[wellylug] Installing without a CD drive

[Centurion Computer Technology Ltd]

> What do I need to do to get a suitable bootable floppy, connect to the 
> network and then run and install over the network?

A floppy disk.
> 
> So where do I start??
> 
Start by picking your distro.

Decide whether you are going to serve the raw iso's via ftp or http, or
whether to serve the packages via nfs.

I have never done the first one but I would imagine you just setup your
ftp server to serve up the directory with you iso's

The second method I have done successfully many times with Redhat and
Mandrake, and is described briefly as follows.

Copy all the files/dirs from disk one to directory XX on your harddisk.

Copy the RPM directory from the subsequent discs to the appropriate
place in the dir XX/( RedHat or Mandrake ).

Setup the nfs server to share dir XX with your 

The same boot disk is used for both methods, and the floppy image is
usually found in the "images" dir of the first install cd, and called
bootnet.img or network.img depending on the distro you chose.

Write the image to your floppy disc:
	dd if=<floppy image> of=/dev/fd0

Boot you networked machine of the floppy enter the ip address of your
server and follow the instructions.

Good Luck!

If it happens to be RedHat, Mandrake or something similar, Then
-- 
	Daniel Reurich
	Centurion Computer Technolgy Limited
	
	Ph: (04) 565 1832
	    (025) 374 387
	    
	email: centurion at paradise.net.nz