To test the images with qemu:

  * Download:

      $ wget http://jk.fr.eu.org/debian/hurd-installer/mini.iso
      # apt-get install qemu-{system,utils}

  * Create a hard disk image:

      $ qemu-img create hurd-install.qemu 3G

  * Start the installation:

      $ qemu -m 512 -net nic,model=ne2k_pci -net user \
             -hda hurd-install.qemu -cdrom mini.iso -boot d

On real hardware:

  * You will need at least 200MB of memory, or the installer will likely crash.

When going through the installation:

  * Reminder for qemu: with the user network stack default configuration,
    use the following values:

       IP address: 10.0.2.15
       Netmask: 255.255.0.0
       Gateway: 10.0.2.2
       Nameserver: 10.0.2.3

Configuring the installed system:

  * Your /etc/apt/sources.list will be configured to use my installation
    mirror. You may want to change it to a more conventional one, such as:

       deb http://ftp.<country>.debian.org/debian unstable main
       deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian unstable main
       # and, possibly:
       deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian unreleased main

Remarks:

  * The images come with a preseed file which force
    http://jk.fr.eu.org/debian/hurd-installer/mirror as the debian mirror, 
    which is why you don't get asked for one.

  * The preseed file also disables an irrelevant warning about no kernel begin
    available and confirms that the installation should continue.

  * The console takes some time to start, during which you will have a blank
    screen. This is because the reduced font does not work yet, so the console
    has to load the whole unifont.bdf on startup.

  * Rebooting at the end of the installation takes some time as well (maybe 30
    seconds), but it should work after this delay.

Have fun, see my roadmap page on the hurd wiki for more information:

    http://bddebian.com:8888/~hurd-web/user/jkoenig

Email me <jk@jk.fr.eu.org> if you have questions or comments,
I'm also available as jkoenig on #hurd on Freenet, #debian-hurd on OFTC.