OK, here's the skinny; my buddy made the Debian discs using a Windows program; it managed to corrupt the first (boot/install) disc, I just finished burning a new copy; It boots and installs the kernel into a RAMdisk. MORAL: DON'T use Windows applications to copy Linux discs- I think that it may be intentional corruption; I'm going to review the other CD's with "apt-find" on a random basis, but the most important one is good, so a basic install can be done with it. I'm sorry this is taking so long, but there's no point in trying to get this project off the ground with a disc set that will just cause major install problems; Debian's not the easiest install, and I want it to go as easily as it can; I will say this; the end result will be worth the wait. Now that I've got a reliable power supply in my box, things will go faster (Damn, it's tough being a control freak!!)