Re: Debian installation issues
Hi,
Fungi4All wrote:
> try from linux to burn an
> ms-win-installation image, chances are that you will fail despite of what
> way you may try to do so.
Are there any such images available for free and legally safe to have
and to talk about ?
> Propbably Thomas from xorisso fame can explain
> better the whys and why nots.
Well, Microsoft Inc. will hardly use xorriso to create its images.
If it is about ISO 9660 filesystems which shall boot on BIOS and/or EFI
from DVD and USB stick, then such a filesystem image has to be copied
plainly on the blocks of a storage device. Depending on the device type
the reader software (BIOS, EFI, Linux, MS-Windows, ...) will interpret
the first blocks as MBR boot code and/or partition table or ignore them.
An important point is whether the image is supposed to represent a whole
storage device or a single partition of such a device. All known Linux
installation ISOs are to be put on the whole storage device.
Nevertheless ISOLINUX offers an opportunity to prepare isohybrid images
which are to be put onto a primary MBR partition. This partition will be
booted by an MBR which looks for the boot flag in the partition table.
Such MBRs are often found on newly bought USB sticks. The boot flag
MBR convention seems to be usual in the Windows world.
So a Microsoft Inc. image might well be meant for a partition, not the
whole storage device.
Of course it might be that Microsoft "images" need some unpacking or
patching before they get installed at various block ranges of a device.
But actually the term "image" stems from the concept of a 1:1 copy of
a storage device in form of a data file.
> I have given up reading any documentation from debian, it is all written by
> developers for engineers and vice-versa. If you are not one of them it is a
> waste of time.
A better reaction would be to contact the writers and to negotiate better
representation of the facts which shall be described.
A manual must be understandable and be correct. Not easy to achieve.
> If you read the instructions on how to write a document from
> your pc to a usb disk, chances are that you will need to learn 5 more things
> to do so,
It is sincere sysadmin work to copy an image onto a storage device.
So you best first learn the ways of GNU/Linux: device model, filesystem
model, byte streams, shell, ... lots of concepts which play together.
For the desktop addicted user, there should better be a GUI tool which
keeps that user from overwriting the system disk or unpacking the ISO.
> It is easier to copy the document in marble with a cheasel than learn
> all this.
But only if the text is short and you are an experienced chiseller.
Don't forget the initial wonder of computerisation: Exactness.
It computes like a lightning and still does it correctly.
You can mistoggle your text and correct it without Tipp-Ex or rubber.
It remembers all your mistakes until you find an opportunity to correct
them.
Neither ink nor marble can do this for you. (Not to speak of the human
brain and its tendency to mess up after a few dozen steps.)
> Welcome to our world of whips and chains.
Actually it's math. The painful pursuit of exact thinking.
Have a nice day :)
Thomas
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