If you put 'expert26' at the prompt (at the beginning of the install), it will give you a choice of stable, testing, and unstable. Skip the packages section, do a update/dist-upgrade, and install xfce4 and whatever else you fancy.ethyrdude wrote: I decided to download a new netinstall iso, I couldn't find one for unstable so I downloaded the new etch installer,
just put this in your .xinitrc:From button press on to login takes 30 seconds but I'm not using any gui for the login. once I log in, it takes 2 seconds to show the user prompt. I then type in "startxfce4" which I will automate later and 12 seconds later Xfce4 is fully loaded. I was using Fluxbox and DR17 (Enlightenment) but I decided to go with the mouse.
#!/bin/sh
<whatever app you also want to start> &
xfce4-session
save/exit
startx
I did it with a business card iso (37 MB):
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=11822
as for booting time, i'm down to 24 seconds after POST to login. I installed 'sysvconfig' and disabled:
ifupdown
networking
openbsd-inetd
rc.local
of course this is strictly subjective, i got dhcp, no lan .