[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Download instructions for Indy 0.0.0



I am presently downloading Linux-Mandrake 7.2 over a 56k connection, so I will
probably not be able to download Independence for some time.

However I managed to browse through the download directories, particularly
<ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD1>. I have one suggestion.
Why not include a MD5SUM.txt file in the base directory that would contain the
md5sums for all the files under CD1? (Same thing for CD2)

To generate the md5sums recursively, one can type in the base directory
"/CD1" something like:

find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum > (writeable-directory)/MD5SUM.txt

rpm --checksig *.rpm will probably take care of the rpms. But this will
not check for errors in the installer files (e.g., Indy/base/stage2.img).

With the MD5SUM.txt file, we can check the integrity of the downloaded files
with <md5sum -c MD5SUM.txt>. This will not prevent a malicious hacker/cracker
from tampering with the files. But hopefully all upload/download errors will be
filtered out.

On Mon, 06 Nov 2000, you wrote:
> Download instructions
> 
> 
> 
> Preamble: If you are new to Linux we warn you there are other distribs
> who are easier to install and while we hope a user-designed
> distribution like Indy will become better than them at tackling real
> problems of Linux users the fact is Indy is still not quite there.  We
> also advise your first distribution be one with printed doc (Indy
> still doesn't have this): our experience is that if for your first
> contact with Linux you go for a cheap CD without paper doc then you
> will fail and end returning to Windows where you will have to pay, and
> pay, and pay for inferior software.  Spanish people describe this with
> the expression "Going for the cheap ends being expensive".  But if in
> a few months from now you want other newcomers not having to cope with
> the problems you had then remember this project.
> 
> 
> 
> I) Downloading and installing  the distributuion
> 
> You will need the contents of two directories:
> 
> ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD1
> 
> and 
> 
> ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD2
> 
> Hereafter I will refer to the directories you downloaded them as <CD1>
> and <CD2>
> 
> Now you can install it from CDROM, from a server (the distrib in the
> original site is NOT setup adequately from this) or from hard disk. In
> future releases we will have iso images and this will make things _much_
> simpler
> 
> 
> 1)  Installing Indy from CDROM.
> 
> Look if there is an empty file named .disc1-i386 directly under <CD1>
> and another one called .disc2-i386 directly under <CD2>.  Create them
> if they were skipped by your ftp client.  Make two images: one for <CD1>
> and one for <CD2> in a such way that the contents of <CD1> and <CD2>
> will be directly under the root of the cdroms (both directories must
> be left outside).  Now we have two cases: your box can be booted from
> CDROM or it cannot
> 
> a)  Box can be booted from CDROM
> 
> While building <CD1>, ensure this will be a bootable CDROM and that
> boot image will be <CD1>/images/boot.img.  Burn both CDs. Insert CD1
> into reader, reboot and during the BIOS phase ensure the CDROM is
> before hard drive in the boot sequence.  Exit Bios.  Continue the boot
> sequence and follow instructions.
> 
> 
> b) Box cannot be booted from CDROM
> 
> Burn both CDs.  Take a formatted floppy.  We advise you to use a new
> floppy since defective ones are a common cause of installation
> failure.  If you are using Linux then DON'T mount this floppy, instead
> use the following command:
> 
> "dd if=<CD1>/images/boot.img of=/dev/fd0"
> 
> if you are using Windows then DON'T use the copy command on the boot
> image, instead you should use <CD1>\dosutils\rawrite and when
> prompted then answer to use <CD1>\images\boot.img. 
> 
>  Once you have creted your boot floppy, insert CD1 into the reader,
> reboot and during the BIOS phase ensure floppy is before hard disk.
> Exit Bios.  Continue the boot sequence and follow instructions.
> 
> 
> 
> 2) Installing from hard disk.
> 
> Move all the files under <CD2>/Indy/RPMS to <CD1>/Indy/RPMS.  Take a
> formatted floppy.  If you are using Linux then DON'T mount this
> floppy, instead use the following command 
> 
> "dd if=<CD1>/images/boot.img of=/dev/fd0"   
> 
> If you are using Windows then DON'T use the copy command on the boot
> image, instead you should use <CD1>\dosutils\rawrite and, when
> prompted then answerr to use <CD1>\images\boot.img.
> 
>   Once you have created your boot floppy, reboot (with the floppy in
> reader) and during the BIOS phase ensure floppy is before hard disk in
> the boot sequence.  Exit Bios.  Continue the boot sequence and follow
> instructions.  At one moment you will be prompted for the directory
> and partition containing the install.  You must give a path relative
> to the root of the partition, that is if you created your directory
> under /mnt/test/CD1 while partition was mounted under /mnt/test then
> the right answer is /CD1.
> 
> 
> 3) Installing from network.
> 
> On the server containing the distribution move all the files under
> <CD2>/Indy/RPMS to <CD1>/Indy/RPMS.  Take a formatted floppy.  If you
> are using Linux then DON'T mount this floppy, instead use the
> following command 
> 
> "dd if=<CD1>/images/bootnet.img of=/dev/fd0"
> 
> f you are using Windows then DON'T use the copy command on the boot
> image, instead you should use <CD1>\dosutils\rawrite and, when
> prompted then answer to use <CD1>\images\bootnet.img.
> 
>   Once you have created your boot floppy, insert it in the floppy of
> the box you will be installing Indy into, reboot and during the BIOS
> phase ensure floppy is before hard disk in the boot sequence.  Exit
> Bios.  Continue the boot sequence and follow instructions.
> 
> 
> 4) Upgrading Redhat 7.0 to Indy.
> 
> At this point there is no choice but download the entire distribution
> and use one of the methods described above.  In the future we hope to
> provide a method so you will only need to download the differential
> and a special script will take care of those programs we replaced with,
> we think, superior alternatives.
> 
> 
> 
> II)  Source and Docs.
> 
> Most of the source is at 
> 
> ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD3
> There are no special problems in case you want to make a CDROM of it.
> 
> the remainder of the source is at
> 
> ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD2 (you already
> have it if you downloaded the distributions). 
> 
> Docs are at 
> 
> ftp://belegost.seul.org/pub/independence/Indy-7.0/CD5.
> Again there are no special problems in case you want to make a CDROM of it.
> 
> the CD4 directory is presently empty and reserved for future growth of
> Indy
> 
> -- 
> 			Jean Francois Martinez
> 
> Project Independence: Linux for the Masses
> http://www.independence.seul.org