Re: we need to start setting up for a new computer
On Thu, 4 Dec 1997, Fuzzy wrote:
>
> I have slackeware more or less running on 386sx8
>
> and want to install debian 1.3.1 (bo) on a new 6x86 p200+ based system
> that will be a server.
>
> I have the 2 CD distribution from lsl.com and the contents of the
> stable/non-free directory from an ftp mirror on a ez135 disk, (yes the
> new system also has a ez135 drive).
>
> with slackware I needed to create 2 floppys (boot and root)
> to have a 'starter system' with which to run the install scripts.
>
> I'm guessing something similar is done with Debian.
>
> (1)
> since I dont have access to a dos system, can I use DD to
> create the boot/root diskettes (or whatever Debian calls
> the 'starter system' diskettes)?
Yes; There are instructions on your CD in the directory
/stable/disks-i386/current - the relevant file is called something like
install.txt. Note that if your new machine is able to boot from CDrom,
you don't even need to make any disks - just put in the "Binary" cd and
go. Also note that in any case you only need to make the two disks it
talks about first (from the images resc1440.bin and root.bin), and not all
of the base system install disks, since it can get the base system off the
CD.
>
> (2)
> is there a doc/faq/other text file someplace that has basic steps
> to create enough of a system to start to use the tools actually
> install a runable system. I want to have a non-module kernel, (unless
> I'm forced by plug-and-pray to module some driver for hardware). I'm
> unsure how/what one does with plug-and-pray devices and PnP BIOS to
> associate IRQ's with cards/slots so that it is aware of jumpered
> selections of ISA controller/interface cards and doesn't select a
> conflict.
Well, the setup menus that you're dropped into from the rescue disk pretty
much lead you by the hand through the install process - I suspect that
you'll get what you consider a "runnable system" after you get dumped into
dselect and install everything marked as "standard".
The debian setup installs by default a modular kernel - if you want a
non-modular one you'll need to install the kernel-source package and build
one yourself (the kernel-package package simplifies the process of
building and installing a new kernel greatly)
As for PnP devices - most PnP bioses have places where you can tell them
what IRQ's and memory addresses are already used by non-PnP devices so
that there won't be a conflict. After that, you can use (I do) the
isapnptools package to set the IRQs, memory addresses, DMAs, etc. on your
PnP devices, so that you know what they are when you tell your kernel
about them.
>
> we'd prefer not to give the new machine psychiatric difficulties ;).
> thats why we are not going to run slackware on it.
>
> (3)
> from what I've seen so far I'm guessing the floppy system
> installs a base system, then that is used to dselect the rest
> of the packages to make a runing system, is that correct?
>
Yep; the base system is actually installed by the set of "base floppies"
(about 5 of them), or the base .tgz file on the CD.
> (4)
> we currently use PPPD run from inittab to keep our 'dedicated'
> PPP link active. if it dies, init respawns it. there seem to
> lots of PPP rlated packages, but we are unsure if they are
> meant for dial-on-demand setup vs a always connected setup.
> since Debian uses a different init and it wants things in
> different places than slackwares init does, can I still
> use init to run pppd (with all its options in /etc/ppp/...
> or some other location that Debian's PPPD is aware of)?
>
Well, I suppose you _could_ run it via init, but there's a much easier
way with debian. Once you have your ppp configured so that you can turn
it on/off with the pon and poff commands (this should just be a matter of
editing /etc/ppp.chatscript, unless you use PAP/CHAP, in which case it's
only slightly trickier), just make certain that the "persist" option is
present in /etc/ppp.options_out - that'll make ppp try to re-establish the
link when it goes down. (the persist option is there by default)
Further, if you mv the file /etc/ppp/no_ppp_on_boot to
/etc/ppp/ppp_on_boot, then pppd will be started at boottime.
The package you need to do this is called 'ppp' and is one of the packages
installed with the base system.
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