Re: Debian install an 'borrowed' PC for trial

[buhr@stat.wisc.edu (Kevin Buhr)]

John_Gay@3com.com writes:
>
>                       Now my current problem, This PC doesn't have a CD, My
> boss won't let me connect this system to the NET( we use WindowsNT servers,
> no one knows how to use Linux/Unix around here) and I only have the Base
> installation. I need a way to download various packages with an NT machine
> to floppy so I can load them into the new Linux box.

First off, you can just grab "*.deb" package files off the most
convenient FTP site.  Once you get them onto the Linux system, it's a
matter of running:

	dpkg -i name-of-file.deb

Of course, if the package depends on another package you haven't
installed, then "dpkg" will complain bitterly, and you'll have some
more downloading to do first.

One of the first packages you'll want to grab is "mtools" (from the
"otherosfs" section).  This is because, before you have "mtools",
reading files off a DOS floppy involves:

1.  Mounting the floppy using:

	mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy

   (or, possibly, "mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /floppy", but I'm not sure
   if Windows NT puts VFAT filesystems on floppies or not.)

2.  Copying the files out of the "/floppy" directory.

3.  Unmounting the floppy using:

	umount /floppy

After you get "mtools", you can use commands like:

	mdir
	mcopy a:whatever.dev .
	mdel a:whatever.dev

without going through the mount/umount process.

As an alternative to using "dpkg" package-by-package, the "friendly"
front-end to "dpkg", namely "dselect", provides a way to install
packages from, in its words, "a pile of floppies".  The idea is to
take the "Packages" file from:

	ftp.debian.org:/pub/debian/dists/hamm/main/binary-i386/

and how ever many "*.deb" files you think you want from the
subdirectories, copy them, en masse, to a bunch of floppies (with the
"Packages" file on the first one), and run "dselect".  Use the
"Access" menu option to tell "dselect" that you are, indeed, going to
install from a pile of floppies, and away you go...

The "Packages" file is useful in its own right.  It's human-readable
and will tell you what each package contains and what other packages
it depends on (and what packages those depend on, and so on).

Kevin <buhr@stat.wisc.edu>


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