Re: Distribution and sales with preinstalled Linux on computers

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Lars Henrik Jensen wrote:
> Our customers want to buy computer with preinstalled Linux and I wish to
> know how I can do it right and devilery with a recovery DVD/CD or USB stick
> or a recovery partition on harddrive.

With questions about installation of Debian you are probably better off at
  debian-u...@lists.debian.org


If you install systems from a netinst ISO
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/
then give a copy of it on CD to the customer. Some printed instructions might
help the user to get started with re-installation if ever necessary.

To comply with the software licences you should prepare yourself to answer
the question where to find the source code of software which you install.
(There must be better answers than downloading all source DVD images from
   https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/source/iso-dvd/
 or
   https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/source/jigdo-dlbd/
 in order to be able years later to give some lawyer a copy of them.
)


In any case you should give the customer a Debian Live DVD with the graphical
desktop which you make default on your computers. There are several for
choice at
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/
Debian Live will bring up quite some usable GNU/Linux without the need for
a permanent installation.
The Live images are referred to as "Live Install", but installing Debian from
them to hard disk is said to be error prone. (Testers are wanted, i guess.)


In order to enable re-installation without access to the internet, you
could do your installation from downloaded DVD or BD size ISOs and give
the customers copies of the needed media.
The first three DVD images are at
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd/
and usually suffice for an initial installation.

More DVD and BD sized ISOs are at
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/jigdo-dvd/
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/jigdo-bd/
  https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/jigdo-dlbd/
The first "DLBD" ISO should really contain all that is needed and fit on a
64 GB USB stick.


All bootable Debian ISOs for 32-bit x86 ("i386") and 64-bit x86 ("amd64")
can be put on USB stick and will boot from there:
  https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb
(Program "Rufus" in its plain image copying mode "dd" is said to yield a
 usable result on MS-Windows, too.)


> I have equipment to make cd's but no advanced to made with logo in colors
> and inlays and covers with nice colors at this moment.

At work i use a cheap Canon iP7250 printer to put text and graphics on
printable white media and to print double-sided booklets for the jewel cases.
It's not really photo quality on the media. So one should print lightly
colored graphics or restrict oneself to some lines of neatly printed text.
But it looks much more professional than hand writing with a marker pen.

Said this, there are graphic designs for CDs and booklets at
  https://www.debian.org/CD/artwork/


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

Blueray Disk image

[Luca Biella]

Hello.

Thank you for all the effort you put in developing disk images of Debian.

I contact you because I'd like to get an installation iso-bd file for i386 
system. I know from FAQ it could be heavy to maintain all those file, but a 
download link on at least a mirror could be useful for my situation (no network 
on destination machine, Windows host=no jigdo, needed packages in DVD over the 
third).

Otherwise is there a sort of "online jigdo" in order to build a custom 
installation ISO with needed packages and related dependencies?

Thank you for your understanding.

Luca

Blueray Disk image

[Luca Biella]

Hello.

Thank you for all the effort you put in developing disk images of Debian.

I contact you because I'd like to get an installation iso-bd file for i386 
system. I know from FAQ it could be heavy to maintain all those file, but a 
download link on at least a mirror could be useful for my situation (no network 
on destination machine, Windows host=no jigdo, needed packages in DVD over the 
third).

Otherwise is there a sort of "online jigdo" in order to build a custom 
installation ISO with needed packages and related dependencies?

Thank you for your understanding.

Luca

Re: Blueray Disk image

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Luca wrote:
> Windows host=no jigdo

There is a link to
  http://atterer.org/sites/atterer/files/2009-08/jigdo/jigdo-win-0.7.2.zip
on
  http://atterer.org/jigdo/

Vague alternative ideas:
- Install a small Debian in a virtual machine on some MS-Windows with
  network access and use it to assemble the ISOs by help of "jigdo-lite"
  from package "jigdo-file".
- Boot a Debian Live system, check for jigdo-lite being present, install
  "jigdo-file" if needed, mount a disk partition, and assemble the ISO there.


> Otherwise is there a sort of "online jigdo" in order to build a custom
> installation ISO with needed packages and related dependencies?

That would be the debian-cd software itself, i guess.
Somebody would have to donate the resources to create large ISOs on demand.
That's even more a load than offering a few BD sized static ISOs.
(And then one would have to make it ready to be operated remotely by
 possibly greedy users ...)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas