[plug] debian install from floppy disks?

[tlee]

Thank for that Denis - is a mirror site one which is nearby instead of having to go far afield
to get download?

Denis Brown wrote:

> 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