[broken record] Still no topic for next GLLUG meeting...

[Ben Pfaff]

Adam <bsdx@looksharp.net> writes:

> I've kinda been wondering ever since the installfest what a *smooth*
> installation of linux looks like =P

You wanna see a *smooth* installation of Linux?  All right, I've
got one for you: my Sacrificial Install Testing Box.  This is a
machine I've built specifically to ease installation of Linux,
because I'm working on a set of custom Debian install disks.

The only real special feature it has is a high-end 3C905C-TX-M
Ethernet card.  This card can do net-boot, so that I never have
to physically put media into the machine, even to boot it.  I can
install without floppy or CD-ROM drive, although the machine has
both.

(The machine also has a SCSI HDD, but that's only because it was
all that I had available.  I'd actually prefer IDE for this
purpose because it would speed up boot by 10 seconds or so.)

I reinstall this machine as much as 10 times a day when I'm
working on install disks, like today.  It only takes 10 minutes
or so each time, and much of that time is waiting for it to
uncompress big files (it's only a P5/133, so pretty slow).

Procedure:

	* Turn on or reset.  Wait for network boot screen to
          appear, hit `n' on keyboard.  Machine finds its IP
          address via DHCP, then loads PXELINUX (a SYSLINUX-based
          network boot loader) via bootp.  I select a boot image
          and hit Enter.

	* Linux and Debian install program pops up.  I hit Enter
          a number of times to select keyboard layout, etc.
          I select `autopartitioning' to save more time[1].
          Eventually it wants to know install media.  I tell it
          `network' and then it finds its IP address via DHCP
          automatically.  Then I tell it where to get the install
          data from and it goes off and does it.

	* After installation is complete, I have it reboot.  It's
          done, except for a couple questions (root password,
          etc.) after reboot.

[1] This is a luser-friendly option I hacked into the Debian
install.  For a hard drive of N megabytes, it makes N - 64 of it
into a main ext2 partition, and 64 into a swap partition.  Works
well enough about 90% of the time.