FTP Installation
by Skamm
edited by cpesq
This compilation has been edited from the original ftp installation NHF
which was ripped from the LNO Chat Room. The original NHF was based on
an ftp install for Red Hat Linux so the instruction format was
maintained, although a reasonable assumption is that this installation
will work with any distribution of Linux with distro specific
modifications. This NHF assumes you have an internet connection
available to work with Linux as the installation is started with a boot
up of Linux. The sites referenced herein are valid as of the date of
this NHF printed above.
1. To begin the installation, you need to download some preliminary
files. You also need to make a boot floppy, so have a blank floppy disk
handy. Get "bootnet.img" from the images
subdirectory at the ftp site, e.g., (ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/images/).
It is recommended that the Red Hat site not be used as the connection is
overburdened and slow.
2. Get "rawrite" from the dosutils
subdirectory.
This (ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/dosutils/).
This is a dos program that will write the bootnet.img file to a floppy.
It will write it one byte at a time and it really sensitive to marginal
floppies. If this is a laptop, you will need the supplemental or
"pcmcia.img" images too.
(ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/images/)
3. Run rawrite and it will give you the format for the command when
you run it.
(probably "rawrite
c:\locationofbootnet.img\bootnet.img a:").
4. Next, make sure that you have the full URL to the start of the
linux tree on your ftp mirror.
(ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/
or
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/redhat/current/i386/).
This should be in the i386 subdirectory.
([Sensei's comment] "for anyone not following, bootnet.img is
necessary if you want to install via FTP hence bootnet...boot over the
net.")
5. Now you should put your newly built bootnet.img floppy in your drive,
and reboot. It will load the kernel, and then ask you a couple questions,
like language and stuff. I am assuming that you have a real internet
connection, like Ethernet, cable, dsl, and that it works with linux.
When you tell it that you are going to do an FTP install, it will ask for
your network info, like IP, gateway, DNS, and the url. The system will
then install as normal. A full install is about 800MB. This will take a
LONG TIME to do on a slow, modem connection.
|