On Sun, Jun 30, 2002 at 06:30:55PM -0500, nate at refried.org wrote: > > Debian is harder to install than just about any other distro except > > maybe slackware (Haven't reinstalled a slack box lately), things > > like having to download the entire base and put in on what, 6 floppies? > > Uh, last I checked you only needed two floppies (rescue and root) to get > a Debian install started. Then you can download base via NFS, FTP, or > HTTP. The common drivers are on the rescue floppy. The drivers > floppies are for uncommon hardware. > http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html: 5.5.2 Booting from Floppies Booting from floppies is supported for most platforms. To boot from floppies, simply download the Rescue Floppy image and the Driver Floppies image. If you need to, you can also modify the Rescue Floppy; see Replacing the Rescue Floppy Kernel, Section 9.3. The Rescue Floppy couldn't fit the root filesystem image, so you'll need the root image to be written to a disk as well. You can create that floppy just as the other images are written to floppies. Once the kernel has been loaded from the Rescue Floppy, you'll be prompted for the root disk. Insert that floppy and continue. See also Booting With the Rescue Floppy, Section 6.5. 5.4.3 Driver Files [long list] http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/driver-1.bin http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/driver-2.bin http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/driver-3.bin http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/driver-4.bin [more specific drivers for 'safe' 'udma66' etc] Of course, the Rescue floppy asks for the root floppy, which is another disk.. So, 4 + 1 + 1 = 6, this is by following the install FAQ. As I believe I mentioned before, I gave up on the install faq altogether and just downloaded toms rootboot then ftp'd the base.tgz and drivers.tgz from there, amazing how i only needed one floppy for a fully operational system. =) > dselect is an acquired taste. It took me a little while to understand > it. aptitude is a great step beyond dselect, but it could still use > some debugging. synaptic is another choice for GUI addicts. Unfortunately users don't have time to learn something they'll probably never use again after the initial install, this isn't a learning curve, it's a brick wall when you can't even get the system installed. > Nate -- Matthew S. Hallacy FUBAR, LART, BOFH Certified http://www.poptix.net GPG public key 0x01938203