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<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
<!-- $Id$ -->

 <sect1 id="doc-organization">
 <title>Organization of This Document</title>

<para>

This document is meant to serve as a manual for first-time Debian
users.  It tries to make as few assumptions as possible about your
level of expertise.  However, we do assume that you have a general
understanding of how the hardware in your computer works.

</para><para>

Expert users may also find interesting reference information in this
document, including minimum installation sizes, details about the
hardware supported by the Debian installation system, and so on.  We
encourage expert users to jump around in the document.

</para><para>

In general, this manual is arranged in a linear fashion, walking you
through the installation process from start to finish.  Here are the
steps in installing &debian;, and the sections of this document which
correlate with each step:

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>

Determine whether your hardware meets the requirements for using the
installation system, in <xref linkend="hardware-req"/>.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Backup your system, perform any necessary planning and hardware
configuration prior to installing Debian, in <xref linkend="preparing"/>. If
you are preparing a multi-boot system, you may need to create
partition-able space on your hard disk for Debian to use.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

In <xref linkend="install-methods"/>, you will obtain the necessary
installation files for your method of installation.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

<xref linkend="boot-installer"/> describes booting into the
installation system.  This chapter also discusses troubleshooting
procedures in case you have problems with this step.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Perform the actual installation according to
<xref linkend="d-i-intro"/>. This involves choosing your language,
configuring peripheral driver modules, configuring your network
connection, so that remaining installation files can be obtained
directly from a Debian server (if you are not installing from a CD),
partitioning your hard drives and installation of a base system, then
selection and installation of tasks.
(Some background about setting up the partitions for your Debian
system is explained in <xref linkend="partitioning"/>.)

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

Boot into your newly installed base system, from <xref linkend="boot-new"/>.

</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>

</para><para>

Once you've got your system installed, you can read
<xref linkend="post-install"/>.  That chapter explains where to
look to find more information about Unix and Debian, and how to
replace your kernel.

<!-- XXX FIXME: If you want to build your own install system
from source, be sure to read <xref linkend="boot-floppy-techinfo"/>. -->

</para><para>

Finally, information about this document and how to contribute to it
may be found in <xref linkend="administrivia"/>.

</para>

 </sect1>

 <sect1 condition="FIXME">
 <title>Your Documentation Help is Welcome</title>

<para>

Any help, suggestions, and especially, patches, are greatly
appreciated.  Working versions of this document can be found at
<ulink url="&url-d-i-alioth-manual;" />.  There you will find a list of all the different
architectures and languages for which this document is available.

</para><para>

Source is also available publicly; look in <xref linkend="administrivia"/>
for more information concerning how to contribute.
We welcome suggestions, comments, patches, and bug reports (use the
package <classname>installation-guide</classname> for bugs, but check first to see if the problem is
already reported).

</para>
 </sect1>