Re: How to install via nfs, ftp?
Jan Krupa wrote:
>
> I used rawrite2 to prepare two 1440 floppies: resc1440.bin
> and drv1440.bin (from Linux/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/).
> I booted compter from floppy resc1440.bin and then installed modules and
> drivers from floppy drv1440.bin then configured modules and drivers
> (installed support for nfs, eth0, network card) then configured
> network( host name, domain name computer's IP address,...).
> After that I chose to install *the base system* via nfs but did not know
> "how to type" the name of nfs server. e.g. I tried
> to type 'debian.org/dist but it did not work.
>
> Could someone please explain to me how to install debian
> via nfs or ftp ? I mean which floppies should I prepare and
> how to type the name of the nfs server ?
>
> Of course I have other possibility to install the base system
> from 5 floppies but what then ? The file basecont.txt shows that
> the 5 floppies do not contain e.g. ftp.
>
> For now the only way I see to install debian on my computer is
> to buy distribution on CD-ROM but it would be faster(earlier) to install
> via ftp.
>
Well, I have now Debian Linx installed via ftp, and I have no
distribution CD - so I can assure you that it is possible...
I had done following:
I had Windows NT running on my computer (and it runs now as well,
as second OS).
First of all, I very attentively studied Debian Linux Instalation
Guide on Debian web site (most important was infornation about how to
use dselect - I started installation only after I was pretty sure
that installation by ftp was possible, and that I understand all steps
necessary for this).
Using Windows browser, I downloaded all disk images from Debian
web site (resc1440, drv1440, and five base14-*), prepared seven
disks (using rawrite.exe), and just installed base system,
following quite simple instructions of installation program
(why do they complain that installing Linux is a complicated
task?). I did not try to install something from ftp when
installation started dselect as it's last step, I just exited
from dselect.
After installation was finished, I make sure that I can
boot my computer into NT as before, and into Linux from floppy
(I did not install LILO during installation, and did create
a boot floppy - I have a (usefull) habit of creating all boot/resque/...
floppies whenever installations of various OSes suggest this ;)
(And as a side note, I _strongly_ suggest to anybody who
is installing Linux, to make all possible precautions
to be sure that he/she will be able to boot up previous
OS if something goes wrong - for my case, I had refreshed
set of NT rescue disks, and did not try to install LILO into
MBR of first drive. So I was sure I could search Internet
for answers to problems, or read documentation directories
on the distribution CD, if I had one)
Well, at this point I had a working Linux configuration.
Next step was to configure ppp connection to my ISP.
I do not remember how exactly I have done this - this was
one month ago, and at that time I was trying to install three
different versions of Linux (RedHat from CD from a book
I purchased at local bookstore, then SuSE from their ftp
site, and finally Debian), and I remember that for one installation
I had gone manually through all steps as was described in PPP-HOWTO,
for other I used pppconfig script, but I don't remember for which
installation. I think, that base debian system that is installed from
floppies already have pppconfig, so you can use it
to configure ppp. (and anyway, if you are not a serial-line
communications expert, reading of PPP-HOWTO is a good thing.)
So, i typed 'pon' on command line and waited for lights on my
modem to show me that internet connection was up. Then, I
started 'dselect' from command line, and configured
'Access method' to use ftp. I used the default ftp site and
directories - the ones dselect suggested itself, so I just
hit Enter to each question.
Then, dselect conected to this ftp site and downloaded
list of packages, and from this everything was reasonable
straightforward (if you can adopt ugly dselect's keyboard
interface, and do not panic when it waits between some operations
for long time with blank screen). One of first things I
downloaded was Midnight Commander ;)
Since then, I installed via ftp X11, Netscape, KDE,
even new Debian installer 'apt' from unstable directories -
and it works much more pleasant then dpkg - it shows progress
of download, for example, which is quite important for
good health of your soul, if you have internal modem without
those joyfully blinking lights... Rrecently I've got XEmacs
and now I'm learning it...
So, it is quite possible to have Linux been installed
directly from Internet.
Well, reading again your message, it seams to me that
possible your problem was not to have up internet connection -
as far as I understend, you tryed to use nfs access when
installation started dselect as final step? (By the way,
I'm not sure that it is possible at all have nfs access via
internet.)
And you do not need separate ftp package to use dselect
access via ftp - dpkg (this is dselect's back-end) itself
has ftp features.
OK, sorry for so large message, but I hope, it will help
somehow...
alex
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