Beginning the debian install is simple, put the first CD in the cdrom drive and boot up. The disk (at least the potato release) will boot up fine and walk you through the basic install. I have a cable modem when we are at the dock, so I elected to install only a base system from the CD, and install the rest from the net. This was a piece of cake. The first step is to partition the harddrive, with the standard 3.2GB HD, I partitioned as follows.

However, at this time, I upgraded to a 20GB drive and I did things a little differently. You have to chose how, I like to split off /home from the / partition because that lets me upgrade the whole system, even to another distribution, without worrying about my personal files. I don't use windows on on this machine, and hence, have no issues with dual booting.

After the partiotioning, you will install a base system, including any modules needed. At the point where you are asked about modules. only install the ones you will need to do the rest of the install, you can allways add any others needed, later. Don't bother with sound, or USB or any of that stuff. Especially if you plan (as I did) on upgrading from potato (stable) to Sid, (unstable) right away. The less you have to replace from potato, the better. The one thing you will need is the pcmcia stuff, so install the modules for that, including whatever network card you plan on using. (See the pcmcia howto for info on getting a stubborn card to work.)

Once the initial install is done, you will be asked to reboot the system to the new install, at that point, you can convert to Sid as I did, or continue with potato. There is no right or wrong choice between Potato and Sid, I like Sid, I have had no stability problems, and I use my laptop for business, however, YMMV so be aware that Sid is an unstable child, stuff will eventually break at some point. It does tend to get fixed quickly though :)