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I am leaving Windows because XP is no longer secure and I do not want to switch to Windows 10. I am interested in switching to either Linux or FreeBSD; I am thinking Linux because of its wider usage and support. From research Debian seems to be the best choice for me, but I do not want a graphical user environment; I want a text based/command line environment, similar to how MS DOS was, where I can access programs like my word processor, browser, etc., with typed commands rather than clicking on a link.

This will make things simpler for me because I am color blind and graphical interfaces are difficult for me to navigate much of the time, and I also prefer this older style way of interfacing with the computer. Is there a way to install/configure Debian without a GUI?

Also, while I’m here, what is the best way to install Debian? Currently I am planning on using the netinst ISO image that I have downloaded onto a CD because I don’t have any thumb drives that can fit the larger ISO images. Thanks.

Anthony Geoghegan
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PumpkinEater
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  • I think you can install Debian without a GUI; anyway, you can install it normally and then remove the GUI later. – Renan Mar 24 '19 at 02:42

2 Answers2

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When you install Debian, you eventually reach a “Software selection” dialog which has a list of checkboxes to choose the software you want to install initially. This has a “Debian desktop environment” checkbox, pre-ticked; de-selecting that, and leaving all the other desktop environment checkboxes un-ticked (GNOME, Xfce, etc.), will result in a GUI-less installation:

Screenshot of the “Software selection” dialog.

The network installation image is fine for your purposes.

You might struggle to find much “productivity” software in current releases of Debian which doesn’t require a GUI. There are plenty of text-mode editors, email clients, a few framebuffer-compatible image viewers, even some text-mode web browsers, but you won’t find a text-mode word processor or spreadsheet (at least, not packaged in Debian, as far as I can tell).

Stephen Kitt
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Is there a way to install/configure Debian without a GUI?

Using the downloaded netinst iso you can install and configure debian without a GUI , during the installation process tasksel will ask you to Choose the software to install (software selection) , just uncheck all.

what is the best way to install Debian?

In your case, you can install debian using the netinst iso in your cd.

To work around the installation media limitation, you can use the netboot.xyz image, it is a minimal boot image allowing you to download the debian-installer and installing debian from the official repositories. It is possible to use a floppy (size = 349 Ko) , an USB (size = 1 Mo), cd.

netboot.xyz download page

GAD3R
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