Help File Library: FTP Installation

This compilation has been edited from the original ftp installation NHF which was ripped from the LNO Chat Room. The original NHF was based on an ftp install for Red Hat Linux so the instruction format was maintained, although a reasonable assumption is that this installation will work with any distribution of Linux with distro specific modifications. This NHF assumes you have an internet connection available to work with Linux as the installation is started with a boot up of Linux. The sites referenced herein are valid as of the date of this NHF printed above.

1. To begin the installation, you need to download some preliminary files. You also need to make a boot floppy, so have a blank floppy disk handy. Get "bootnet.img" from the images subdirectory at the ftp site, e.g., (ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/images/). It is recommended that the Red Hat site not be used as the connection is overburdened and slow.

2. Get "rawrite" from the dosutils subdirectory.
This (ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/dosutils/).
This is a dos program that will write the bootnet.img file to a floppy. It will write it one byte at a time and it really sensitive to marginal floppies. If this is a laptop, you will need the supplemental or "pcmcia.img" images too.
(ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/images/)

3. Run rawrite and it will give you the format for the command when you run it. (probably "rawrite c:\locationofbootnet.img\bootnet.img a:").

4. Next, make sure that you have the full URL to the start of the linux tree on your ftp mirror.
(ftp://ftp.linuxberg.com/pub/distributions/RedHat/i386/ or
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/redhat/current/i386/).
This should be in the i386 subdirectory.

([Sensei's comment] "for anyone not following, bootnet.img is necessary if you want to install via FTP hence bootnet...boot over the net.")

5. Now you should put your newly built bootnet.img floppy in your drive, and reboot. It will load the kernel, and then ask you a couple questions, like language and stuff. I am assuming that you have a real internet connection, like Ethernet, cable, dsl, and that it works with linux.

When you tell it that you are going to do an FTP install, it will ask for your network info, like IP, gateway, DNS, and the url. The system will then install as normal. A full install is about 800MB. This will take a LONG TIME to do on a slow, modem connection.