Re: Fedora Core 2 Distribution Size

[Jim Cornette <cornette insight rr com>]

Jeremy Katz wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 18:41, Jim Cornette wrote:
>  
>
> > Jeremy Katz wrote:
> > I've done the floppy install (series of 4 floppies) of Debian before.  I 
> > liked the network install, though Debian didn't meet my particular 
> > needs. I also downloaded and burned a whole series of CDROMs and it only 
> > used the first CD. (A big waste, but a learning experience).  I think 
> > that their other concept of selecting desired programs that then create 
> > your customized installations is a good approach, if dependencies could 
> > be met through the selector.
> >
> > It might serve Fedora to have such a capability, though it sounds like 
> > it would be a nightmare to implement successfully.
> >    
>
> It's there.  If you boot with the floppy image (boot.img + drvnet.img
> from the images/ directory), then you can do an ftp install with just 2
> floppies instead of four :)
>  

I'll have to try the two floppy and ftp: or http: installation method. 
Two floppies vs. three ISO images seems minimal install medium to me.

Also, I was wondering about the pick your installation choices before 
you  download the installation pieces. Then grab the needed package 
groups (modular elements, such as KDE, gnome, sysadmin, games, etc:) and 
then generating the final ISO images  before download. I'm not sure if 
this concept could be automated from the server side or could be 
assembled on the client side from some sort of a retriever program.

> > Instead of the installation option being kind of hidden, it would be 
> > nice to see it available as a choice when the first disc booted up. 
> > Alternatively, a credit card  model with just ftp / http installation 
> > starting might be a good idea. I heard mention of a boot.iso, so it must 
> > already exist and is or can be offered within the regular directory that 
> > contains the usual 6 discs. ( rpms, srpms)
> >    
>
> I don't see how this is hidden...  If you boot with regular CDs, then
> the right thing to do is go ahead and use them because that's what the
> 99% case is going to want.  You can bypass the autocd detection (boot
> with 'linux askmethod') -- all of this is in the syslinux help screens
> :/  ,
>
>  
This makes sense to me now, since the CDROMs are at hand. It would be 
nice though if after the installer found a working hi-speed connection, 
if it would present a choice for doing a network install or check for 
errata, which might improve the installation. (Out of disk space, 
firewire, default up2date retrieval information, etc).

> boot.iso is located in the images/ directory and is an approximately 4
> meg image that you can burn to CD and start an install with.  Maybe
> putting it in the isos directory instead of just the tree would help
> raise the visibility here
>  
I downloaded and tried the boot.iso from the rawhide image directory. It 
detected a NIC presence on both machines that I tried it on. On the 
machine with dual 3com ethernet cards, it asked which ethernet card that 
I wanted to use. Neither came with an identity. Is kudzu and hwdata part 
of the boot.iso?

The other computer that I tried the boot.iso gave me an error code -16. 
The dual 3com NIC computer gave me the same error -16 also.  Both NICs 
were tried, both gave the same errors.

I would have found the boot.iso faster, with it being located alongside 
the installation ISOs. I still assumed the images directory was for 
floppy images , not CDROM images.  Live and learn!

Thanks!

Jim

> Cheers,
>
> Jeremy
>
>