Install Linux ?

rockee · 02-10-2004, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zorba4
OK, rockee,
I just would like to understant your degree of need of use.
In an ideal world, I would
1) put my ISO files on a server, acting as a jukebox server and use them.
2) boot on floppy, give the jukebox server name as nfs server.
3) is this what you want to do ?

There is another way of doing this kind of things, more classic :
1) Unpack the ISO files on an nfs server (my server was a Windows 2k nfs server, I unpacked with it with the daemon tools).
2) starting the first iso (still with daemon tools) tells you how to create the network boot floppy disk (choose the network option).
3) booting on that floppy on the final machine will ask for the name of the server.
4) If you have the full Mandrake distro, this will be successful. If you happen to have a "free" Mandrake distro, some files will be missing, you will have to go to the Mandrake site to get the missing files.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 worked fine for me. I had the "free" linux distro, I got sad at step 4 and need to be motivated again.

Now, that's the kind of help I'm looking for.

Need of use? I'm trying to familarize myself with Linux and part of my education is to learn to do installs from various places.

Dio I need to unpack to an NFS partion? Can I use FAT?

When you say "unpack", should I use the "mount" command?

I would like to install to a laptop.

Here are my choices:
On the laptop I have already installed RH 7.0 on with KDE (installed from CDs). I don't have a burner. It works, but I wnat to run the latest version. It might be interesting to try Mandrake 9.2.
In addition, it has free space of about 680MG on a FAT partition.
Should I download the first ISO image to that machine and do the install?
OR
I have another machine which I can access with ethernet which has space for all 3 images. Should I downlaod and unpack on that machine, and ftp install from it to the laptop?

zorba4 · 02-10-2004, 02:38 PM

OK, Rockke, let's start with the easyest way.
You need an NFS server. It could be a Windows or a Unix server.
Let's speak as if you have the true CD-ROMS 1, 2 and 3. We will see later how to use the ISO's as true CD's, let's say that you have them.
You copy the first CD : f
cd cdrom;time find . -print |cpio -pmdulv /mybigspace
(of course, if it's Windows, simply use the mouse).
Then, export this filesystem for NFS clients (on your IBM AIX system, or on your samba server, or on your Windows if it can be a NFS server like mine is).
Then, insert the first Mandrake CD on a standard PC running Windows 98 or anyone. This CD will tell you how to create a boot diskette for boot on the network.
Then boot on that diskette. The diskette will ask for your client IP address, and for you NFS server addres and filesystem name (/mybigspace).
Then the install continues normally, at network speed instead of CD speed.

If you happen to have error messages (error running file /somwhere/something) have a look at that file on your nfs system. If that file does not exist on your server and your client tries to run it, it will fail. That simply means that you have to get a clean version of that file on the ftp server at Mandrakecorp.

By the way, I was namely saying "NFS", not "NTFS".
NFS meaning a fileystem usable by a NFS client. Booting linux on a disquette for using a remote installation server uses TCP, the files being provided by NFS or by FTP.
See you soon
Zorba

rockee · 02-14-2004, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zorba4
OK, Rockke, let's start with the easyest way.
You need an NFS server. It could be a Windows or a Unix server.
Let's speak as if you have the true CD-ROMS 1, 2 and 3. We will see later how to use the ISO's as true CD's, let's say that you have them.
You copy the first CD : f
cd cdrom;time find . -print |cpio -pmdulv /mybigspace
(of course, if it's Windows, simply use the mouse).
Then, export this filesystem for NFS clients (on your IBM AIX system, or on your samba server, or on your Windows if it can be a NFS server like mine is).
Then, insert the first Mandrake CD on a standard PC running Windows 98 or anyone. This CD will tell you how to create a boot diskette for boot on the network.
Then boot on that diskette. The diskette will ask for your client IP address, and for you NFS server addres and filesystem name (/mybigspace).
Then the install continues normally, at network speed instead of CD speed.

If you happen to have error messages (error running file /somwhere/something) have a look at that file on your nfs system. If that file does not exist on your server and your client tries to run it, it will fail. That simply means that you have to get a clean version of that file on the ftp server at Mandrakecorp.

By the way, I was namely saying "NFS", not "NTFS".
NFS meaning a fileystem usable by a NFS client. Booting linux on a disquette for using a remote installation server uses TCP, the files being provided by NFS or by FTP.
See you soon
Zorba

I'm not certain if I can do it this way, since I may not have enough space for NFS on the other machine.

I have been trying to ftp a distribution down from a Redhat site, but the last message I received was:
"fedora core installation tree in that directory does not seem to match your boot media".

I had downloaded the boot disk from Rehat but tried the disto from a mirror site. The mirror doesn't have a boot disk image to DL. Is it possible that you need a unique boot disk for each site you are downloading from?

Any ideas?