Slashdot Mirror
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
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.
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.
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 InstallerJust 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!
> 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
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.