How to install a Linux after downloading it from a ftp server

[Tack24]

Hey, i have redhat7.2 an wanting to go up to 7.3
i baught the installation disk for the 7.2 now i want to do it from downloading it from a ftp mirror site, i read some howto's on redhat.com it doesnt give a detailed howto
although i'm a newbie only been useing Linux for a short while i have no idea how i'm now in the proccess of downloading all the documentation off of one an all the iso files an rpms, i'm lost on what comes next far as how to get the files i need on a floppy!!

Can anyone help or direct me to a site with detailed documentations on howto's????? would be great if someone could help

 

[RhythmAce]

You will not need the SRPMs unless you plan on compiling the whole kit and kabootle. Once you download the other 3 ISOs, you should be able to use x-cd-roast to burn them onto CD-Rs. If putting them on CDs is not an option, you will not be able to do a fresh install because you will need to leave them on the hard drive. Download the bootdisk image and then type:

dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k

and this will create a bootable floppy. Then on install type select upgrade so your iso file don't get overwritten. One tip on the mirror sites, I downloaded from University of Wisconsin's site - it seemed to be the fastest. I was able to DL at 1.57MBps. RedHat's website is too busy and too slow. I hope this answered your question. Good luck.

 

[Tack24]

ok thx nah i dont have a cd burner on this one, hmm, i just want to ask one more question can i download the iso files on windows that has a cd burner? or will that currupt the files?.....if not ill write dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k an make a bootable floppy

 

[RhythmAce]

There is no problem downoading to windows and burning it from there. The CDs will still be bootable as long as they are not written to cd-rw discs.

 

[Tack24]

Thx i apreciate this alot, & first i'm going to write the boot.img to a floppy an install it that way for experamentation considering i never done it before so, i will do that then re-download it on a win box eh ...an back it up on some cd-r disk not "cd-rw" So i'll surely get back with you an let you know how my adventure went on the matter an again thx, this is a great forum for Linux newbies

 

[Tack24]

Thx i apreciate this alot, & first i'm going to write the boot.img to a floppy an install it that way for experamentation considering i never done it before so, i will do that then re-download it on a win box eh ...an back it up on some cd-r disk not "cd-rw" So i'll surely get back with you an let you know how my adventure went on the matter an again thx, this is a great forum for Linux newbies

 

[Tack24]

Hey, i got the three iso files an wrote the boot.img file to the diskette booted the disk , it got to the installion without a hetch.... went thru what language you want to use dureing this installion, what 's the name of your keyboard, an asked where are the files to be installed on local cd-rom or hard drive, i chose hard drive then asked wich hard drive /dev/hda1 /dev/hda2 i picked hda2 cuz thats the one i'm useing then the directory path to the files to be installed

problem it said something like iso image file to be wrote to cd-rom couldnt be found on this hard drive, so i went back an chose /dev/hda1 same thing .............i went on the ftp mirror site an downloaded all the image files to try my luck nothing an i'm just curious if you know any good ftp sites with all the image files for the cd-rom

an i dont know why it needs this file to write to cd rom shouldn't use the existing one? i don't know can anyone help

Just a word lol i am really interested in Linux i've been up like 37 hours killing myself for this knowlege of a Unix os

 

[RhythmAce]

If I understand your problem correctly, you don't need the boot image or floppy to write the iso images to cd-r. The boot floppy is just for install only. Use your existing cd burner from windows to write the iso files to cd and if you select "write image to disc", it will create a data cd. The iso image is like a .zip file the will be "extracted" and will look like a regular disk complete with directories and everything after it's burned. You should be able to read them from windows or linux. Disc1 will be bootable so you shouldn't need to use a boot floppy. When you are ready to install linux, just load disc1 and reboot and you will see the same screens you saw when you loaded the floppy only it will already know where to find the install files.

If you are trying to "install" from your windows partition, I'm sure the boot image and floppy are ok. I think when I did an install for a dual boot system (Windows/linux), I had to move the iso files to C:\ and it found them ok. I think it may have something to do with linux not being able to figure out the dir structure of Windows. If you are setting up a dual boot system, You will have to mount the Windows partition before linux can do anything with the file system. But that is a topic for another thread.

To make it simple, if you have the iso files on a windows partition, burn them from your windows cd burner and it will be fine. You do NOT have to load linux 1st.

 

[RhythmAce]

I just read the whole thread again and I think I misunderstood your problem. You are currently running RedHat 7.2. Is that right? And the iso files are on this machine? The installer should be able to find them. There may be a problem with the files. I downloaded from a site and it would say the downoad was successful but when I checked the file sizes, they were to small. disc1 should be 668,499,968. Disc2 should be 669,548,544 and disc3 should be 518,291,456. Other than that the only other 2 things that could cause this problem is downloading in ascii mode instead of binary or you downloaded the wrong boot image. You want to download the file called boot.img from the same place you got the iso files. For example, the boot.img for 7.2 will not work for 7.3. You also don't want the bootnet.img file. I hope I'm understanding your problem.

 

[Tack24]

Yes i downloaded the boot.img for Linux redhat 7.3
wrote it on the dickette it started up in the installation proccess fine its just where it was looking on the hard drive for the files it didnt find that iso image file to write to the cd-rom, i may have to just go thru it an write down the name of that file it said was missing an for disk1 i have 637.5 mb disk2 638.5 mb an disk3 494.3 mbs
an i dont have my Linux setting aside a windows partition i went a full Linux format an install for the whole hard drive

an yeah i downloaded them useing binary mode

 

[RhythmAce]

ok - now you really lost me. Are you trying to install the iso files or copy them to cd? If you are trying to install them, select "upgrade" for the type of install and do NOT format or repartition the drives. This is assuming you have the iso files on you linux box. If they are on your windows machine, do not boot the floppy. Just burn them to cd-r and then take disc1 and insert it into the linux cd and reboot. This should be the end of all your problems and will be able to finally get some sleep. ) Good luck.

 

[Tack24]

lol,, some where i lost you good
if i can explain here really quik, first off all i dont have a cd-burner , just a ragular cd drive ......i don't know where you got that i'm trying to use a floppy to write a cd image to a cd/? c'mon i have comon sense , i'm not one of these goof balls that would stick their tungues in the light socket to try an turn on the water ...........look i want to upgrade my redhat 7.2 to 7.3 useing just a floppy an if you read your first responce on this thread i done all the stuff you said. i wrote the boot.img to the floppy useing
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k

i got the three iso files on my hard drive
when i bootup in the installion/upgrade proccess
an it says a iso file can't be found on the hard drive to be written to cd-rom, hey thats what it says so? ...... about the size of the iso files here are the sizes again
for disk1 i have 637.5 mb disk2 638.5 mb an disk3 494.3 mbs are these right? or to small, ?

 

[RhythmAce]

Yup I was way out there in the boonies. I tried to recreate your problem on my machine to see if I can get a better idea of what is happening but it seemed to work fine. So while it is still kinda fresh in my mind I will walk you through what I did.

1. put iso files in /temp
2. downloaded boot.img
3. boot blank floppy in drive then typed:
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k
4. rebooted with floppy disk
5. answered questions about language etc.
6. It asked me if I want to install from CD or hard drive. I selected hard drive then hit tab to get the ok button then hit enter.
7. Then it asked me what partition, hda1 or hda2 - I selected hda2
8. I asked what directory the CD image files were and I typed /temp then tabbed down to the ok button then hit enter.
9. It loaded the installer (anaconda) and I rebooted so it won't install over my current system.

I think if you do everything I did you should be able to get this thing installed. the only difference is that you would enter the directory where you have your CD image (iso) files. You do not have to type the file names, just the directory path. I really hope you can get this installed and I'm sorry I misunderstood you.

 

[Tack24]

Hey, i downloaded the files on a windows box useing cuteftp, i got the full size of the iso files an burned them on a cd an it went striaght into anaconda but took the cd out an rebooted i'm going to do it when i finally get some rest

an i dont know what the deal is with my gftp client it wasn't downloading the full file size ......so ,i couldnt do it the way i wanted to which was with a bootable floppy & iso files on the machine.

anyway thx again man