At 04:38 PM 12/16/1998 +0100, Lyndon Fletcher wrote:
>Hi,
> I'm reposting this message with a few clarifications in the hope that
>someone will answer my questions.
>
>I was recently lent an old 486 PC by a friend so that I could do some
>Web server development. The machine is not mine and not readily
>upgradable so I HAVE to work with what I have. First limitation is that
>the machine only has ~360Mb of hard disk space, limitation number 2 is
>that the machine has an old CDROM drive with an ISA based proprietary
>controller card. This card is NOT supported by Linux, though I have a
>DOS boot disc with the nescessary drivers for DOS. I also have
>Cheapbytes version of the Debian 2.0 CD.
>
>OK. Now I cann't load Debian directly off of the CD because the CDROM
>drive is not supported. So I got base installed on the machine by
>creating a 30MB Dos partition and copying the basic installation files
>on to it from DOS. Install went OK up to the point where I need to
>install packages, then the lack of the CD (and space on the HD for
>temporary storage) became a problem. I need parts of about 8 or 9
>packages some of which will involve loading up to 80MB at a time in
>temporary storage if I can't use the CD as source.
>
>
>My problem is how to load the rest of the packages. I have a couple of
>ideas and would like to know the answers to a few specific questions.
>
>1) Idea 1
>
>I could copy a few packages at a time onto the 30Mb Dos drive and
>install from there.
Do you have a zip/jaz drive? That might make more sense.
>Question 1 --- To run dselect do I only need the .deb files or do I need
>the "packages" files too?
I believe you need the packages file in order for dselect to know what
packages are available.
>Question 2 --- If I do need the "packages" file do I have to edit it to
>reflect the actual path to the .deb files? If not how do you deal with
>loading packages from paths different from those in the package file?
I do not know.
>Question 3 --- What constitutes a package? I have several directories
>called things like "net" do I copy the whole directory or just the .deb
>files I seem to need?
I believe each .deb file is a package. However, some packages are dependent
on other packages which may be dependent on still other packages.
>
>Idea 2
>
>I also have a laptop PC with a working CDROM (running win95) on which
>I've installed an FTPD for win95.
>
>Question 4 --- when I try to use this machine as an FTP source, Dselect
>seems to expect a specific layout dist/stable/main et al
If you have dial-up capability from your Linux system, just ftp to a debian
site (such as debian.org or one of its mirrors). This is, in my opinion,
your best solution.
>Unfortunately my CD has the form d:/debian/hamm/hamm... How can I change
>this so that Dselect can read fron the remote drive?
You use the 0 - Access option in dselect to specify where the packages are
located. Whether you elect to install using the CD-ROM method or the ftp
method or etc, this is the place to specify how to find the files.
>Question 5 --- the "packages" file has the paths to the files listed as
>dist/stable/main etc. However, the layout of my CD is
>D:/debian/hamm/hamm/binary-i386/... would I need a new packages file
>with the paths corrected?
I don't know.
>Question 6 --- is it possible to use a "packages" file in a different
>path from where the .deb files are stored?
I don't know.
>Hope that you can send me some answers... I've been pulling my hair out
>over this all week.
Don't do that:
1) It's painful.
2) For most men, as you get older, you'll probably have a harder time
replacing what you pull out.
3) Hair might get inside the CPU or keyboard or drive mechanisms and mess
things up.
:-)
>Thanks
>
>Fletch
