Post-installation conclusion: | If you're going to use an external drive for your | virtualbox linux debian operating system, | format the drive as exfat, and choose the location of your VM | on the drive instead of transferring it to it after installing | on your PC. +----------------- Download the linux Debian ISO from https://www.debian.org. At the time of this writing, I downloaded debian-12.10.0-amd64-netinst.iso by clicking the link on the index page there. Previously, I had planned on using 12.9, but it might be better if we stay up-to-date. Download Virtualbox from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads I'm not using the VirtualBox Extension Pack. That would probably allow you to use the previously mentioned "Guest Additions", which is required for additional functionality. I have already been working with my script, and found ways to work around that. However, you might want to install that yourself - and it probably wouldn't matter. The license of the standard packages is GPL version 3, which seems to permit redistributing and even selling. I could include that on my DVD of the programs I want to use, and even sell the DVD. All of the variants of virtualbox were downloaded - Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris. For Linux, I got the Xubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12 downloads. The debian 12.10.0 download for the net installation probably has fewer programs on it. You can install them from the internet with apt. There is a 4.7 GB DVD that has programs on it, which might be nice for keeping a record of them. Newer programs make older ones outdated, but you can use the DVD without the internet, which might be nice in case of an internet failure. The total size of the virtualbox and debian downloads are 1.5 GiB. Installing ---------- Start virtualbox. Click on "New" (next to "Add", with the plus sign). Name your virtual machine. I'm naming mine "Debian_12_10_0__001". I'm using a 1TB NVME with a USB adapter, and have my files in it. I'm going to change the location for the second option, "Folder", to that. Hopefully, I'll be able to use it on a Windows 11 installation. Note: If you're using Windows 11, it would be better to have "exfat" file system for use with removable media. "ntfs" can cause some problems with un-mounting it in linux. "ext4" might not be able to be read by Windows, at least without additional installations for file system types. "exfat" is like fat32, except it extends beyond the 4GB file limit. There might be some other improvements, as well. Click "Skip Unattended Installation", to put a checkmark in the box. Click "Next". Allocate 1024MB of Base Memory (RAM - Random Access Memory). Allocating 512MB causes Debian to boot in low-memory mode, although you might only need that much. I'm using 2 CPUs at the moment. Create a Virtual Hard Disk. I'm not allocating the full size. 20 GB would probably be enough, but I'm changing the limit to 60 GB. Click "Next". Click "Finish". Click "Start", with the arrow pointing right. Now, we're entering the booting phase. Press the down-arrow key and choose enter for the "Install" mode. Note: You can install a "Graphical install", and then switch to the linux console with Alt + <F6> or something like that. From that, you can switch back with another variant of Alt plus a function key, like Alt + <F7>. A graphical install might give you access to more desktop features like you'd see in a regular operating system installation. If you want to use it for something other than playing the game and using the programs, you might want to do that. However, 2deg.net plans to allow you to use it's programs to develop yours. Perhaps one day we'll become more advanced with our own graphical implementation using the linux framebuffer. Choose "English" "United States" "American English", for the keymap to use. Loading additional components... Enter the hostname for this system: I chose "chaz". domain name: filewriteno. I'm using filewriteno for the domain name. That will be the company connected to forestcathedral "the business that supports forestcathedral" ForestCathedral houses the developers' documentation as part of the game NomadofVolcania connects to after the main part of the game. 2deg.net would allow you to develop your own games and programs separately from the main hub, however we do not encourage you to do so. I'm choosing password "guest" for the root account, despite the warnings. I'm pretty sure my system will not be accessible to others over the internet, and even if it is, it's only running in a virtualbox instance. User account: Full name of the user: I'm using "chaz". You could use the same name you used for the hostname. If you want to be sure your name is available, you might be able to sign up in the future to get a username connected to us that is unique to you. Username for your account: the same as hostname and user account full name. If you want the names to be the same, and follow the advice of using a lowercase letter for the first letter, the name of choice which you choose for all 3 options should be the same and start with a lowercase letter. Password: "guest" (without quotation marks). Timezone: I chose "Eastern". Partition disks: "Guided - use entire disk" Select disk to partition: Choose the default. Partitioning scheme: "All files in one partition" Press Enter for "Finish partitioning and write files to disk". Write the changes to disks? "<Yes>" Scan extra installation media? "<No>" Debian archive mirror country "United States" Debian archive mirror: "deb.debian.org" HTTP proxy information: leave blank Participate in the package usage survey? "<No>" Choose software to install: Uncheck Debian desktop environment and GNOME. The only selected option should be "standard system utilities". However, per your needs, you might want to choose more. Installing the Debian desktop environment will give you access to their tools but as discussed, 2deg.net might eventually provide a way to use a graphical user interface environment, through their programs. Select "<Continue>". Install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive? "<Yes>" Device for boot loader installation: Choose the option other than "Enter device manually". Note: I tried to copy the ".vdi" hard disk file of my other virtualbox debian installation, to my exfat 1TB nvme. It could be the difference in file system types rendered it unusable. There was a corrupt zip package, so it was unable to boot. Finish the installation: Choose "<Continue>". The disk will automatically be removed, and your system is installed! Log in at the prompt, either with "root", or the user name you supplied. root will give you more access, and you won't have to supply a password for the "apt" program, when you're installing debian ".deb" packages.