We configure the PC and install the Linux operating system.

Table of contents

• Which operating system to use?
• Prepare the installation media
  • Prepare the installation media on Linux
  • Prepare the installation media on Windows/MacOS
• Install Debian
• Install Avahi
• Configure the admin user

We use the latest stable Debian release (currently Debian 12 - Bookworm), without a graphical user interface. This provides the best stability for the PC and makes the initial setup a breeze.

From your regular PC, direct download Debian by going to the official website and clicking on the Download button.

Open a terminal and point it to the directory where you downloaded the image (usually, $HOME/Downloads):

$ cd $HOME/Downloads
$ ls | grep debian
> debian-12.5.0-amd64-netinst.iso

⚠️ This is the latest version at the time of writing, in general the output will be like this: debian-12.X.Y-amd64-netinst.iso

Identify the USB flash drive by running the sudo fdisk -l command before and after inserting it (the output will be in the form /dev/sdX, where X may vary):

$ sudo fdisk -l
> ...
> Disk /dev/sdb: 14,51 GiB, 15581839360 bytes, 30433280 sectors
> Disk model: MyUSB Drive     
> Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> Disklabel type: dos
> Disk identifier: 0x1a92d911
> ...

Create the USB bootable media:

$ cp debian-12.X.Y-amd64-netinst.iso /dev/sdX
$ sync

Remove the pen drive.

To flash the operating system .iso to the pen drive, we will use the Balena Etcher application. Go to the website and download the installer for your OS.

• Install the Balena Etcher
• Start the Balena Etcher
• Select "Flash from file" -> Select the Debian .iso file previously downloaded
• Attach the pen drive
• Click on "Select target"
• Select your pen drive unit
• Click on "Flash!"

Balena Etcher will now flash the operating system to your drive and validate it.

✔️ It should display a "Flash Complete!" message after

Remove the pen drive.

Let's install Debian. Following is the installation procedure. At the bottom, you'll also find an animated gif that reports the entire process.

ℹ️ A wired connection is recommended, but if you prefer you can configure wifi during installation
ℹ️ The use of the mouse is optional, you can also navigate between the installation settings using the arrow and tab keys.

⚠️ The following steps refer to an installation with Italian timezone and keyboard. You will need to adapt the steps according to your location.

Plug the pen drive in the target MobyBolt Host, together with a keyboard, a monitor, a mouse (optional) and a ethernet wire.

Turn on the PC and press the key quickly to enter to BIOS setup or directly to the boot menu to select the pen drive as the 1st boot priority device (normally, F9, Esc, F12, or Supr keys). Save and exit.

When the Debian menu appears, choose Graphical install and proceed with the following steps:

1. In Select a language pick English and hit Enter/Continue

2. In Select your location:

   1. pick other and hit Enter/Continue
   2. pick Europe and hit Enter/Continue
   3. pick Italy and hit Enter/Continue

3. In Configure locales pick United States and hit Enter/Continue

4. In Configure the keyboard pick Italian and hit Enter/Continue

5. In Configure the network:

   1. in Hostname write mobybolt and hit Enter/Continue
   2. leave the Domain name field blank and hit Enter/Continue

6. In Set up users and passwords:

   1. write twice a simple root password it in the proper fields and hit Enter/Continue
   2. leave the Full name for the new user field blank and hit Enter/Continue
   3. in Username for your account write temp and hit Enter/Continue
   4. write twice a simple temp password it in the proper fields and hit Enter/Continue

   ℹ️ You can safely choose a simple password for the root user, since we will disable root login in the following steps
   ℹ️ You can safely choose a simple password for the temp user, since this user will be replaced by the admin user (you can't use the username "admin" during installation)

7. In Partition disks:

   1. pick Guided - use entire disk and hit Enter/Continue
   2. in Select disk to partition pick the smallest disk and hit Enter/Continue
   3. in Partitioning scheme pick All files in one partition (recommended for new users) and hit Enter/Continue
   4. in the overwiew window, ⚠️ only if you have a secondary storage for data ⚠️:
      1. pick the largest disk and hit Enter/Continue
      2. in Create new empty partition table for this device? pick Yes and hit Enter/Continue
      3. in the overview window pick the FREE SPACE related to the secondary drive and hit Enter/Continue
      4. in How to use this free space pick Create a new partition and hit Enter/Continue
      5. in New partition size write max and hit Enter/Continue
      6. in Partition settings pick Mount point and hit Enter/Continue
      7. in Mount point for this partition pick Enter manually and hit Enter/Continue
      8. in Mount point for this partition write /var/lib/docker and hit Enter/Continue
      9. in Partition settings pick Done setting up the partition and hit Enter/Continue
   5. in the overview window pick Finish partitioning and write changes to disk and hit Enter/Continue
   6. in Write the changes to disks? pick Yes and hit Enter/Continue

8. In Configure the package manager:

   1. in Scan extra installation media pick No and hit Enter/Continue
   2. in Debian archive mirror country pick Italy and hit Enter/Continue
   3. in Debian archive mirror pick deb.debian.org and hit Enter/Continue
   4. leave the HTTP proxy information field blank and hit Enter/Continue

9. In Configure the popularity-context pick No and hit Enter/Continue

10. In Software selection pick only SSH server and standard system utilities, uncheck all the other options, and hit Enter/Continue

11. In Finish the installation hit Enter/Continue to reboot and remove the pen drive

Once rebooted, log in as root and follow the next instructions.

Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite. By installing avahi, the node will be reachable on the local network as mobybolt.local, as well as with the IP address, which can then stay dynamic.

💡 To check your current IP address, you can type the command ip addr and look for an interface name like enp0s1 (wired) or wlp2s0 (wifi). You should then see a line similar to inet 192.168.X.Y, which is your IP address.

In the following example we detect the IP 192.168.122.58 associated with the wired interface enp1s0:

$ ip addr
> 1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
>     link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
>     inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
>        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
>     inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
>        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
> 2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
>     link/ether 52:54:00:e6:0a:2f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
>     inet 192.168.122.58/24 brd 192.168.122.255 scope global dynamic enp1s0
>        valid_lft 3335sec preferred_lft 3335sec
>     inet6 fe80::5054:ff:fee6:a2f/64 scope link 
>        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

To install and run Avahi, run the following command:

$ apt install -y avahi-daemon

• Remove the temp user (do not worry about the "userdel: temp mail spool (/var/mail/temp) not found" message):

  $ userdel -rf temp
  > userdel: temp mail spool (/var/mail/temp) not found
  

• Install sudo

  $ apt install -y sudo vim
  

• Create the admin user with your Password [ A ]:

  $ adduser --comment "" admin
  > Adding user `admin' ...
  > Adding new group `admin' (1000) ...
  > Adding new user `admin' (1000) with group `admin (1000)' ...
  > Creating home directory `/home/admin' ...
  > Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
  > New password: 
  > Retype new password: 
  > passwd: password updated successfully
  > Adding new user `admin' to supplemental / extra groups `users' ...
  > Adding user `admin' to group `users' ...
  

• Add the admin user to some groups:

  $ usermod -a -G adm,audio,cdrom,dip,floppy,netdev,plugdev,sudo,users,video admin
  

• Logout:

  $ logout
  

You can now disconnect the keyboard and monitor and continue the installation remotely.