Debian installation from CDs in iMac
Hi!
I am rank beginner (albeit a 70 year old pensioner), ignorant of Unix, and
my first brush with Linux - as well as Unix - has been to try to install
Debian in iMac from a set of 7 CDs (cynics might say I'm trying to jump in
at the deep end). In the meantime - while my effort of getting Debian into
iMac is still continuing - I have managed to successfully install SuSE in
the _same_ iMac (yes, being absolutely fed up to the back teeth with Debian,
I actually went and bought myself SuSE Linux PowerPC 7.3) - as well as
Debian itself in an oldworld powermac clone made by Apple resellers Computer
Warehouse of London, England - although I am yet to complete the
installation of Debian in iMac that I originally started my venture with.
The main problem of installing Debian in an iMac from CDs is that there
is no way to scan the second (or a subsequent) CD during apt configuration
because the first CD cannot be ejected. SuSE installer, on the other hand,
automatically ejects the CD when a media change is called for. I succeeded
in installing Debian in the oldworld powermac because it has a PC-style CD
tray with a button and I could manage to scan all of the 7 CDs by removing
them one by one by pressing the eject button on the CD tray.
I wonder if someone is going to write a Debian installer that will
automatically eject the CD as required? The other way of improving the
installer would be to provide a menu option for ejecting CD during apt
configuration or - even better - during the whole of the installation
process.
The eject command is rejected by bash in these earlier stages of
installation. However in my oldworld powermac clone where I completed both
installation and base configuration, "eject" successfully ejects the CD when
I run a terminal screen from GNOME (I didn't really ask for GNOME, it just
sneaked in from goodness knows where and now I have no choice other than to
log in to GNOME when I boot - but then frankly speaking I don¹t really mind
it except that if it suddenly chooses to disappear into a black hole exactly
in the same way as it appeared from nowhere without my asking for it I would
not know how to get it back!). Although I usually press the eject button on
the CD tray rather than type "eject", the eject command would be more useful
in an iMac where such a button is not provided. I suppose on completion of
all configuration the eject will work from an X window terminal in the iMac
too.
Or is there any other way of removing the CD from an iMac during
installation that I somehow seem to have missed?
If you suggest I should try installing by using a PPP connection to my
ISP instead, there are more tales of woe. Debian System Configuration
helpfully said, "I will open a PPP connection to your ISP" but could not
find a modem port and suggested I try COM1. COM1 in iMac? Charming! Can't
the installer tell a Mac from a PC (sorry, being a newbie, I prefer to say
Mac and PC to saying ppc and i386)? Needless to add, I got nowhere by this
route.
I have a broadband connection to an ISP via a proxy server on an
ethernet network consisting of these two Macs (iMac and the clone), a Dell
PC running Windows 2000 serving as the gateway proxy server and an old
Performa 6200 without an ethernet port connected via an Asanté
ethernet-to-localtalk bridge (good enough for file tranfer). While the
three machines with ethernet ports (i.e. Dell, iMac and the oldworld
powermac clone) can all simultanously access my broadband ISP connection
under Windows 2000, Mac OS X/9 and Mac OS 8.6, respectively, via the proxy
server on the Dell, it has not been possible to do so from either of the two
Macs when running Linux although I have configured eth0 in both machines
(iMac and clone) umpteen times. Trying to install via http and proxy server
elicits the following:
Something wicked happened resolving `192.168.0.1"":http' (-3) Failed to
fetch ... blah blah blah
where 192.168.0.1 is the proxy server with broadband gateway (I tried
putting 192.168.0.1 in double quotes but to no avail).
If my letter has turned out to be a rambling one, here are three short
questions that sum up my problems for which I am seeking help (FAQ writers
for newbies - take note!):
1. How do I change CDs in an iMac?
2. How do I dial my "narrowband" ISP using Apple's internal modem?
3. How do I access my "broadband" ISP via a proxy server on the network?
I have not yet succeeded in doing any of these while running Debian! I'll
really be grateful for any help that might be forthcoming to get me out of
this impasse.
Many thanks in advance,
-- Ashesh
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