[Rule-list] Installation notes, first draft

[Martin Stricker]

See the attached file (I hope Netscape doesn't munge it). If it does,
you also can find it here: http://www.martin-stricker.de/INSTALL
Since I won't get to setup SSH and CVS on Win2k soon, can someone with
developer access please put it into CVS and onto the download area?

Best regards,
Martin Stricker
-- 
Homepage: http://www.martin-stricker.de/
Red Hat Linux for low memory: http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/rule/
Registered Linux user #210635: http://counter.li.org/
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# The RULE project: Run Up2date Linux Everywhere http://www.freesoftware.fsf.org/rule/       #
# File: INSTALL                                                                              #
# RULE installer version: 0.7.1                                                              #
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #
# This file describes the options of how to install Red Hat Linux using the RULE installer.  #
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ #
# Author: Martin Stricker http://www.martin-stricker.de/ shugal at gmx.de                       #
#                                                                                            #
# Copyright ©2002 Martin Stricker http://www.martin-stricker.de/ shugal at gmx.de               #
# This is free software. It is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind!                 #
# This software may be used and redistributed under the terms of the GNU General Public      #
# License version 2 or, at your decision, any later version.                                 #
##############################################################################################
# History of changes                                                                         #
# Date       | Version   | Author             | Description of change                        #
# -----------|-----------|--------------------|--------------------------------------------- #
# 25.02.2002 | 0.0.1     | Martin Stricker    | initial version, quite uncomplete            #
# 26.02.2002 | 0.1.0     | Martin Stricker    | initial version, now complete                #
##############################################################################################

WARNING! The RULE installer is still beta software and may or may not work!

The RULE installer enables you to install a very minimal Red Hat Linux 7.2 system on your
hard disk without the need of at least 32 MB (or 21 MB for text install).

Currently it seems to work with as low as 12 MB of RAM. With some special cheating some
testers could install with 8 MB of RAM, but for others it failed. You are on your own risk!

INSTALLING step by step

1. Download the boot floppy image and the updates.tar from the RULE download area at
   http://freesoftware.fsf.org/download/rule/ . For version 0.7.1 of the RULE installer you
   need the version 0.7.0 boot image for your type of install. There was no change in the
   boot images between versions 0.7.0 and 0.7.1. For a normal install you need boot.img, if
   you want to boot from a laptop with a PCMCIA CD-ROM drive you need both the pcmcia.img as
   boot floppy and pcmciadd as driver disk.
   Also you need the updates-v0.7.1.tar file.
   And you need the original Red Hat Linux 7.2 installation CDs 1 and 2, of course. Buy a
   boxed set or download them at ftp://ftp.redhat.com/ or a mirror.
   
2. Create the floppies
   The disk images (download files ending with .img) need to be written in raw mode onto a
   msdos-formatted, empty floppy. To accomplish this, you can use:
   
   on Linux: Type at the command line:
   dd
   
   on Windows: Copy the file X:\dosutils\rawrite.exe (X: is your CD-ROM drive letter) into
   the directory where your downloaded the floppy images. Doubleclick rawrite.exe and follow
   the instructions on the screen to create the floppies you need.
   
   To create the updates floppy you need a Linux machine available.
   
   If you don't have a Linux system available you can boot from the boot floppy made from
   boot.img (pcmcia.img might not work!). If you need to use the boot floppy type this at
   the boot prompt:
   linux updates
   The booting will continue. When it asks you for the updated floppy, press [Alt][F2]
   simultanously to get to VT2. Take the boot floppy out of your floppy drive and replace it
   with the floppy you want to use as updates floppy.
   
   Now at the Linux command line type these commands (wait until each has finished before
   typing the next one)
   mke2fs -c -m0 /dev/fd0
   mount /dev/fd0
   If this gives an error create a directory to mount it
   mkdir floppymount
   mount /dev/fd0 floppymount
   Continue with uncompressing the tar file
   cd /mount/floppy
   or where the floppy was mounted
   tar -xvf /path/to/updates-v0.7.0.tar
   If you use the boot floppy as Linux system you have a problem here. I'm trying to solve it.
   cd ~
   umount /dev/fd0
   The updates floppy is now ready to use. Take it out of the floppy drive and reboot the
   computer using the reset button.
   
3. Install it!
   Insert the boot floppy into the floppy drive and boot your computer. If it doesn't boot
   from floppy you need to set the BIOS to do so. See the handbook of you computer's
   motherboard for more information (sorry, I cannot cover every BIOS version here).
   Once the floppy boots, it shows the welcome screen for the RULE installer. At the
   boot: prompt type:
   linux updates
   If you need to boot from the pcmcia.img floppy type instead:
   linux dd updates
   If you want to restrict the installer to less RAM than you computer has for testing
   purposes add mem=xxM, where xx is the amount of RAM in MB you want to restrict the
   installer to. Proven to work in most cases is mem=12M:
   linux updates mem=12M
   linux dd updates mem=12M
   Then follow the installer through the usual Red Hat installation process. In the end you
   will have a minimal Red Hat Linux 7.2 system installed.

NOTE: The system installed consists completely of original Red Hat Linux 7.2 packages, so
Red Hat, Inc. will provide support for it if you bought a support contract. However, the
install process the RULE installer uses was NOT made by Red Hat, so you cannot get
installation support from Red Hat for a RULE install even if you paid for installation support
(i. e. bought a boxed set). If you have problems with a RULE install or have any questions,
please subscribe to the RULE mailing list at
http://mail.freesoftware.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/rule-list . Afer you successfully subscribed
please provide as much information as possible in you mail so we actually can help you. If
you want to unsubscribe from RULE-list again, go to the same URL above, type in your email
address and password (you can get a password reminder there) and unsubscribe yourself.

Have fun!