Pure floppy disk install HOW-TO?
 

Has anyone installed a recent release of Slackware (9.x) from floppy disks only?

I can't seem to use my network adapter during installation (as described in two other threads on this forum), so I consider to do a minimal installation from floppy disks as a last resort, and continue with that. However, I don't know, what packages I really need. Given that series a is well over 35 MB alone, I wonder, if I really need all the packages in this series in order to get my system up and running with network support.

So, can anyone tell me, where to find information on this?

Thanks

Alex

You could start out by installing zipslack on a small (~128MB) partition, then migrate it to an ext2 or ext3 partition and use the original small partition as swap. Then you can use pkgtool to add other packages.

This has been described in other threads as well. Try searching.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

Good hint, thanks.

Only problem: Limited disk space... 8-( (I've got 32 MB for DOS already, and that's about all I can afford not to spend for Slackware...).

But it's not a problem anymore: I found that I only have a problem with the installation disks of Slackware-current. I tried the disk images from Slackware-9.1, and -- suprise, surprise -- my PCMCIA Ethernet works like a charm. So I can start with a 9.1 network installation and upgrade to current later.

Only question left: What's wrong with the installation disks of Slackware-current? Is it a bug in Kernel 2.4.23?

For slightly larger hard discs the solution you describe seems very practical, so thanks again.

Alex

It's taken me a long time to develop this list, and I've come up with a subset of ZipSlack based on this. This is not the barest minimum to give you a running system, but it's the barest minimum which will let you expand your system and be able to run all scripts, etc.
aaa_base, bash, bin, cpio, cxxlibs, devs, elflibs, elvis, etc, fileutils, findutils, gawk, glibc-solibs, grep, gzip, inetd, kbd, kernel modules, less, lilo, modutils, openssl, pidentd, pkgtools, ppp, procps, sh-utils, shadow, slocate, sysklogd, sysvinit, tar, tcpip, textutils, util-linux, wget.
If you're doing slack 9.1 it's coreutils instead of util-linux and module-ini-tools instead of mod-utils.
If you have USA keyboard, you can do without kbd. You can also dispense with slocate if you don't need to find files and you may be able to get by without wget. All this will need about 45MB. To continue installing over internet you may need more stuff. This mostly what you need to connect with a modem, but you'll need links or lynx or you can use wget without anything.
My little system has all this, plus windowmaker, opera7.22,gui dialer, nedit, wmcpload, mount.app and more, in about 140MB installed. Just about on a par with a bare win98 install, except that I have a couple hundred more CLI programs at my disposal! All this come in a 70MB zip file! Did i mention that i can start this from a shortcut on my win98 desktop (called Kill Bill). i expect to release this soon, maybe post a howto here as well.

Keep us informed about where and when you release your distro --- and the how-to would certainly be appreciated!

Alex

One of the first things I add to zipslack is ncurses, so I can use pkgtool and make menuconfig.

Of course, it's not absolutely necessary. You could get by with installpkg/removepkg and make config, but it's one concession I'm willing to make for 'ease of use' over 'minimal install' :-)

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

In my haste of transcribing the list I also left out file system tools. If you're going to run this from a FAT partition you'll need umsdosprogs. And if you want to install or migrate this to a 'real' linux partition you'll need e2fsprogs, reiserfsprogs, jfsprogs, or xfsprogs. I recommend the reiser file system if you're going that way as it is faster and recovers better from crashes. What crashes? Yeah, sometimes, if you're fooling around configuring X, and you don't get it right, you'll have to crash it in order to get out.
For the original poster: it sounds like he doesn't have much disk space so I think the zipslack/umsdos install would be the best since it shares the FAT partition with his DOS. And I have found the file system to be quite robust. They say that it runs slower than 'real' file systems but I can't tell it. I have a 32MB 233MMX system and my zipslack based 140MB system runs faster than my full install (1.1GB) on Reiserfs on the syme computer.
Yes you will need ncurses for pkgtool. Funny, it doesn't show on the list of installed pkgs, but it's in there somewhere in zipslack.

Right: The "original poster" is me, and I *don't* have much disk space... It's old hardware with only a floppy drive (no CD-ROM) and a small hard disc. As I'd like to use most of it for Slackware, and only 32 MB for FreeDOS, Zipslack is probably not a solution for my current problem.

But it seems that my original question has started a most interesting discussion. Thank you for your replies. We might think of moving the subject to a new, more correctly named thread, but it should not be stopped, I think!

Please continue adding and discussing your ideas!

Alex

Exactly how much free space do you have on the hard disk? I could probably come up with a smaller list.
By the way, knowing that I had it i looked to see where ncurses was. It's part of elflibs.
You might consider ditching freedos and just sys the hard drive from a win98 bootdisk.

My HD is altogether 2GB, which is not *so* tight, to be honest. However, I'd like to have a rather complete system on it. Which is possible, but I'd prefer to only have a small FAT partition for FreeDOS. I haven't checked lately but some time ago FreeDOS couldn't deal with partitions larger than 32 MB --- which is too small even for zipslack. That was the reason why I thought of a floppy disk only installation method.

But I have yet another system in mind that I want to fit with Slackware in the near future --- and for that system the approach you suggest can prove *very* helpful. It's a i486-66 with a 230 MB harddisc, a floppy disk and a CD-ROM drive. Really a candidate for Zipslack, isn't it? ;-)

In a few months another computer will follow: AMD-K6-200, 64 MB, 1 GB SCSI harddisc, 1 Floppy and 1 CD-ROM drive --- clearly another potential target for (Zip)Slack, then. 8-)

So, I'll soon have some good use for your hints and tips and list.
Thanks!

Alex

OT: Slackware really deserves an Energy Star!
It's obviously the most environmentally friendly distribution on the planet --- you can recycle just about any old hardware with it! *g*

Alex

I'm going to refine my list a little, and list what I've taken OUT of zipslack, and thengroup some common options together with their dependencies. I'll not post it now, as I would like it to be a little better organized. I hope to soon have this avavilable as a downloadable package with some howto's.
I'll also work up a list that will work for those who want to use a regular install to partitions other than FAT. Watcg for posts on 'minimal install'.

I wasn't explicit about the list I gave above. If you'll follow that list it will give you an installed size of about 42-45MB! You'll be able to add whatever you want and boot without any errors with just those packages. You may need minicom or nc to do your network transactions, though. I'd recommend you use the reiser file system as it is faster and more dependable. Also because if you use ext2, or ext3 it's going to reserve 10-100MB for root that you may not need. If you're on a lan you may not need openssl. And you can leave out,kbd,less,procps,slocate and wget Should get you down to around 40MB

Great, thank you, Gnashley!

My problem with my old laptop is solved now: There appears to be a bug in the pcmcia.dsk of Slackware-current. I was able to install with the floppy disk images of Slackware-9.1 (stable), and then upgrade the kernel. So the initial reason for me to start this thread is no longer existing, but I have come to find this subject "minimal install" too fascinating to just stop it here.

I'll watch 'minimal install' from now on, and once one the next old hardware pieces is due for "upgrading" to Slackware (from Win9x) I'll have the opportunity to try out at least some of your tips.

I suggest that we continue this in more accurately named thread 'minimal install', as I think that more people interested in the subject might look there for this kind of information.

So far I can only say a big THANK YOU for your great patience.

See you!

Alex

Uhh, forgot to mention one thing:

Why didn't I try out the things you described on my laptop?
Reason is: Despite its age it's going to be used for production purposes, so I hesitated to do experiments here. But as I said, two other machines are soon due to be 'slacked'. At least on one of them I'll try out your minimal install approach. I'm looking forward to that!

Thanks again!