Index of /debian-archive/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-sparc/3.0.23-2002-05-21/

		    The Debian Installation System
                    ==============================

                             Orientation

  This README is to acquaint you with the contents of the Debian
  installation system, and where to go for more information.

  If you wish to return to this directory you should go to

    <debian>/dists/woody/main/disks-sparc/current/

  where the word `<debian>' may indicate a Debian web mirror, an FTP
  area, or official Debian CD-ROM.  All the files required for
  installation can be found beneath this directory.

  Complete documentation for the Debian installation system is located
  within the `doc/' subdirectory.  Documentation is available in
  several formats and languages.  You may also wish to consult
  <URL:http://www.debian.org/releases/woody/> for errata, security
  alerts, and other updated information.

  For the impatient, quick install instructions are provided here.
  However, the reader is *strongly* encouraged to read the full
  documentation found in the `doc/' subdirectory, especially in the
  event of difficulties.



                   Quick Installation Instructions
                   ===============================

  Even though the Debian Installation System is also called the
  `boot-floppies', this name is something of an historical artifact.
  It is possible, even desirable, to install Debian without the use of
  floppies at all.  For instance, you may be able to install Debian
  from an official Debian bootable CD-ROM, from the network, or from
  another operating system.


  CD-ROM Install
  -------------

  The recommended installation method is the official Debian CD-ROM.
  These may be procured anywhere fine GNU/Linux distributions are
  sold, or online <URL:http://www.debian.org/distrib/vendors>.

  Those who have a CD burner and an adventurous disposition may try
  creating their own CD-ROM image <URL:http://cdimage.debian.org/>.

  Installation from CD-ROM is usually very easy and requires you to
  type only a single command after booting and CD insertion. If your
  machine has SRM (i.e. no menues system at the beginning) simply
  type `boot xxx -fl 0` where xxx is your CD-ROM drive in SRM
  notation. Run `show dev` to find out the name in your machine. For
  a complete description check out the installation manual.

  If your machine has ARC or AlphaBIOS, see below in the MILO section
  for details.


  Installation from Floppies
  --------------------------

  If you either do not have a CD-ROM or you have a computer that
  cannot boot from a CD-ROM then you will have to use the floppy
  images located beneath this directory.  Floppy images are named
  `*.bin'.  You will generally need the `rescue.bin' and `root.bin'
  images, and often the `driver-*.bin' images as well.

  Note that there are various sets of these rescue, root, and driver
  images, depending on which architecture you are on.  You will have
  to choose a set with which to install.  See below for a detailed
  description of the various subdirectories which contain these floppy
  images.

  The `driver-*.bin' files contain extra hardware drivers not
  contained in the kernel in the `rescue.bin' image.  It is not always
  required to create floppies from which to load these drivers, e.g.,
  in cases where the installation is able to get the drivers from
  non-floppy media.  It's basically a question of how much hardware
  support the kernel itself contains.

  If you do not create the `driver-*.bin' floppies, later during the
  installation you will need a copy `rescue.bin' and `drivers.tgz' to
  be available from non-floppy media.  You will be prompted for the
  operating system and modules, and you cannot tell the system to use
  floppies, obviously, since you did not create the driver floppies.
  Direct the installer to get this data off the CD-ROM, local hard
  disk, or wherever the installation files were downloaded.

  You *cannot* create floppies from *.bin files by just copying the
  *.bin files over.  You need to do a low-level sector copy of the
  data onto the floppy.  The method you must use to create floppies
  from the *.bin files varies based on what operating system you have
  access to.  Descriptions below cover creating floppies from *.bin
  files in Unix and from DOS.

  It is recommended that you always use fresh new floppies, because
  used ones can contain errors and cause failures in booting.

  - Creating Floppies from Floppy Images in Unix

    Use the GNU `dd' command to create a floppy disk from a .bin file:

        dd of=/dev/fd0 if=<file> bs=1024

    Your floppy device may be something other than `/dev/fd0'.

    If you are naturally suspicious, you can make sure the image was
    successfully written:

        cmp /dev/fd0 <file>

  - Creating Floppies from Floppy Images in DOS

    Change directory (`cd') to the directory containing the *.bin
    files that you want.  Use the DOS utility `rawrite2.exe' in the
    `dosutils' subdirectory to create the image, for instance:

		..\dosutils\rawrite2 -f rescue.bin -d a

     where `a' refers to the first floppy drive on your computer, and
     `rescue.bin' represents the *.bin file from which you want to 
     create a floppy.






                   Layout Of The Installation Files
                   ================================

  The general organization of files in this directory is described
  below.  If you are copying a subset of these files to local disk or
  what have you, you should retain the internal directory structure,
  since the installation system will be looking for files in these
  locations.

  doc/

      The Debian GNU/Linux Installation Manual, the Beginner's Guide for
      `dselect', and the Release Notes may be found here in several
      computer readable and printable formats.  Please, Read The Fine
      Manual (RTFM) before you begin!

  <subarch>/

      Installation files for a subdivision of the sparc architecture;
      you will need to look under here to find your boot, root, and
      drivers disks.  This architecture has the following <subarch>'s:

           sun4cdm, sun4u

     sun4cdm .... This is used for most non-Ultra systems. This includes
                  SPARCStation 1, 2, ELC, IPC, IPX, 5, 10, 20 as well as
                  SPARC Classics.

     sun4u ...... This includes the entire UltraSPARC class of systems,
                  including IDE systems such as UltraSPARC 5. Only the
                  rescue and drivers are different from sun4cdm. The root
                  and base image is the same.



  ** Specific Files of Interest

  Using the descriptions above, you need to select the directory
  containing the set of files which is appropriate to the installation
  you are doing.  You will need all of the following `.bin' images,
  unless marked otherwise.

  .../rescue.bin

      Rescue disk image, containing the kernel and a boot loader.

  .../root.bin

      Root disk image, containing the root file system.  Not required
      unless are you are installing from floppies.

  .../driver-#.bin

      Device driver disk images, containing kernel modules you can
      load for hardware for which there is not a driver built into the
      kernel.  For instance, you can use this to install a driver for
      your network adapter; once you have installed that driver, you
      can install the rest of the system over the network.  Other
      modules include PPP, parallel support, etc.  Not required unless
      are you are installing from floppies.

  .../drivers.tgz

      A compressed tar archive containing the same modules as the
      above disk images.  These are used when installation kernel and
      drivers from local disk or CD rather than from floppies.  Use
      the file from the appropriate subdirectory based on the
      subarchitecture you are using, if any.


  .../tftpboot.img

      Subarch specific TFTP bootable images.  These images contain the
      kernel and root.bin for booting completely from a TFTP server using
      the PROM "boot net" command.  See docs for details.

  root.tar.gz

      An NFS mountable root tarball.  This is exactly the same as the
      root.bin, but in a tar format so as to be extracted on a net
      server for installing systems via an NFS root.  See docs for
      details.

  md5sum.txt

      A file containing MD5 sums for installation files.  This can be
      used to verify that downloaded files have not been corrupted.