On Fri, 2004-09-03 at 02:32, jeff wrote:
> Nope, it at least would require an external cd drive,
> like a Backpacker or similar.
Which will have the same CD boot issues, back to the original problem.
> Looks like NFS
Which still requires you to boot somehow, back to the original problem.
> or the "stick the drive in another machine" methods are all that would
> have worked in that case.
The only, remaining option.
> Slackware had a method that could get around that obstacle.
Red Hat Linux/Fedora Core had several prior to kernel 2.6 as well. The
problem is the size of the 2.6 kernel.
> You could install zipslack to a zip drive which gives a pretty minimal install.
The 90MB "minimal" Fedora Core 2 install, as well as the 75MB "rescue"
image, is designed for Zips or other media, using UP2DATE, YUM or APT to
fetch packages.
The other Fedora Core 2 option is the 6MB "diskboot" image that is a FAT
image (all 8.3 filenames) one can plop onto anything that can boot (Zip,
USB, etc...). But gone is the floppy in Fedora Core 2 out of sheer
kernel 2.6 size limitations. Most other distros have done the same (if
they even offered a floppy boot in recent versions anyway).
> From there you could copy that to an ext2 partition (or a FAT partition),
> run setup from there and choose whatever else that you wished and
> install by ftp.
In Fedora Core, once LOADLIN gets the kernel up, anything goes for the
Anaconda installer. So I've used the 6MB "diskboot" to a HD several
times now. Fedora Core 2 is now getting better, but the kernel 2.6 size
is making it difficult to rotate a floppy into the equation.
But I'll admit that Slack has a far better, legacy-friendly/
low-footprint installer. And it's ability to install under DOS, with
8.3 filenames for its installer, is unparalleled. I was a total Slacker
from 1994-1996, but once I learned how to build RPMs, I became a Red Hat
bigot.
Today I prefer to deploy either Debian or Fedora-based distributions.
But I still find the occassional use for Gentoo and Slackware.
> I used to have a copy of bigslack (same thing with X installed also)
> that I passed on to people that were interested in trying Linux. Since
> it would install on a FAT partition, they didn't need to repartition
> their drive just for a test drive of Linux. But the live cd's have
> made that approach obsolete now.
Yeah, live CDs have made UMSFAT (was that the acronym?) pretty much
obsolete. I remember using it with Yggdrasil GLX back in 1993.
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