In this chapter, you will learn how to install Debian onto your BeagleBone. There are two ways to boot the BeagleBone and run the OS: the first way is to run off the microSD card, and the second is to run off the internal eMMC (flash). BeagleBone has 4 GB of onboard flash, which is not expandable. It is recommended that the microSD be used so that there is ample room left for you to install other programs that will be needed later in the book, and this is what will be shown in this chapter. In order to install the OS, you require a microSD card (an 8 GB card will be fine), an SD card reader (which most laptops have built-in), and the Windows program Win32 DiskImager. This program will write the actual OS image to the SD card, which the BeagleBone will boot from. An archival program, such as WinRAR or 7-Zip, is also needed to extract the OS image from the downloaded archive.