Can I use Ubuntu Live CD to do a net-install of debian?
 

I was using ubuntu before my main harddisk failed, after buying a brand new harddisk, I want to come back to debian testing again to test it a bit. The problem is that I am using Intel pro wireless 2100 network card and my wired network card is broken, plus pure debian net-install disc dont have the ipw2100 module, so I cant use the pure debian net-install disc. And Ubuntu live-cd comes with the ipw2100 kernel module, if somehow I could use the Ubuntu live-cd to net-install debian, that will be great. But how?

If someone know how to do that, please drop some comments.

Thanks

Ubuntu ain't Debian. I don't think you can make it work. Your obvious solution is to download the Debian Netinstall disk and plug your laptop in via a regular ethernet connection for the time it takes to get the installation completed. If for some reason, you don't have an ethernet connection in your house, check with public libraries, etc. to see if they can provide you with one for an hour or so.

I mean my network card inside my laptop is broken. So I cannot connect to any wired network (unless I give HP (this is a compaq laptop) $$$ to fix it)

(I can acess the internet using windows (because I have ipw2100 windows driver) does it help?)
Thanks anyway

It's going to be a bit tricky. Especially since the modules are non-free software and in Debian's contrib repo rather than Main. The point there is that they won't be included in any of the regular installation CDs. Also, Debian's repos don't include any firmware, which I think you may also need to download from somewhere else. You could use Windows to download the packages you need and then dpkg to install them. First however, you'll need to have the tools to compile the source modules, and I'm not sure which Debian install CD would include those. I would guess it would be on the first couple CDs.

As I said, it could be done, I think I could do it myself, but it would require lots of experimentation and playing around. I certainly don't feel qualified to lay you out a step by step process. Maybe you could connect a wired ethernet via a USB port. Not really sure how well that will work either tho.

Etch comes with kernel 2.6.18.3, and according to this page, it comes with the module built for Etch, which solves the requirement of a C compiler being needed for the install.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ipw2100

They also have good instructions on there about where to install the firmware. You will have to get the firmware files yourself, there is no way around that. You can put them on a usb stick, add them to the deb install CD, whatever, as long as your box can read them.

Beyond that, you may want to get the iwconfig package for Debian, which will allow you to connect to WEP protected networks, if that is how your wireless is protected.

This can all be done fairly easily, as long as you get the firmware and get it onto the machine without using the network card.

Peace,
JimBass

Come on, man! You're in Hong Kong. Surely a plug-in wired NIC adapter to fit your laptop can't cost more than a few USD over there. :) Or does your laptop not have a PCMCIA port?

Thank you for your info, I am shocked that the kernel already supports my NIC card...I remembered I had to compile the module myself when I last installeed debian (I dont read kernel "what is new" nor distribution release notes :cry: )kudos to the kernel devs;)

I just downloaded the fireware using windows and mounted the windows partition inside the debian base system, copied the firmware to the appropriate directory, and voila! I am using the ipw2100 card inside debian now....

Thank you

Why buy something useless? ;)

I'm glad you got it working. Things like that are mainly a function of the kernel, and installing Debian stable is a sure recipe for modern-ish hardware to not be supported. Not that the ipw2100 is fresh off the presses, but the kernel in Sarge is from 2004 or early 2005. It also helps that the card is both widespread, and manufactured by a company that isn't completely hostile towards open source drivers.

I had completely forgotten about downloading it in windows then mounting it, good choice on that.

Peace,
JimBass

The is why I like linux...
You can use it without reformatting the harddisk untill the disk die. In windows, it become slower and slower as time goes and you have frequent BSOD after a year that force you to reinstall the whole windows and apps from scratch.