Ri:[Rule-list] ? on RH floppy boot

[Wade Hampton]

Marco Fioretti wrote:

> Wade said:
>
> > If this is the case, would this project have to either:
> >
> > 1)  make a separate installer, e.g., busybox+kernel+scripts,
> >      text only and use the RH disc for RPMs
> >
> > 2)  make a separate virtual image based on RH's but with additional
> >      options and capabilities.
>
> Wade,
>
> first of all, welcome on board!
>
> I'm all for option 1 if feasible because it has the (IMHO) huge
> advantages that:
>
> to test it  we just download floppy images and use them on stock
> Red Hat CDs

OK.  Very good points.  If we take that as the goal, we would have to
recognize that we would not have most of the RH installer available.
This could prove very interesting.....

I am doing some work on system updates/installation for some inhouse
projects and it is a real pain -- and that is post install.

I would love to hear some other opinions on such installers.

A lot could be borrowed from the LRP-based distributions (LEAF).

Maybe the stated design goals should be something like:

1)  target system:
        486/25 or better
        16 M RAM
        100 M HD for base install
        200 M HD for install with X, basic apps

2)  target CD-ROM:
         RedHat 7.2 boxed set

3)  single boot floppy:
         kernel + set of drivers + busybox + uClibc + installer
         simple, text (dialog-like) installer

4)  multiple boot floppies for different hardware (initial phase):
         basic - kernel, ATAPI only, common ethernet drivers (eepro100,
3com)
         adaptec scsi - kernel, ATAPI, adaptec scsi
         etc.

5)  future phase, a floppy builder program:
         basic - kernel, ATAPI, basic modules, busybox, isntaller
         ability to selecte modules from your list of hardware
         ability to write the result to a floppy
         do in ANSI C and relese for both DOS/WIndows and Linux
            (e.g., djgpp, static linked, or cygwin static linked)

Concept of operations:

1)  get a boxed set of RH CD-ROMS

2)  download one of the following:
      a)  full zip file  or bz2 file containing
           builder program (linux binary, dos binary, mac OS/X binary)
           base floppy image with common modules
           all other modules
      b)  medium zip with all but the other modules stuff
      c)  separate components sized for 1.4 floppies
      d)  zip for windows (mirror info-zip's zip)

3)  extract the installer and images

4)  get the info on your target machine
         - at a minimum NIC and SCSI if applicable

5)  run the builder program
         prompts you for some basic options
         builds a boot disk image
         copies the boot disk to floppy

    [steps 2-5 would be manual for initial versions]
        use info-zip to extract under windows
        use dd (linux) or rawrite to copy to floppy
        copy the modules that you need

6)  boot from the boot disk and install:
         have a series of prompts:
            - level of system to install
                    - embedded/minimal
                    - minimal server
                    - X install
                    - other -- use RedHat's installer
           - network information
                     - IP address, netmask, hostname, gateway, or use
DHCP
                     - default routes
           - root password and user accounts
                     - always use MD5
                     - have options for NIS+, LDAP, etc.
           - disk setup
                     - run fdisk for now
           - boot setup (lilo or grub)
           - turn off all services on initial boot
        etc.

7)  boot on the new software version
          - on first root login, run a test and setup program
                - test networking
                - allow the running of rhn-register and up2date
                - allow root to turn on various services
          - on root's login, have a basic help and a shell script to
               run some of the admin stuff (useful for RH too).

--back to work---
--
Wade Hampton


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