Problem installing Etch using local mirror

[Lurker_pas <lurkerpas@gmail.com>]

Hi,

	I'm trying to install Debian Etch from floppy and local mirror. It
fails with message:

"The specified Debian archive mirror is either not available, or does
not have a valid Release file on it. Please try a different mirror."

Before I get bashed for this question, I'd like to explain that I want
to install Debian on a very old laptop (Celeron 300MHz, 64MB RAM), which
doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, doesn't boot from network, doesn't boot
from USB and I can't remove its HDD. That's why I decided to use Etch,
as it still had floppy install images.

	Before I tried installing it on a real hardware, I decided to test
everything on a virtual machine. First I tried a regular mirror over
http - failed (I understand that, etch is archived). Then I tried
archive.debian.org - failed. Then I created a local mirror on my bigger
Debian machine using apt-mirror. The installation failed again with the
same message. During several failed attempts, I created symbolic links
"stable" and "oldstable" to "etch". Then I spied a little using
wireshark. The installation requests the release file
"/debian/dists/oldstable/Release" - which is returned with HTTP OK. Then
it requests "/debian/dists/etch/Release", which also finishes with a
successful file transfer. Still the same error. No other files are
requested from the mirror.

	I assume it's not a network or file-naming problem. What else can be
wrong? Corrupted mirror? Invalid signatures?

	The beggining of the release file is as follows:

"Origin: Debian
Label: Debian
Suite: oldstable
Version: 4.0r9
Codename: etch
Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 14:22:09 UTC
Architectures: alpha amd64 arm hppa i386 ia64 mips mipsel powerpc s390
sparc
Components: main contrib non-free
Description: Debian 4.0r9 Released 22nd May 2010
MD5Sum:
 88e31747739f3ea9445fe543b21061b5 10910068 Contents-powerpc.g"

	I mirrored main contrib and non-free, only i386.

	The VM is Virtual Box, configured for 32bit Debian with floppy, small
HDD, bridged network and 64MB RAM.

	My mirror machine is 64 bit Debian on Core2Quad processor - Linux
StrikeNoir 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Jun 14 09:42:28 UTC 2011 x86_64
GNU/Linux

	The old laptop is Twinhead with Celeron processor.
	

	If someone knows how to bypass this and install Linux on this old
laptop in a different way, I'll be happy to hear that. Still, I want to
know what is wrong with my current procedure.

	Please help.

Best regards,

	Michal Kurowski