First questions

The very first thing you are asked to select is the language you want to use for the installation process (which will subsequently be set as default language for the installed system): choose English, if you share my preferences. After that, you have to choose your country, so that the correct timezone will be set: select other, then Europe, and Italy (or otherwise, if you live elsewhere...). On next screen, choose the locale: select "en_US.UTF-8". Then choose the keymap to use: select "Italian", if you have an Italian keyboard.

At that point the installer warns that multiple network interfaces were found in the system and asks the user to choose the primary interface. One is the Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57785 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe, the other one is the Atheros Communications Inc. AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter: choose the Ethernet one as primary interface. The installer then proceeds to configure the network through DHCP. If you have a DHCP server on your LAN (as in my case), it succeeds and no further configuration is needed.

Now, use your creativity and choose a hostname for your box! You have to enter one in the next screen. Hereinafter, I'll refer to the chosen hostname as $HOSTNAME. Then, you have to enter the domain name: leave the field blank, if you have no established domain name for your LAN.

Time to set the root password: try and think a good one! You can create a regular user as well: enter your full name, a username, and a password.

Partitioning the disk

The goal is setting up a (hopefully) good partitioning layout for a laptop usage, with LVM for flexibility reasons. When asked, choose the manual partitioning method. Next screen displays the current disk partition table:

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
     #1  primary  160.0 GB  B    ext2
     #2  primary  160.0 GB       fat32

The screen also displays the partition table for the USB stick, but we are not going to touch that, so let's ignore it. Select each of the two primary partitions and choose "Delete the partition" from the dialog screen. Now the screen displays the following updated status:

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
       pri/log  320.1 GB      FREE SPACE

Select the free space line and choose "Create a new partition" from the dialog screen. Enter "250 MB" as partition size and choose "Primary" as partition type. Create the partition at the beginning of the available space, change the mount point to /boot and set the bootable flag to "on". After choosing "Done setting up the partition", you get back to the partition table screen, with the following updated status:

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
     #1  primary  248.5 MB  B  f  ext4          /boot
         pri/log  319.8 GB        FREE SPACE

Again select the free space line and choose "Create a new partition". Enter "max" as partition size and choose "Logical" as partition type. Change the "Use as" entry to "physical volume for LVM". After choosing "Done setting up the partition", you get back to the partition table screen, with the following updated status:

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
     #1  primary  248.5 MB  B  f  ext4    /boot
     #5  logical  319.8 GB     K  lvm

Choose "Configure the Logical Volume Manager"; you'll be asked to confirm the creation of partition #1 before you can proceed to the configuration of LVM: answer "Yes". Partition #1 is created with an ext4 filesystem in it.

The next screen allows you to configure the LVM: choose "Create volume group" and enter a suitable two- or three-letter abbreviation of $HOSTNAME (let's call it $HOSTABBR) as volume group name. Select /dev/sda5 for the new volume group. Back to the LVM configuration menu: choose "Create logical volume" and select the only possible volume group. Enter "root" as logical volume name. Now you're asked to enter the logical volume size: enter "1.0 GB". After that, you're back to the LVM configuration menu. If you want to check whether everything went fine, choose "Display configuration details"; you should get something like:

Unallocated physical volumes:
  * none

Volume groups:
  * $HOSTABBR                                           (319819MB)
    - Uses physical volume:        /dev/sda5            (319819MB)
    - Provides logical volume:     root                 (998MB)

Back in the LVM configuration menu, go on setting up logical volumes according to the following table:

LV name	entered size
swap	"2.2 GB"
usr	"15.0 GB"
var	"10.0 GB"
tmp	"0.6 GB"
home	accept proposed size (about "291 GB")

Choose "Finish" from the LVM configuration menu. You get back to the partition table screen, where the situation should look like:

LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV home - 291.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 291.0 GB
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV root - 998.2 MB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 998.2 MB
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV swap - 2.2 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                   2.2 GB
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV tmp - 599.8 MB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 599.8 MB
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV usr - 15.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                  15.0 GB
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV var - 10.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                  10.0 GB
SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
     #1  primary  248.5 MB  B  f  ext4    /boot
     #5  logical  319.8 GB     K  lvm

Select the "#1 291.0 GB" line: change the "Use as" entry to "Ext4 journaling file system", and the mount point to /home. After choosing "Done setting up the partition", select the "#1 998.2 MB" line: change the "Use as" entry to "Ext4 journaling file system", and the mount point to /. After choosing "Done setting up the partition", select the "#1 2.2 GB" line: change the "Use as" entry to "swap area". After choosing "Done setting up the partition", repeat the process for the other logical volumes, until the result is as follows:

LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV home - 291.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 291.0 GB     f  ext4    /home
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV root - 998.2 MB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 998.2 MB     f  ext4    /
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV swap - 2.2 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                   2.2 GB     f  swap    swap
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV tmp - 599.8 MB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                 599.8 MB     f  ext4    /tmp
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV usr - 15.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                  15.0 GB     f  ext4    /usr
LVM VG $HOSTABBR, LV var - 10.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear)
     #1                  10.0 GB     f  ext4    /var
SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB ATA WDC WD3200BPVT-2
     #1  primary  248.5 MB  B  f  ext4    /boot
     #5  logical  319.8 GB     K  lvm

Choose "Finish partitioning and write changes to disk"; you'll be asked to confirm the creation of the partitions: answer "Yes". The desired filesystems are created and the swap area is prepared.

Finishing the installation

At this point, you just have to wait for the base system to be installed.

Afterwards, you'll be asked to choose a Debian network mirror: select a mirror near you (for instance, choose Italy, deb.debian.org). You also have to specify an HTTP proxy, if you use one; if instead you do not use any HTTP proxy on your LAN (as in my case), then leave the proxy field blank.

Then you'll be asked whether you want to contribute to popcon: answer "Yes", if you care about Debian. The next screen allows you to select groups of packages: since the goal here is installing the base system only, deselect everything and choose "Continue". When asked to confirm that GRUB should be installed to the MBR, answer "No", in order to work around a bug in the current debian-installer; then enter "/dev/sda" as device for boot loader installation.

The installation is complete: remove the USB stick and choose "Continue" to reboot the system!