BRIMSTONECORE & CONTROL

BRIMSTONE CORE OS · DEBIAN 13 AMD64 · QA11

Your Core OS.
Your music disks.

A dedicated installation guide for Brimstone Core OS, including the exact disk requirements, the real six-screen installer and a clean-install warning. This is a testing release, not a single-disk desktop installer.

Download QA11 ISO ↗Install using Debian .deb ↗

BRIMSTONE CORE OS · QA11 INSTALL REQUIREMENTS

Two drives. Two jobs.

The current bootable Core OS installer is designed around a dedicated Debian system disk and one or more separate disks for the music collection. A single physical disk is not supported for automatic media setup in QA11.

DISK 1 · SYSTEM

Boot / Debian / Core

32 GB minimum dedicated SSD, NVMe or hard disk (64 GB or larger recommended for headroom). The installer permanently erases the selected OS disk.

DISK 2+ · MUSIC

Music / Books / Recordings

At least one additional physical disk or VM virtual disk, separate from the OS target. Use more disks for larger collections or supported ZFS layouts. Music disks are chosen separately and must be configured and mounted for Core to register its collections.

Important before installation: QA11 will boot on a one-disk system, but it cannot automatically configure the media library on that same disk. The ISO erases the OS disk you explicitly confirm; do not select a disk containing music as that target. Back up all important data before preparing or reconfiguring storage.
See the Core OS guide and real screenshots ↗Debian .deb alternative ↗

TYPICAL HARDWARE

Know which disk does what.

OSDrive 132 GB or largerDebian + Core · selected OS disk is erased
♫Drive 2Your media capacityMusic, audiobooks and other owned media
+Drive 3+ (optional)Extra storage / ZFSFor capacity and supported redundancy layouts

For virtual machines, give the VM distinct virtual disks. The recommended VM starting point is at least 4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM. LXC is not a supported ISO installation target. The package install on an existing Debian 13 host is a different route: existing, separately mounted media locations may be used where configured.

REAL INSTALLER · VM1103 · 14 OCTOBER 2026

See every important choice
before installing.

These are genuine screenshots from a Proxmox test VM running the Brimstone Core OS installer, cropped to show the application instead of the Proxmox console. Images are not illustrations or mock-ups. The VM-only warning and virtual-disk sizes refer to that test environment.

The branded Brimstone Core OS Alpha6 v18 boot menu. QA test environment.
Boot menuThe branded Brimstone Core OS Alpha6 v18 boot menu. QA test environment.
The six-stage Core OS installer and its safety defaults.
WelcomeThe six-stage Core OS installer and its safety defaults.
Choose the dedicated OS drive; only this chosen disk is erased during the OS installation.
Select the OS diskChoose the dedicated OS drive; only this chosen disk is erased during the OS installation.
The Debian machine administrator is distinct from the Core application administrator.
Create an administratorThe Debian machine administrator is distinct from the Core application administrator.
Data drives are listed separately from the boot drive; this QA example uses three virtual music disks.
Select music disksData drives are listed separately from the boot drive; this QA example uses three virtual music disks.
Check the OS target, data-drive choices and erase warning before confirming.
Review before installationCheck the OS target, data-drive choices and erase warning before confirming.

The wizard has six stages: Welcome, Installation disk, Administrator, Music storage, Network & SSH and Review. The screens above show the boot menu and five of those wizard stages; the Network & SSH stage is not pictured.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Installation and first boot.

1. Select the boot disk

Confirm the correct 32 GB+ system disk. The installer only erases the explicitly selected OS target.

2. Select separate music disks

Choose one or more additional data disks. This stage records the selection; existing data is not formatted by the disk-picker screen.

3. Complete Core setup

Finish administrator and network configuration, then commission the Core service. Existing music storage must be configured and mounted before collection registration.

Storage safety: A separate media disk is not automatically a safe, ready-to-use library. Storage formatting or pool creation may destroy existing data if deliberately undertaken later. Preserve backups and verify disk identity at every step.

READY TO TEST?

Download the correct installer.

Use the QA11 ISO for a dedicated Core OS machine with separate system and music disks, or use the Debian package on an existing Debian 13 installation.

Bootable ISO QA11 ↗Debian 1.0.3 QA8 .deb ↗