best 56k debian install?

[scott_R]

I know this sounds crazy to some of you, but I'm tired of not knowing whether debian is easy or hard to use, so I want to install it. What I'm curious about is whether any of you have installed it without a cd. If I understand it right, I should be able to download a couple floppies to start with, then let it download and install from there. I'm stuck with a 56k connect, and i was wondering if I could do this within reason, or if I'm dreaming. Download time isn't a particular issue for me. What I want to know is whether anyone's done it this way before, or if I'm misunderstanding something, as well as whether apt-get has a way of letting a download continue, or whether it has to start from fresh if it disconnects during a large set of downloads. Also, if anyone has any experience on this, how long will my system have to be downloading before i can start using it while it's putting itself together? (I.e., will I have to wait to use bash/X till all the other basic bs is loaded, or is it pretty much ready to go when I install the dozen floppies?)

I really appreciate any and all thoughts (even the complaints) on this. Thanks http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Pierre Lambion]

I did a no cd install three weeks ago, and I'm on 56K too. It is just fine.

1/ Get some files: root.bin, drivers, base2-2.tgz, a kernel, loadlin .. (just check http://www.debian.org/releases/2.2/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-install-drive for the details)

2/ Boot the kernel with loadlin, you will enter the setup

3/ setup prompts you for an installation method where you can specify sources (ftp/http/cdrom/harddrive). I recommend you check first if your ISP has a local mirror of potato.

4/ select the tasks you need (like xfree core, perl develop, tetex, ...)

5/ necessary files will be downloaded and installed.

Everything went very well in my case. It gave me a light and efficient install. Apt-get has resume capability from what I heard but I never had to experience it myself.

Go ahead, I had the misconception that apt-get was useless without dsl or cable but I was wrong. It is easy and minimize connection time by downloading only what is needed and avoiding you to loose time surfing and looking for the right packages.

Pierre

[milanuk]

Just a question here... does anyone know of something like a smallish iso image that could be burned to CD that would just have the minimal install on it? kinda like equivalent to the boot floppies, only on a CD? I realize that it would be a bit of a waste of a CD-R, but it would be a good bit easier than farting around w/ multiple floppies, but easier to download and burn than a full binaries-1 iso.

Just an idea,

Monte

[X_Entity]

Its getting kinda old now but you can dist-upgrade it once its installed

try www.linuxcare.com/bootable_cd (http://www.linuxcare.com/bootable_cd)

its designed to be burned on a business card cd-r so its only about 47Mb its also a marvelous way of fixing things when it all goes wrong as it doubles as a recovery disk. possibly the most useful freebie I picked up at london linux expo last year.