[TriLUG] Home installation of Linux

[Benjamin Reed]

Justin Johnson [justin at eCotton.com] wrote:
> > Do you have a fast Internet connection (i.e. DSL or Cable
> > Modem)?  If so you can install with just a floppy disk over
> > the Internet.
> 
> How hard is this to set up? I have seen references to ftp / internet
> installs of linux, and would (geek!) like to do that once just for
> kicks. Is there a detailed doc that will walk me through setting up
> the boot disk I need in order to this?

It's actually pretty easy.  If you have a unix system handy, then
you just grab the network boot floppy image (ie, bootnet.img for redhat
or network.img for mandrake, or it's equivalent for whatever distro you
want to install).  Then dd it to a floppy and boot.  It'll try to
configure your network and/or ask for settings and then you give the
NFS/FTP/HTTP server and path and it's just like a CD install after that.

I expect there's docs somewhere but it's pretty straightforward if
you've done the equivalent CD install before.

-- 
Ben Reed a.k.a. Ranger Rick (ranger at befunk.com)
http://defiance.dyndns.org/ / http://radio.scenespot.org/
...if humanoids eat chicken, then obviously they'd eat their own
species.  Otherwise they'd just be picking on the chickens. -- Kryten