Re: Explicit mention of normal CD for netinst images (Was: Modification du texte de netinst)
(Leaving out some crossposts)
And because I keep forgetting the URL:
http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst
Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> Thinking about it more, that boot.img.gz is a (writable) VFAT
> filesystem could be handy, since it means your installation media can
> double as a drive for shuttling ordinary data between machines.
Like old-style bootfloppies, but without the desperate shortage of
space.
> The sequence of steps required
>
> 1. Decompress boot.img.gz and write it to a USB stick
> 2. Resize with gparted to fill the drive
> 3. Copy in a mini.iso
>
> is just two more than ideal. ;-)
As per Squeeze installation guide 4.3.2; or you can do it the long
way round using more loose files as per 4.3.3. Since these are two
similar install methods that require me to download two different
sets of files, it makes me wonder if they deserve separate headings
like the normal and businesscard CD-images.
Or since it's getting really complicated and probably needs to be
revised for every release, maybe we should be moving stuff to the
wiki... or even just junking this whole page in favour of
links on http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/debian-installer/
[...]
> The businesscard image, which seems less useful now that
> netboot/mini.iso and netboot/gtk/mini.iso exist, was once capped at
> 40 MB (it's closer to 50 MB now) and fits on a businesscard CD.
>
> netboot/gtk/mini.iso is around 30 MB. netboot/mini.iso is ~20 MB.
Do all these differently sized tiny CD-images need to share a name
to ensure they're interchangeable? It seems a pity they're so
cryptic considering that the rest (the ones you just click on to get
a default installer) have names like debian-6.0.2.1-i386-netinst.iso!
Anyway, having slept on it (once with cheese and once without...) it
seems to me that the essential point of the page would be better
served by organising it roughly like this:
| *Installing Debian via the Internet*
|
| This method of installing Debian requires a functioning Internet
| connection during installation. Compared to other methods you end up
| downloading less data as the process will be tailored to your
| requirements. Ethernet and wireless connections are supported.
| Internal ISDN cards are unfortunately not supported.
(So far the only thing I've changed is making the reference to
"Installing Debian GNU/Linux" less overspecific.)
| There are two main options for installs over the network:
(Not four, and therefore not requiring a contents-list of all four
subheadings before spelling them out in detail:)
| *From Standard CD-images*
|
| The "netinst" CD-image files can be written to CD-R(W) media (or to
| a DVD, Blu-ray Disc, or USB stick) to give a bootable installer
| recommended for most situations. Normal CD-images will fit on a
| mini-CD; a "businesscard" version is also available for smaller
| media. See "[[http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/|Network install from
| a minimal CD]]" for the appropriate links for each size and
| architecture.
(Yes, I've dropped the list of links. There are just too many
variables for it to make sense to maintain multiple copies; for a
start, the version here didn't include bittorrent links or a pointer
to the testing versions.)
| *From Other Boot Media*
|
| It is also possible to arrange to boot from other media (usually
| either a USB stick or netboot server, depending on what's supported
| by your hardware) and start installing over the network from there.
| For details in each case, please refer to [[the installation manual
| for your architecture]]. Two main sets of bootable files are
| available:
|
| *hd-media installs*: write a bootloader and netinst image to a FAT
| partition on a USB stick, and then start the installation by
| booting from that. See the installation guide chapter
| "Obtaining System Installation Media".
|
| *netboot installs*: put the files on a machine set up to serve as a
| TFTP and DHCP (or BOOTP, or RARP) server. Other machines can
| then use PXE to boot the installer from the network. See the
| installation guide chapter "Preparing Files for TFTP Net
| Booting". Because of the additional work required, this method
| for installing Debian is not recommended for novice users.
It would be less unbalanced if the hd-media and netboot details also
redirected to some other page for per-architecture links, but if not
they can at least share a single list, given that they point to the
same place. By the way, I notice the architecture lists aren't even
in alphabetical order...
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
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