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Download Anaconda for Debian
hsoom writes "Debian Planet is reporting that unofficial sarge-based ISOs using the Anaconda installer can be downloaded from here. The features developed so far include '...changed the code that installs software to use APT instead of RPM, removed Red Hat-specific configuration hooks, and written a new tool called picax that builds Anaconda-based installation CDs from a Debian repository'. However there are features that are not yet working and it is not recommended for use in a production environment."
Here's the link to building anaconda-based debian ISO images.
Finally a quick, easy way to remaster debian to hand out to friends.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Before getting too enthusiatic about this, please do remember to read the errata before downloading the iso images. Lots of work still needs to be done, but this is a step in the right direction.
Knoppix is pretty simple to install onto the Hard Disk too:-
- Boot Knoppix
- Alt-F2 (maybe Ctrl+Alt-F2)
- Type knx-hdinstall
Knoppix for older Macintosh computers would seem like the next logical step - ones that can't run OS X, or run OS X poorly... good time for it, especially as Apple just had to pay out for misrepresenting OS X as functional on older hardware.Join the Free Software Foundation
Don't forget about Libranet. Easy installer, pure Debian.
4. Reinstall entire OS just to remove Knoppix-specific packages
Don't get me wrong, I love Knoppix, but for use as an installer it's far from perfect. The last Debian install I did, I used Mepis, which takes the hardware detection from Knoppix and makes it pure Debian, plus a couple of Mepis system admin tools (USB keyAnaconda has been ported to Debian by Progeny, mainly because Progeny supports both Red Hat and Debian and they want to use the same installer for both distros.
Oh, and yes, Anaconda can be run in text mode, but it doesn't currently work in the Progeny port.
Please alter my pants as fashion dictates.
Does anybody know anything about it?
Anaconda does support text install, also an unnatended instal via kickstart. It is not about GUI but about having a good flexible (easy to use but powerful) installer. Personaly i find Anaconda (since I'am Red Hat's user) very good, but important thing is that Anaconda support less architectures then Debian Installer (i don't know if Anaconda supports anything more than i386?).
Anaconda text mode is suitable for people having older machines since grapchical mode requires 64MB RAM, text mode only 32MB.
Debian is working on a new installation process for their sarge release. This new debian-installer is greatly improved over the previous methods. I have been playing with it as a net-install and found it to work extremely well.
Installation time, not counting file downloads which don't require my intervention anyways, is on the order of 20 minutes or less
I don't know that Anaconda can bring much of anything to the installation process. When installing debian-installer I found I was asked fewer questions and have a faster set up then I did with SuSE 8.2.
One very important point to make abundantly clear about the debian-installer is that it is not responsible for the configuration of your X-Window environment. This is something that may confuse newbies who are not used to the concept of a non-GUI operating system. All the distro's offer it (non-GUI), but many are assuming a GUI interface is preferred.
Keeping this in mind, the debian-installer does what it is intended to do very well. And it's cross platform too!
Personally, I don't think it's a generally good thing to have more distribution models tied into to only one installation engine. There are advantages with this, but there are always disadvantages to a homogeneous environment.
Knoppix seems like a house of cards to me, it works great as is, but when I did apt-get update I started running into some issues/errors. Then in my ignorance I changed my sources.list to all unstable and did apt-get update again, big mistake. By the end of that day the system wouldn't boot. I've also tried (and I am still running) morphix, which is based on knoppix but is deb unstable. But I've had a few issues with that as well although I'm still on an older version of morhpix (but as parent mentioned I don't want to reinstall now, I should be able to just update this deb distro.)
.bashrc and that worked. But once I installed kdm for logging in it doesn't read my .bashrc anymore. Where do I put it when kdm is installed.
Oh and I tried mepis about a month ago which was mentioned here about a week or so ago. Nice installer but even though I told it not to write lilo to the mbr, it still did and hosed it(just saw a bunch of zeros). The morhpix live cd came in handy to fix that. Also mepis seemed a lot slower than the other 2 distro's on this same hardware setup. Just right clicking on a link would literally take about 2 seconds before I would see the floating menu, or same thing in just using the os in general (whether I was in kde or a light wm like icewm).
I actually prefer using unstable deb for latest software and morphix is a pretty good choice, just not sure if it's the one I want to stick with.
Anyone know of other deb based distro's that are strictly sid/woody? I don't want a distro that mixed with all of em.
Also since this is slashdot I'll throw out a few of my problems and see if anyone can help. I've posted these to boards but no help really.
1) I have a nvidia card. I want to have vsync on for opengl apps at all times. I put the env variable in my
2) I have a psx pad hooked up to my lpt port. It works fine in windows and has worked in older linux distros (mdk 8,9 redhat 7.2) but in all these deb distros it works, but it seems to be using up way too much cpu resources, games that run at a solid 60fps without the gamepad drop to like 30-35 fps with it enabled. I've searched this to no end and the only thing I came up with was modifiying gamecon.c and modifying the psx delay value to something lower. People said this worked for them, but it didn't for me. And gamecon.c hasn't changed since 2001 so I know that the previous distros I was using were using the same version of gamecon but yet had no cpu/slowdown issues.
Ok I could go on and on with linux problems I've had, but if the slashdot crowd can help me with those 2 I'd be a happy linux user.
Well. Keep in mind that the Woody installer is several years old now.
The new installer should have good hardware detection. It's in beta right now.
Debian InstallerHell No!
I like Knoppix and all, and it's kind of cool.
But it does not allow for configuration options at time of installation.
You can't use knoppix to install:
Leave Knoppix where it is, it does a very nice job. But don't make Debian == Knoppix. That will make Debian == Stupid for those who have more advanced requirements for their system.
Just a suggestion, but the next time you can't identify the hardware, flip to another console window (Alt+Ctrl+F2) and type "lspci -vv" and you will have all the information about hardware detection you could want.
And the best part is, you don't have to remove the cover!
Try Libranet. You can download 2.7 for free or buy 2.8.1. Either way, you get a cleaner installer. You also get a wonderful admin tool called adminmenu. Adminmenu or Xadminmenu allows you to do wonderful things easily. Like, install the proprietary Nvidia drivers, update the kernel, and my favorite, recover your Xwindows setup after you screw it up. Updating the kernel is *Important*. That is one thing that up2date (Redhat) did well and as near as I can tell apt-get -upgrade doesn't. So making that easier is vital. Libranet is Debian with all the good that comes with that.
MC
We've had text-mode installs work in the past, though there's a bug in them now. I fully expect that bug will be fixed.
Also, as pointed out, debian-installer will be the default sarge installer.
Jeff Licquia
Progeny
It's not that hard to install, but one of the major hurdles I found when using Woody's boot CDs, was the completely obsolete kernels you have a choice of using.
There is some talk recently on debian-devel about letting newer kernel versions into the point releases, so in the future this may not be much of an issue. The idea has been shelved until after Sarge is released since Sarge will have a new kernel anyway. On the flip side though, the default 2.4 and 2.2 kernels can generally get Debian installed on almost any hardware. After that, compiling a kernel from scratch with make-kpkg is fairly simple.
> 3. Type knx-hdinstall
As far as I know, knx-hdinstall is deprecated with current Knoppix versions (starting June this year as far as I remember); the preferred method to perform a hard disk installation is now knoppix-installer. Gives you the choice to do a Knoppix installation or a Debian installation, too.
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
And, Libranet 2.8 now has a straightforward upgrade from their 2.4.18 kernel to the 2.4.23 kernel. Instructions here .
while you're waiting for mozilla to build, I've installed mozilla.
and openoffice, gnome, KDE, a pile of audio editing utilities, and the latest security updates. that would take you somewhere around 3 days, even with your 'optimized' kernel and build chain, wouldn't it?
and then your oc'ed CPU burns up somewhere around the time mozilla finishes building, and you visit the benchmarks to prove that gentoo presents no performance benefits over debian and mandrake.
I mean, gimme a break here. Gentoo is slow especially for compiling stuff!
Test 3 : Kernel Compile
The same 2.4.21 source was copied to all machines and compiled using the same options. However, it should be noted that the Debian system used gcc 3.3.1 whilst the Mandrake and Gentoo installations used gcc 3.3.2 .
apt-get install the kernel image for your arch and it will stay up to date with the rest of your system automatically. Unfortunately, it doesn't do this out of the box.
The normal way to measure IDE speed on a linux system is hdparm: /sbin/hdparm -t /dev/hda /dev/hda: /sbin/hdparm -T /dev/hda /dev/hda:
#
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 1.60 seconds = 39.96 MB/sec
#
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 0.40 seconds =316.62 MB/sec
Beyond just measurement, hdparm is also a way to tune settings (such as whether or not DMA is active). However, a non-expert should use control panels supplied by the Linux distrib to make any changes.
Hey Micheal. :)
:)
You should track down your local linux club and ask if any geeks there would like to help you thru that first setup.
Debian woody really is the way to go if your prepared to learn, and after you've learned you really won't look back.
Many linux clubs do 'installfests' where a bunch a newbies bring there 'putas in , and the old hands gently lead em thru the install process and show them how it all fits together.
Despite the rumors about linux 'cliques' being pushy and all, most linux geeks , especially the older guys, enjoy the process of passing on there arcane wisdom. The rewards of being seen as a 'smart guy' are a pleasure in them selves.
Give it a go
Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.