Debian Install Question

[armando86]

I want to install Debian by downloading the base package and then burning it to a bootable CD. I've already downloaded the base2_2 tarball. The problem is that I don't know how to make a bootable CD out of this, I know I need a boot image but I can't seem to find it on the Debain ftp site, can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

[Craig McPherson]

I don't think there's an easy way to do that.

Burn the rescue disk image to one floppy, and burn the root disk image to a second floppy. Put the base system tarball and the drivers tarball on the CD. Boot from the rescue disk, insert the root disk when prompted, then mount the CD-ROM for installing the drivers and base system.

If you want a bootable CD, you'd have to download the entire first CD image and burn it. If that's what you want to do, check out http://cdimage.debian.org/

[armando86]

I was hoping you (or anyone else for that matter) wouldn't say that. Oh well I guess you can't have it all.

[bdl]

Head over to ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current (ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current). You will see a directory named "images-2.88". These are 2.88MB images you use to create an eltorito bootable CD. There are a couple of different flavors for different systems, be sure to get the one you need.


Grab the necessary files from 'current' to install:

rescue.bin base2_2.tgz and drivers.tgz

With the files in an appropriate directory, let's say /tmp/debian, issue the command:

prompt$ mkisofs -r -V "potato" -b rescue.bin -c boot.cat -o /tmp/potato.iso .

Dont forget the '.' at the end, it specifies the current working directory. The -b flag causes mkisofs to use the 2.88MB rescue.bin file as a bootable 'floppy' image. The -c flag is necessary for eltorito to function, it creates a file named 'boot.cat' (or whatever filename you want it to be). The -o flag specifies the output, in this case, a file named potato.iso. Once the ISO image is complete, burn it to CD:

prompt# cdrecord -v speed=2 dev=0,0,0 /tmp/potato.iso

...where of course you give the appropriate specs for your CDR. Stick the CD you just created into any CDROM and reboot the system. I've always installed Debian this way, never bothered with creating an image from the cdimage site. Enjoy!

[Gaccm]

there are plenty of .ISOs out there, just not at debian.org
linuxiso.org has tehm, but they are slow. What i did was go to all the primary mirrors and some have .iso. Check out kernel.org, i think it has downloadable .isos

[armando86]

Thanks! I was a bout to download the full iso before I saw your post, you saved me hours of downloading!