September 24, 2023

Set up a VPS with Trisquel GNU/Linux NetInstall

Pick a VPS (Virtual Private Server) plan with a provider. The lowest offer should do. Mine has 1024MB of RAM, 1 CPU and a disk space of 25GB. It costs 5$ per month.

Do not select the default operating system the VPS provider offers. It is often Debian, which includes non-free blobs1.

Upload your own ISO image of Trisquel GNU/Linux NetInstall which you can download there: https://trisquel.info/en/download. Verify the ISO image: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/verify-trisquel-download. If you struggle to verify the ISO image, let me know.

Note: some providers might offer to upload the ISO image for you, in that case you can’t verify the file.

Once uploaded, you can select the ISO image on the interface of the VPS provider.

Now start the install of Trisquel GNU/Linux NetInstall on the console of the VPS (in your browser).

  1. Select Install (the first line)
  2. Select language used for the install
  3. Select country
  4. Select country for keyboard layout
  5. Select keyboard layout
  6. Configure network” might fail, you have to do step by step manually. To do so:
  7. Type IP address - given by the VPS provider
  8. Type netmask - idem
  9. Type gateway - idem
  10. Type nameservers - idem
  11. Type hostname i.e. the name of your VPS - idem
  12. Type the domain name of VPS provider - idem
  13. Select a mirror
  14. If your network is behind a proxy then type your proxy information. Else, hit enter
  15. Type admin pseudo/name
  16. Type username
  17. Type passphrase
  18. Select the type of partition - choose Guided - entire disk if you don’t know2
  19. Select disk
  20. Select partition scheme
  21. Select Yes
  22. Select the size of partition - if you don’t know select 100%
  23. Select Finish… to confirm partition
  24. Select Yes
  25. Select software (I use Trisquel Console Environment)
  26. Select Yes to install GRUB

The install should be completed.

Unmount the ISO image so you can restart the VPS and be prompted with Trisquel’s interface.

Enter username and password.

You should see this:

Welcome to Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Aramo (GNU/Linux 5.15.0-84-generic x86_64)
   ___        ___               ___        ___       ___        ___        ___
  /\  \      /\  \      ___    /\  \      /\  \     /\__\      /\  \      /\__\
  \ \  \    /  \  \    /\  \  /  \  \    /  \  \   / /  /     /  \  \    / /  /
   \ \  \  / /\ \  \   \ \  \/ /\ \  \  / /\ \  \ / /  /     / /\ \  \  / /  /
   /  \  \/  \ \ \  \  /  \__\ \ \ \  \/ /  \ \  \ /  /  ___/  \ \ \  \/ /  /
  / /\ \__\/\ \ \ \__\/ /\/__/\ \ \ \__\/__/ \ \__\__/  /\__\/\ \ \ \__\/__/
 / /  \/__/_|  \/ /  / /  /\ \ \ \ \/__/\  \ / /  /  \ / /  /\ \ \ \/__/\  \
/ /  /      | |  /  / /__/  \ \ \ \__\ \ \/\/ /  / \  / /  /\ \ \ \__\ \ \  \
\/__/       | |\/__/\ \__\   \ \/ /  /  \    /  / \ \/ /  /  \ \ \/__/  \ \  \
            | |  |   \/__/    \  /  /    \  /  /   \  /  /    \ \__\     \ \__\
             \|__|             \/__/      \/__/     \/__/      \/__/      \/__/

Documentation: https://trisquel.info/wiki/
Support forum: https://trisquel.info/forum/

Now we want to set up a SSH connection so we can connect to the VPS from our local machine without passwords.

Feedback and questions welcome.


What’s Trisquel GNU/Linux?

Trisquel is a GNU/Linux distribution that contains only free software. Trisquel GNU/Linux is derived from Ubuntu. It uses a version of Ubuntu’s modified kernel, with the non-free code removed3.

The website trisquel.info has a tutorial which you can use a reference https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/install-trisquel-server. It is outdated though.


  1. https://trisquel.info/en/forum/debian-votes-include-non-free-firmware-installer↩︎

  2. To learn about LVM, you can read https://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/whatisvolman.html↩︎

  3. source: Wikiless↩︎

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

I do self-funded research and I'm writing a book.

> What's the book about?

About technologies and epistemology.

Meaning, technologies can foster agency. No doubt. But I am also asking:

Can technologies make us blind?

I posted a summary of the prologue on the homepage: https://yctct.com/

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍


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