Re: Installation instructions.
> > https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s01.en.html#boot-initrd
>
> Quoting paragraphs 2 and 3 from your link above ...
>
> Alternatively, if you intend to keep an existing partition on the hard
> drive unchanged during the install, you can download the
> hd-media/initrd.gz file and its kernel, as well as copy a CD (or DVD)
> iso to the drive (make sure the file is named ending in .iso). The
> installer can then boot from the drive and install from the CD/DVD
> image, without needing the network.
> 1) Which of the above are you attempting? Paragraph 2 or paragraph 3?
3.
> Please describe what is on the hard drive before the installation, ...
Before the installation, the HDD can have any information at all. It
can be new, fresh from the factory. It can be an old drive with a
bootable MS Windows system. Any information be overwritten or
dereferenced by steps below.
> ... and what you want to be there after.
After the installation the drive should have Debian 10 system from
which the target machine can boot and work.
Required ingredients.
* Debian workstation with network connection. (In fact any Linux or Unix
should work. A few details below may vary.)
* Target machine with hardware allowing a network connection.
* HDD which will work in the target machine when this process is
complete.
This procedure is performed. Most steps require root priviledge. On
the workstation use su or sudo.
The system is to be installed on a "target HDD". Connect the target
HDD to a Debian workstation using a ATA cable or USB-ATA adapter. To
my understanding the machine should be unpowered when ATA is connected
or disconnected. USB can be hot-plugged.
Using gparted in the workstation, make these four parts on the target
HDD.
Part 1 labeled ROOT. 7 GB. Format ext4.
Part 2 labeled SWAP. 1 GB. Format swap or linux-swap.
Part 3 labeled HOME. 3.5 GB. Format ext4.
Part 4 labeled INSTLR. 520 MB. Format ext4.
Mount INSTLR at /mnt/.
mount /dev/sdx4 /mnt/ # x represents the actual drive letter. Eg. "c".
Make a grub directory.
mkdir /mnt/grub
Install grub on the target HDD.
grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdx
Ref. 5.1.5. Booting from Linux using LILO or GRUB
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s01.en.html#boot-initrd
Note the GRUB2 example stanza.
open /mnt/grub/grub.cfg with an editor. If the following stanza is
not present, add it. Note that we have the files at /, not at
/boot/newinstall/ as the example.
menuentry 'CDless CD install' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
linux /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.gz
}
> 3) Which CD image are you using?
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/debian-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso
(I'd be happy to retrieve the image from a local server,
http://mirror.it.ubc.ca/debian/dists, but did not find it there.)
Put that .iso file in /mnt/
> 2) Given that choice (para 2 or 3), where did you get the vmlinuz and
> initrd.gz you are using?
vmlinuz and initrd.gz are in the .iso. No need to retrieve again.
mkdir /loop
mount -t iso9660 -o loop,ro /mnt/debian-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso /loop
cp /loop/initrd.gz /mnt/
cp /loop/vmlinuz /mnt/
Verify that INSTLR is organized.
ls /mnt
debian-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso grub initrd.gz lost+found vmlinuz
Good.
umount /mnt
Disconnect the HDD from the workstation and connect it to the target
machine. Connect, keyboard, monitor, mouse and power cord. Turn on
power. The GRUB2 menu should appear. The title of the GRUB2 stanza
above should appear. "CDless CD install" Scroll to that and press
the <Enter> key.
vmlinuz should load and execute. Then the initrd.gz.
If there is a complaint about low memory, go to <Go back> and "Execute
a shell". The swap part can be verified with "blkid /dev/sdy". Note
that y # x, x mentioned above. If the machine has only one HDD, y = "a".
Execute "swapon /dev/sdy". Eg. "swapon /dev/sda". Exit the shell and
continue the installation process.
After setting location and language the installer will search for the
CD. Ideally the .iso image should be found as you suggested. Here
this message appears.
"No common CD-ROM dirve was detected. ..."
No obvious way to proceed.
Regards, ... P.
--
Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca
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