It's a shame I have to go as far as post having such a simple problem...


I have used Linux before in my life and now I'm following this step-by-step tutorial for installing Debian with only 3 floppies (it's possible!).

The problem is THIS simple:

I boot with rescue disk and get everything down ok, but when this tutorial says the boot process should ask for root.bin, it asks for linux.bin. Sure... but I don't need the linux.bin for floppy installation and hey, I don't even want to use it because I don't have Linux on my computer... yet!

So linux.bin gives me Kernel panic, of course. No fs mounted.

.............
So how do I get to the root.bin and thus access dbootstrap, which is essential for installation? What are the arguments? Am I completely lost?

After this I won't need any help. Installed Linux(es) before...

The question might be better asked in the Distros/Debian group. I have just installed my first Debian in the same way that you are trying. All I needed to do an Internet install were the rescue disk, root.bin disk and three drivers.bin disks. Of course it also took a couple of hours of ADSL downloads.

I booted from the rescue disk and when prompted inserted the root.bin disk and then the drivers disks.

The insallation guide is at http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...stall.en.html, you talk about
this step-by-step tutorial for installing Debian with only 3 floppies without giving any information about it. It would help if you could tell us exactly what you are trying to install. Is it some sort of micro installation like Tom's Root Boot disk? www.toms.net/rb/ or a full internet/lan install without a CD?

ZB

The Debian address was mangled.

http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...nstall.en.html

That's exactly what I'm doing: Debian network install. I have rescue floppy, root floppy and the drivers I need for all this. I do have the floppy images written with rawrite3.

The problem is, when I boot with the rescue disk, it doesn't prompt for root, but it gives me the boot: prompt and after that it asks for linux.bin. Like an ordinary linux boot. Loading........................

It could be that I got the wrong images. I'll check...

http://www.scifish.com/~yuliya/doc/l...stall-ch1.html

The tutorial I'm reading is even more simple than the Debian's own...

*** Update ***

I managed to start the installation from DOS running the loadlin.exe (as it is in install.bat), but still my problem is the rescue disk. I partitioned my hd (Win98 is still here ) and configured everything but when I insert the rescue disk I get floppy error. Can't extract from the floppy.

Maybe it's a bad diskette... Still I wonder how I managed to boot from it normally.

Any ideas?

(btw that signature is old. I'm only running Internet Explorer now )

It was the diskette! Tried a new one and it worked just fine. It loaded linux.bin and after that asked for the root floppy.

Well done. It is always the diskette or the network cable or something is not plugged in that I check first; or, to be truthful, I wish I had checked first after a problem has finally been resolved.

Thanks for the tip about http://www.scifish.com/~yuliya/doc/l...stall-ch1.html it looks very good. I am sure that is less complicated than Debian makes it. Debian would immediately change their documentation if anyone beat them at covering every single possible angle exhaustively )

ZB