[plug] debian install from floppy disks?

[Denis Brown]

Hi,

Look out for the later version of rawrite, rawrite2, which is much 
faster.  The URL mentioned in the Debian site documentation is
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/dosutils/rawrite2.exe 

however there may be a local mirror.  Does quick check... yes, try
ftp://ftp.uwa.edu.au/mirrors/linux/debian/tools/ where there is a .zip version.

For even more comprehensive information, check
http://www.debian.org.au/releases/stable/i386/install.en.html
which has been enhanced since my initial installation (of hamm) a couple of 
years ago.

Basically what you will be doing is downloading floppy images, each of 
which will be 1.44mb in size.  Rawrite takes those image files 
and  transfers them to floppy.  Once you have the base system in operation 
(using the floppies) then establish a connection to a debian site and get 
the rest using apt.  The only "tricky" thing I encountered was setting up 
lilo.conf (the configuration file for lilo, the Linux Loader) and even that 
was just a matter of adding a line to   enable correct operation with my 
drive geometry.  Oh yes, if you have a large hard disk it is important to 
remember to locate the boot code within the first 1024 cylinders (others 
please correct!)  Reading through the above documentation url would be an 
excellent way to start.

Hope this helps,
Denis