What I should do with LFS LiveCD files?

golden_warrior · 09-13-2005, 12:41 PM

Hello,

I have download all the files of the LFS LiveCD from this ftp address:

Code:

ftp://ftp.lfs-matrix.net/pub/lfs-livecd/

1- What I should do with these files?
2- What files I should burn on CDs? (I have Pentium 4 + Intel mother board).
3- what are these md5sum files?

I really have ZERO knowledge about Unix and Linux.

Thanks for any help in advance.

XavierP · 09-13-2005, 01:15 PM

Firstly, did you also download the LFS book? That tells you what you need to do.

Secondly, LFS (though a great learning tool) is really for the more advanced users. If you are just starting out with Linux your best bet is to get Mandriva, Novell, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mepis or one of the other "easier" distros and work your way up to LFS.

Not to put you down, but you will spend an awful long time without a usable sytem if you start with LFS.

jhuntwork · 10-03-2005, 08:51 PM

Just for future reference and anyone stumbling across this thread: The above reply is a little misleading. If a user has the livecd iso, he doesn't need to download the LFS book or view them online. As the LFS LiveCD's page on the LFS website states:

"Includes all sources and the LFS Book
This spares you from having to download all the packages individually, which can be quite time consuming. It also removes the need for a working internet connection."

Hope this is helpful.

--
JH

Dark_Helmet · 10-04-2005, 03:26 AM

In a sense, yes, that's accurate, but you're overlooking one thing: the ISO file may very well contain the LFS book, but the original question was what to do with the ISO file itself. If a user doesn't know how to burn an ISO file to a CD, then the LFS book inside the ISO file does them absolutely no good. The LFS book has instructions on how to burn the CD from the ISO. While it might not be necessary to download the book, someone who needs help with burning the ISO will still need access to the book to get those directions.

XavierP · 10-04-2005, 04:32 AM

And, here are some ISO burning tutorials: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...iewcat&catid=8

My original comment stands though. LFS is for the more advanced user, I would never suggest it as a first distro. If 'learning Linux' is needed I'd say go with one of the Slackware based distros - Arch, Vector, Zen or Slack itself.

jhuntwork · 10-04-2005, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dark_Helmet
In a sense, yes, that's accurate, but you're overlooking one thing: the ISO file may very well contain the LFS book, but the original question was what to do with the ISO file itself. If a user doesn't know how to burn an ISO file to a CD, then the LFS book inside the ISO file does them absolutely no good. The LFS book has instructions on how to burn the CD from the ISO.

Um... You're going to have to provide a link for me to that one, because I seriously doubt that. The book in its introduction says that it's for a more advanced audience and it offers links to other places so that a user may go acquire the necessary knowledge. I doubt the editors would have ever felt it necessary for them to include the very basic instructions on how to burn a CD.

What's more, the LFS LiveCD is a very young project. (I should know, I created it.

) Up to about a year ago LFS never had an Official LiveCD, so there was previously never *any* references to a CD in the book. At present, to my knowledge, there is only one paragraph in the book that mentions the CD, and that just essentially tells you that it exists.

Now you have a good point that the user needs help in learning how to burn the CD before he can read the included book on it. My point, however, is that the downloading of the book separately is unnecessary, especially considering that it won't tell him/her how to burn the CD. That's something they'll have to learn somewhere else.

--
JH

Dark_Helmet · 10-04-2005, 10:28 AM

A few of things:

You are absolutely correct. I checked the LFS website, the LiveCD portion in particular, and didn't find instructions for burning the CD. I honestly thought there would be a quick blurb about cdrecord somewhere in the text (other than how to install that particular package).
I saw your nick and thought to myself, "that sounds familiar" but couldn't place it. I used to hang out on the IRC channel, or at least tried to. I'd gotten the impression Ratrophy was the guy behind the CD, but that was just based on a few comments made in passing. Not important... just saying I was snooping.
To answer the original question for anyone that ever comes across this thread later. Use cdrecord to burn an ISO image to CD. Something like this:
Code:
```
cdrecord dev=X,X,X speed=Y /path/to/iso_filename
```
The X's in the dev portion are replaced with numbers. There's an appropriate number sequence for your CD burner.Run
Code:
```
cdrecord -scanbus
```
and examine the output to determine what sequence matches your burner. Also, replace the 'Y' with the speed of the drive. If it's a 12x drive, use "12" or lower.

You only need to download one ISO image, not all of them, and the md5sum files are hashes of the images contents; a double-check value to verify the CD. The md5sum can be used to verify the downloaded ISO image matches the expected md5sum file. For details, read the man page for md5sum (man md5sum).

jhuntwork · 10-04-2005, 02:57 PM

Those instructions are good, but they assume the user has a Linux system with cdrtools installed

For the sake of completeness, it's worth mentioning that you could always use Mac OS X or Windows to burn the iso, too. Mac has included tools (Disk Utility?) to burn CDs. With Windows, you'll need some sort of program, Nero or Roxio or something like that. Something that can handle iso images.

--
JH