hi all. i'm kind of new to Linux (i say kind of because i have a Red Hate and Makedrake release somewhere around here, but have been just too lazy to do much with them). i decided to get Slackware 10.0 last week from their site. now, i know if i burn the ISOs to a seperate CD, it won't have a problem installing, mainly the first CD being bootable (right?). my question is, could i somehow fit the 4 ISOs on a DVD and it be bootable? i hope that's clear enough to understand. if not, let me know and i'll clear it up more. thank you.

IAintRight,

When I installed Slack 10, I only used 2 ISOs... That's all you need... the other 2 CD's are all source code... They aren't required... As far as trying to burn multiple ISOs to a DVD-R... Good question - It may work - the Slack installation just looks for packages. The OS and the "goodies" are on CD1, and KDE and Gnome are on CD2. During installation, you're prompted to insert the CD with the Gnome and KDE packages on it... If they were already present on the inserted CD, then you may not be prompted at all.

Then again, wouldn't it be cheaper just to use 2 CD-Rs?

BTW, if I recall correctly, both CDs are bootable...

-Wiski C.

i know it can be done with different versions of windows (i read somewhere while looking for instructions that ALL windows OSes could be put on a single DVD, so long as some files are deleted. i.e.: other languages than the desired install language), then a program is used to make a boot file and, upon booting, run a menu to select which OS you want to install. i didn't know a Linux would be the same or not, as it's spread over 2+ ISOs. still wondering if i'd have to make the DVD bootable via some lil boot image file.

yea, it would be cheaper to use CD-Rs. i didn't realize the other 2 ISOs aren't need. maybe i'll use a miniDVD. i was wanting to do it for sake of not having 4 CDs floating around. plus being able to not have to watch the installation (wait for it to ask to insert disc 2). maybe i'll play around in a day or two with it all and see what i come up with. anyone who has further info is welcome to post, please. and thanks, wiskic.

another consideration on the dvd is making sure you boot from the correct device. As i found out trying to install to my scuzzy raid the install shell sees CD as the master boot and you have to access the /dev/**** to install as opposed to installing to the primary master IDE

IAintRight

You can create your own DVD of slackware. Just create a build directory and copy the contents of the ISO's into this directory. What I generally do next and go to one of the ftp mirrors and download ALL the updated files from the 10.0 directory (patches, sources, and misc files on the root ). What you will need is the cdrtools to be able to create the ISO. The script I use for creating the ISO is as follows (on Windows OS):

mkisofs -v -V Slak10DVD -r -J -l -L -P "Slackware Linux, Inc. <info@slackware.com>" -b "isolinux/isolinux.bin" -c "isolinux/boot.cat" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -graft-points -o C:\slakdvd.iso C:\slakiso\


So far, I've not had any issues and I put everything on it including Dropline and other programs.

Hope this helps.

Ben

Have installed Slack several times an I would also suggest you to burn only the 2 slack CDs. If you are not satisfied with the included packages in these 2 CDs, you can make your own CD or DVD with necessary packages. After the base from the 2 Slack cds is installed, add your set of packages.
You install from Your custom patch disk this way:
1) insert the disk cd/dvd into drive
2)as 'root' enter:
mount /mnt/cdrom
or mount a different file system (like /mnt/flopyy , /mnt/some_network_file_system or USB disk)

3) cd /mnt/cdrom (or /mnt/floppy or /mnt/usb or /home/iaintright/downloads, or any other place where you saved your packages you want to install)

4)run:
pkgtool

Gues the rest will be understandable intuitively.

MS-outLINUX-in!

What's the point of burning only the first two CD's? If you read the original post, he wants to make a bootable DVD that contains the Slackware 10 CD's. While your post is very valid and does contain the necessary installs for him, his objective (as is mine) to create a single bootable DVD that contains everything - not 2 - 4 CD's. Having a bootable DVD also allows me to put DropLine onto the DVD as well as all the updates and extra packages - thus saving me the time to download the packages all over again :-).

Ben

hayesben,
I completly agree with you.

BUT I am a student, so I am not wery rich, so I simpy can not afford to buy a DVD writer.
so
1)The CDs 3 and 4 have the source code, what is not needed by regular users like.
2)Sometimes there are lots of necessary packages to one person, that are maybe unnecessary to other. For example I sometimes use octave and other scientific/engineering programs for my studies (mostly for mathematical calculations), that are not included into the first 2 CDs. I can simply put the stuff i often need on a seperate third CD. That saves time, because I dont have to make all these downloads if I sometimes come to the idea of reinstalling my or a friends system. That's why i spoke of the 2 CDs.

Have no experience in making Slackware installation boot disks, but the idea is interesting.
Creating a good installation script, like slackware has, is a hard job!
A robust way could be creating a boot DVD that has a realy big tar.gz file. In the files we can put everything we want. And When the installation starts, we partition the disk and then - just extract everything to the hard disk.
Maybe you have tried to extend the first CD iso by adding all patches and other files from the other CDs to the first CD iso? Probably you have to convert a CD iso to a DVD iso and... burn it on the DVD?

Dont have a DVD writer, so i hope you will tell the results.

MS-outLINUX-in!

I fully understand where you are coming from. CD writers are dirt cheap and the media is even cheaper. DVD burners are getting there and the media is constantly droping. In regards to the boot disks, I've not toyed very long with this. I posted a few questions sometime back about the dvd process and someone kindly offered the command line (which I slightly changed). In regards to the installation script, I would like to see a kickstart script-like system for Slackware (as in Red Hat and Fedora). This would allow you to parse the command at the boot prompt and also to specify exactly what I/someone would like to install (or does anyone on the list know of a way to do this?). In regards to the large .tar.gz file, it is possible to do this. Linspire does this type of install but the initial install gives everyone exactly the same type of install - thus defeating the purpose of the type of install Slackware offers (and others).

As for the extending the first CD, it's possible to do this thru UltraISO (or any other program - on Windows that is). You should just be able to open the ISO and add the content and then Save it. Doing a Save As will make the CD unbootable (I think - someone please correct me here if I am wrong). I just download the files/programs to a specified directory onto my computer and then run mkisofs to generate the iso. There is no need on conversion from CD to DVD.

Ben

Hi, I have posted a mini-howto on making your own Slackware DVD on my site.
http://boncey.org/2004_12_23_make_yo...0_bootable_dvd

I know this post is really old, but the answer to this question is useful to anyone:There is a set of "tagfiles" (one per series, to make the length readable), which have a very simple format. In fact, I didn't even know it existed and thought about creating something similar. I accidentally ran into a short bit of info somewhere (possibly Slackware manual?) earlier today. Did a search and came up with more detailed info:

Chapter 17.4.4 Using Tagfiles

It tells you a bit more about how they are divided and used, how to copy the default ones to retain the structure, how to edit them for reuse, and how you can use them with installpkg and during setup...so they are more useful than anything I could have done!

I am quite happy (for now) with the install DVD as it is and I can run through the "menu" style package selection pretty quickly. But this will come in useful for me to solve a problem on a brand-new computer with no Linux (as yet) installed (long story), whenever I finally figure out what the heck the system needs. But that's a whole other ball of wax.