wondering what to type at the very first prompt to get it to install textually.

thanks in advance.......

creedon:
You must have an unusual card; I've never had a problem setting up X; but if you feel you must, simply don't configure X- then you'll have text only, or better still, don't even install the X-window packages.

flap:
I don't think Debian has graphical installer, does it? I can't really remember but surely there are instructions on-screen when you get to the prompt?

Pantso:
Eh, since when does Debian have a graphical installer? I recently installed Debian 3.0 in text mode only with no option for a graphical installation. I'm confused.   :confused:

Calum:
thanks, but neither of those are too helpful to me. here is the full story:

i have a SiS630 video card on this particular computer which was broken in red hat up to 7.2 and mandrake up to 8.2. I just installed freeBSd too and LUCKILY it has a text only install as default. X failed in much the same way as with Debian (when you try and startx you get nothing but a black screen and must ctrl-alt-backspace to see the 'x has crashed' message) when i tested it but running xf86config and selecting the SiS620 driver worked fine (there's no SiS630 driver in FreeBSD 4.7 like there is in mandrake 9 and red hat 8).

Now when i try and boot from the debian CD the following happens:

i get the lovely TEXTUAL starting screen telling me i can choose what type of install i want to go for, eg i can type different things depending on whether i want support for older kit, newer kit, minimal kit, bog-standard kit, whatever BUT there's no way to specify a text only install as far as i can see.

When you install mandrake or red hat, the FIRST screen you see offers you a GUI installation or a textual installation. if you choose the GUI install, they try and run X, if that fails, they try and run X via the framebuffer, if that fails, you get a non GUI install regardless. This choice is NOT given to me on the first screen of Debian and hence the following happens:

i try and start the installation by selecting the default or one of the other preset things that you type in, and then hit enter. the screen goes black. I immediately recognise the symptoms of X trying to work with my inherently faulty video card (this is a known hardware bug that some distros have worked around, i hasten to add, not a fault with freeBSD or Debian, although it was pretty easy to get it going in freeBSD).

I am flummoxed and flabbergasted to hear that debian does not offer a non-X install. this means that if your video card doesn't work with X right out of the box, you can't install debian! useless! i really didn't think, what with its reputation, that debian could allow such a huge error. also, i am highly surprised to hear that it has no text based install considering how all the GUI freaks moan about how bad its install process is, i assumed they were just bitching about the lack of a gUI!

anyway, are you sure there's no way to install debian without having a video card that works with X out of the box? i just simply cannot believe that this is the case.

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