Install floppy for Debian (install over network)?

[lsibn]

This will be a first for me. But I don't want to continually swap out my CDROM drives, and I am getting a home network, so I was thinking it'd be a fun project to install debian to my old box (which will have no CDROM drive) via a floppy, and have it grab packages from another box.

The problem is that I have no idea how to go about doing this. I'm going to check linuxdoc.org for things like "network installs" etc., but I would really appreciate some definite pointers (is there a floppy image I can download from the debian ftp site or something like that?) if you happen to have any to offer.

I mean, it'd be a simple matter to copy my CDROMs to the hard disk here, to make mirrors of debian archives... But what I'd need then is a way to initiate the installation process.

thx,

[godot]

Yes, you can just get a floppy image from debian ftp servers. It's also located on the debian iso i believe. Use rawrite in windows or dd in *nix to make the floppy.

When you boot form it you'll have the normal debian installation routine and if it has a module for your network card and you know your ip or are on dhcp you can add the debian servers and download all the packages directly.

Good Luck.

[lsibn]

Thank you-

I looked at the ftp archive, and was a total failure, as far is locating the appropriate image goes. BUT, I'm not done looking yet. And I have to go to work soon. And I still have other places to look.

Btw, I understand dd- and I'm on a dialup, so getting them over the internet is not an option. That's why I want a floppy. :)

Thx for your help. when I get off work, I'll look at it closer. :)

[godot]

oh, you want to install the packages from another box, hmmm.....

perhaps if you copy the CD image to another comps HD and run an ftp server on it to your local network, have the debian install add it to its apt sources.

That's a really good question!!\

Would be interesting to see if you can get it working.

[Craig McPherson]

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/

(Yes, I have that memorized. Scary.)

[lsibn]

Originally posted by godot:
<STRONG>Would be interesting to see if you can get it working.</STRONG>
Shouldn't be a problem- If I copy the discs to the hard drive I can do it (that's what I did when I first installed it so I wouldn't have to change discs out whenever I wanted to install new software).

the only trick for me is grabbing the right floppies...

Craig, you really do scare me sometimes. :D

[bdl]

Yeah, as Craig stated, the appropriate images can be found at the FTP site. You'll want to grab at least rescue.bin and root.bin from the images-1.44 dir and probably will need drivers{1-4}.bin as well in order to get the NIC up and install over the network. (unless someone knows exactly which drivers?.bin contains the NIC mods??)

You can either install directly from a Debian mirror or I'd recommend using NFS on a local machine. Export the CDROM and you're golden.

[lsibn]

Okiedokie, I'll do that. Actually, I think I have those floppy images on my #1 Debian CD... I'll just grab them from there. :D

thanks guys- I have no idea how long it's gonna take me to get this all done, but that's the fun in planning it. :)