install from hardrive

justwantin · 01-08-2004, 03:38 PM

I've done about 6 installs of slack-9.1 from cd's but I now have a situation where I need to install off a hard drive.

Can anyone tell me how to set up the directory(ies) for an install of slack from a hardrive?

hda8 will be /home. There's plenty of room to spare so I figure I can park the packages there.

I've already mounted /dev.hda8 as /hda8 and the /dev/cdrom as /cdrom. I copied /cdrom/slackware from the first cd to /hda8/slackware but what path should /kde, /gnome and /kernels have when I copy them from the second cd.

I'm thinking of 9.0 and 8.1 where everything was on one cd and in /slackware. and that now that 9.1 has two cds perhaps this matter has to be addressed differently.

TIA

Rick

poison · 01-08-2004, 03:49 PM

I guess you have the iso's ?
in this case ->

Quote:

Q:
How do I install from the ISO9660 image if I don't have a CD-R or CD-RW drive (or "I have no way to burn this image that I just downloaded.")?

With loopback of course! You can mount the ISO9660 image on the kernel loopback device from another filesystem.

For example, say you download the ISO9660 image under Windows. Boot the Slackware boot and root disks for your system. Assuming your Windows partition is /dev/hda1 and you downloaded the ISO9660 image to C:, issue these commands:

mkdir -p /dos
mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /dos
cd /dos
mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
mkdir /INSTALL
mount -o loop /dos/install.iso /INSTALL

You can then tell the Slackware setup program to install from a premounted directory and pass it /INSTALL/slakware. This trick can also be used if you cannot make a valid CD with your burner.

Have fun!

thats just one idea....it's the collest thing I've done under Linux so far...mounting an iso on my loopback....Patrick Volkerding...one true GURU ^^
of course you can also just copy the whole CD content to any directory and then point the installer to that premounted directory...

justwantin · 01-08-2004, 07:51 PM

OK, I had the time to gove it a go this AM and have answered my own question.

It could be any partition with enough room that won't get formatted during slack install. I used /dev/hda9 which will be root and will not have anything written to it until post install when I adduser.

On the 1st cd there is a /cdrom so I only have to mkdir /hda9 then cp -pR /slackware /hda9.
Next copy /kde and /gnome from the second cd.

Then I boot from the cd and begin the installation.

When I get to the select media step in the slack install I select the hard drive option and all the package groups will be found and installed as per selection. Then the rest of the installation proceeds as normal