Size Question and how to
 

I just downloaded the Debian3.1r0 DVDs and the size of the files shows way too small. Disk 1 should be 4.4 Gb, and only shows on my hdd as 382,558 Kb
Disk 2 should be 4.1 gb, and only shows on my hdd as 130,746 Kb

These both would fit on a single cd. Why does it call for 2 DVDs?

It also has 2 real small items MD5SUMS, and MD5SUMS.sig What do I do with them, put them on a floppy or what.

The md5sums will tell you for sure if the downloaded iso images are correct.
In the directory where you have the images, run the command:
md5sum (name of iso here).iso
Then, view the matching numbers in the MD5SUM file which you downloaded:
cat MD5SUM

If the numbers don't match, you have a bad download.

Or run "md5sum -c MD5SUMS" and it will check all the files that should exist and verify that all of them were downloaded completely.

Re: Size Question and how to
 

My local mirror (http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/debian-cd/iso-dvd/) reports the sizes as 374MB and 128MB so you are right about
the sizes you downloaded. I also checked 2 other mirrors and they have the same sizes.

I guess it must be a rsync mistake or something like that because the primary mirror
(http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/.../i386/iso-dvd/) has the right images.

Either wait for your local mirror to rsync the proper images or download them from the primary (or some mirror that works)

I think that is the URL I downloaded them from. I did it at the shop where I had access to DSL. I cant get back to that computer till Monday now. I cant understand why it requires 2 DVDs for those 2 downloads. That would fit on ONE standard 700 Mb CD. But to get the CD version of the program, it comes on 14 CDs, and each of those show around 650 Mb. I did pass math ok in school, and something here just dont add up.

The Debian site said it was 4.4 Gb and 4.1 Gb on the 2 DVDs.

Someone said (just a wild guess), that maybe it is super compressed to download, and when I burn it to a DVD, it will unzip onto the DVD, to the 4.4 Gb and 4.1 Gb sizes. Is that so?

This is the first time I have downloaded any Linux O.S., so I am really confused

:)

I am sorry for the smiley but it seemed very funny to me :)

If you have data that can be compressed very much (e.g a 4GB text file) maybe you could get it to compress to 300MB.
The DVD images contain mostly packages which are already compressed (either gz or bz2). If he knows such an algorithm
that can compress already compressed data of 4GB to 300MB then he will do debian (and the rest of the world) a favour.

Anyway, the 300/128MB sizes of the images is due to a mistake. I haven't followed the procedure so i don't what mistake, but i
guess rsync mistake.

You need to get the right images in order to install. Since you can't go to that computer till Monday, i can't think of any solution.
Maybe a netcafe with dsl ?

Imitheos
If you check the primary mirror link that I downloaded it from, (the same one you typed in), that is what listed the correct size, but only rendered the small downloads.

What is funny about that?

I am sorry if i offended you.
What i said was funny was the "Someone said (just a wild guess), that maybe it is super compressed to download, and when I burn it to a DVD, it will unzip onto the DVD, to the 4.4 Gb and 4.1 Gb sizes"

I tried "wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/...6-binary-2.iso" and have downloaded
over 200MB so far, so i guess the primary mirror has the right files, or else it would stop at 128MB as it did at the other mirrors.

Have you tried downloading again ?

Yes I tried it 2 times, and got the same size. I was using win 98SE,and Mozilla 1.7.12, at the shop. I dont have a computer with Linux on it yet. I cant figure how to "save to the hard drive" with Knoppix,(v3.9), yet. I didn't get up there today. I used Mozilla's file manager, and saved to a file, (I made a separate file for each). I downloaded one, then when completed, I went and downloaded the second.

After the downloads were complete, they both showed the small sizes. The download manager agreed with windows explorer.

The DVD one took 2.5-3 hours. The DVD 2 took about 1.5 hrs. It finally had settled down and was transferring at about 50 mbps.

It isn't something that you are doing wrong, it is a problem with the Debian site you are connecting to. You should look for a new location to download from, since the one you have been trying is bad. I was just able to get 400+ Mb from this site ftp://ftp.fsn.hu/pub/CDROM-Images/de...cial/etch-dvd/ I don't know if you were looking for stable, testing, or unstable, but you can find whichever in many other places.

The files should be the 4.4 GB, and in fact the link I gave has a 3rd DVD image, but it is tiny. Please note, most browsers will NOT allow a download that large. They usually have a 2 GB "cap" on download size. That can always be modified, but you have to actively change it. That isn't the reason your previous attempts failed, but it would suck to get 2 GB into a 4.4 download, and find out that is all you can get.

The MD5sums don't need to be placed anywhere. The MD5sum is a way to check that you had a good download. You can get a program on windoze to calculate MD5sums for the downloads once they are completed, and then compare the MD5sum you get to the published MD5sum. If they are equal, then your download was fine. If they are not identical, it has flaws and may well not work. They also assure that you are getting the "real thing", IE not a version of any OS that has backdoors added in.

Furthermore, I suggest against downloading the DVD images. The first CD image has most of what you need to get started. I can promise you that you would never use 90% of what is on the DVD images. They hold every package that Debian has, and that is a lot of things that you would never use under all but the most bizarre circumstances. I would strongly suggest just getting the 1st .iso of the CDs, and then installing from that. You'll be able to download the things not included, and even on dial up that won't take too long, maybe a few hours I would guess.

Peace,
JimBass

Thanks Jim
That explains a lot. I will download the CDs instead of the DVDs, that way I can install it on anything. Not all computers I have acquired, got a DVD player anyway.

I cant get into long dialup downloads here. My phone company, Centurytel, interrupts the connection every 8 hours. Seems like if I am trying to get virus definitions updates, it always breaks the connection, and that is after an hour or so. I have to go to the shop, to get the whole package. The cable there works good.

I use Mozilla Browser. I dont think there is a limit in the downloads. There is one in the mail, but it is disabled. I have not seen one in the "download preferences". Where would it be?

I am only wanting a stable version, after all I am a newbie.

At the shop we downloaded Knoppix 3.8.1, and it was 686 Mb and took 2 hours. So the actual speed we got was about 343 Mb/hr, on the Charter Cable.

So you said the most I need is on the first CD, is there a list somewhere, that tells what is on the other 13 CDs? I am not looking for much to go into this first build, at first, I want a pic viewer like ACDSee, and there is a clone available, that is also supposed to also do the stuff like windows explorer. I also want to get Mplayer, and hope Nero Burner will work there. I already downloaded a bunch of programs for Linux, on my windows drive, to be ready to transfer to the Linux computer.

You're very welcome. I'll answer (in small part) one of your questions, but leave the other up to you and the best internet resource in the world, google. It isn't actually something that can be set, it is just that a great many browsers simply can't download files as large as DVD isos. You can read a bit about what will and won't work here. Some reports say that the newest mozilla will allow for big downloads. Not sure if that is true or not. You can follow the link to wget that is on the kernel faq page. They have windows binarys that will allow wget to work on you windows box at work. That may well be the only way you have to get a DVD iso.

I am going to leave it to you to find out what packages are on what debian CDs. The entire graphical system is NOT on the first cd. You should read the stickys on the debian forum here, they tell you how to install the x-window-system on debian in great detail. The Window Manager will always have a windows explorer-like utility. mplayer may have a debian package, or you may need to build it from source. Nero for linux is a waste of your money. They want you to buy a $20 license for it. I suggest k3b. It is just as good if not better than nero, and free as in speech and beer. I don't know what ACDSee is, but you can use any browser to look at .jpg and other picture files.

You'll have to learn the command line using Debain, or any other distro. Taht is where the power of linux lies. The graphical front end for things are great, but the terminal/comand line is necessary to manage your system easily and effectively.

Don't forget to search her and at google for your problems. You can get a good answer there in 1/10 the time it takes us here!

Peace,
JimBass

Ok Jim
ACDSee looks and works exactly like windows explorer, if it had picture capabilities. No browser works near as easy.

You said "You can get a program on windoze to calculate MD5sums for the downloads once they are completed, and then compare the MD5sum you get to the published MD5sum." What program is that and where do I get it?

this one is real easy to use. http://www.md5summer.org/