Very Computer

Hi,

does anyone know where to find instructions about what steps to follow
and what exactly to download from Suse's FTP server in order to
install Suse Linux on a box that currently runs Windows and is
connected to the Internet? I do not want to burn a CD, I want to do it
"Slackware-style".

So far, I have searched the Suse knowledge base and the
docu/book-en.pdf documentation as well as Google and Deja without
success. All I can find is references to some obscure NFS install
method which only seems to work locally, and only if a system running
Unix is already available.

Thanks,
  Axel

--

 Sponsor free software at the Free Software Bazaar visar.csustan.edu/bazaar/

Providing you have a fast and stable internet connection (read:
dsl, cable, or LAN *not* modem) then the process is quite simple and
only takes a few hours.

You will need to make a bootdisk for the version you wish to install.
If your NIC uses a "standard" driver, then this is all you need --
otherwise also rawrite or dd a "modules" diskette. You should know
the ip address of SuSE's ftp server, the ip of your gateway and the
IP you wish to assign to your NIC. You should know the complete path
to the directory on the ftp server from which you will be doing the
install.

Boot the bootdisk and (using YaST1) load the module for your
particular NIC, either directly or from the modules diskette. From
the installation section of YaST1, prepare your target and swap
partitions as you would for any install of SuSE; choose FTP for
your installation source, then input the appropriate IP and path
information when prompted. And let it chug away. Not much to it, really.
On a cable modem
I usually set one of these up in the evening so it can chug away
through the wee small hours and hopefully be completed by the morning.
Sometimes with congestion on the net the script aborts mid-way and has to
be resumed in the morning. Usually it completes without a hitch.

SuSE has info on this process, though their search engine doesn't
do anybody any favors. Check the support database for the title:

"The SuSE ftp-server ftp.suse.com"

Procedure (3) describes the bootdisk variant of the process just
discussed.

Once more, they recommend a high-speed connection. You'd better
believe it.

Good luck,

--Kevin

Would it also be possible to download some packages to the local disk
first and then install from there? That way, it could be possible for
56K modem users to install a downsized SUSE maybe. I imagine that your
method installs the whole shebang?

Thanks a lot for the useful information!

Axel

--

 Sponsor free software at the Free Software Bazaar visar.csustan.edu/bazaar/

SuSE is not very helpful at managing small-scale installations
compared with some other distros, but there should be no particular
reason you could not limit a server-based install via ftp from YaST1
to just the essential items from the A1/A2 and N1/N2 sets, which
would yield you a bootable text-mode system with networking, and
then load up other packages (individually or diskset by diskset)
 over the course of time, either by doing additional small ftp-based
installs via YaST1, or by using a recursive ftp client to download
the sets and then installing them from a directory on your hard
disk.

But by the time we would get all this work done, it would be hard
to justify not just shelling out a dollar or two for the evaluation
distro on CD to save the time, money, and frustration that
would go into doing an install via slow dialup ftp.    

I installed Slackware once via dialup. Ain't *never* gonna do that
again. And in sheer size Suse dwarfs Slack...

All the best,

--Kevin