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Re: Report: Linux install on 701C



On Sat, 2 Dec 1995, Chris Hanson wrote:

>    Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 01:01:16 -0500 (EST)
>    From: "John H. Kim" <jokim@tuna.mit.edu>
> 
>    Another reason I went with Red Hat is that their install scripts
>    support upgrading - no more wondering what files are safe to delete
>    if you install a new kernel or other software.  I haven't had much
> 
> The Debian distribution has this feature, and it definitely does work.
> I've been using it to upgrade packages as interesting new ones come
> out.  Debian has the advantage of being free, but it does not support
> PCMCIA at installation, and it uses a text-mode interface rather than
> an X interface.

Do you have a URL (ftp and web) for the Debian distribution?

The Red Hat distribution doesn't cost anything either unless you want
direct email/phone support and/or a copy on CD-ROM.  Their email
mailing list is free too.

I've played with it some more (well, reinstalled it :), and here's
some more thoughts:

The ftp install is unreliable.  I don't know if this is because I
only have 8MB, am using a PCMCIA ethernet card, or if it's a network
problem.  From my rather small sample of attempted installs, there's
about a 50% chance the ftp install will fail.  The basic and network
series are pretty reliable, but the dosemu and X-Windows series almost
always died.

I ended up doing the following: Used the ftp install to get a minimal
network-capable system running (one of these days I'll have to make
a set of floppies that do this).  Then I used this system to reformat
the DOS partition as ext2, and ftp'd the entire Red Hat binary
distribution (about 100MB) to it.  I also ftp'd the images required
for X installation to see if it'd work (it's only supposed to work
with CD-ROM or NFS).  ncftp 2.0 can ftp directory trees so I just did
a 'get -R *' and watched TV for 20 minutes.

Once the ftp finished, I reinstalled, this time specifying a hard drive
install.  Before the install started, I used a shell (conveniently
provided) to mount the ftp'ed distribution in /mnt/cdrom -- the install
expects the CD-ROM to be mounted there.  It worked and I was able to 
start the X install.  It's a neat install program, but with just 8MB
and root system on ramdisk, it's very *very* slow.  I aborted and
restarted the text mode install, telling it to install everything.

It took about 1h 45m.  I suspect it'll go a lot faster if you have
more RAM.  Anyway, the X administrative tools (control-panel) are
*very* nice.  It has X programs for mounting disks, setting up the
printer, adding users, modifying rc.d, etc.  The install/remove/
update program is identical to the one used in the X install.  It
lists all the currently installed/not installed packages graphically
(very Mac-like) and lets you add/inspect/delete them with a click of
a button.  It ran much faster without the ramdisk sitting in memory.
The only downside was that the package descriptions weren't very good.
Who cares.  Now I can try each program and nuke it with a mouse click
if I decide it's not worth keeping.  :)

All in all, I'd give it a thumbs up over Slackware just for the
administrative tools.  Be prepared for errors and a long wait if you
have just 8MB though.  The ftp install is pretty nifty for getting
a base system up, but the hard drive or NFS install is probably the
best way to go (if you want to pay you can buy a CD).

(Someone at the lab asked me for help installing Linux, so I'm
writing these primarily as notes to myself.  I'm not trying to push
Linux on the list.  :)
___________________________________________________________________________
John H. Kim         The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one
jokim@mit.edu       that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I have
jokim@tuna.mit.edu  found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov