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<H2><A NAME="s1">1. Prelude</A></H2>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1 Intro:</A>
</H2>
<P>The following method has been written for use with the Slackware
Linux distribution. It assumes some familiarity with it's
installation. The installer will also need access to a working Linux
system of any distribution. It also assumes the destination system
has 4 to 6 megs ram. More powerful systems can use this method also
but you will probably be able to find a faster easier way. It is not
intended to be used by first time installers or by people new to Linux.
Only issues specific to the use of a zip drive as source media will be
covered here.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2 Background:</A>
</H2>
<P>
I have an OLD 486/20 slc with a 120 meg hd, 4 megs ram and a 2400
baud modem that I wanted to run Linux on. It has no cdrom drive or
pcmcia connectivity, and will never see a network card (parallel port
style). There is nothing left that can be upgraded on this unit.
<P>Linux has been at the cutting edge from the start but also breathes
new life into some older 386 and 486 hardware. The documentation
says "386 with 2 megs ram no math coprocessor" but try to find a
distribution that will do it today. Slackware can be placed on a 4
meg machine with some work and a prayer. The following system greatly
reduces the work. Prayer always helps, even with the best of systems.
<P>I've used the following system with 3 other laptops, and one 386
desktop machine. The lamest being a 386 with 4 megs ram & 60 meg HD
no math coprocessor. While this system works well I'd like to be able
to do similar tricks with Debian, RedHat, Caldera Lite, and some of
the other popular distributions offering more choice to Linux users I
help this way.
<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.3">1.3 Advantages:</A>
</H2>
<P>Installing from cdrom or Ethernet are the methods of choice when
available. In cases where floppy disk install appears to be the only
choice a parallel port zip drive offers numerous advantages. These
include better speed than a floppy disk, and fewer disk changes. In
addition on systems with minimal ram "6 megs. or less" the ability to
install a swap file on the root disk uncomplicates the install greatly
by freeing you from the need to creat one on the hard disk before
running setup. When installing Slackware the swap file allows
installers to choose the <B>color.gz</B> root disk or <B>text.gz</B>. The <B>color.gz</B> is not recommended for floppy based
installs on machines with such limited resources. With a zip disk you
may also produce an emergency boot disk during the initial install, by
freeing the first floppy drive. Something not possible during a normal
floppy based install on systems of this type.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.4">1.4 Material:</A>
</H2>
<P>
This method has been used with Slackware Ver's. 3.1, through 3.4
A full Slackware install requires 2 zip disk's not counting source
packages if they are desired. You will need one parallel port zip
drive & cables, and a 1.44 meg boot disk. Pencil and paper are
optional for making a few notes during install.
<P>At least two systems are required to use this install method. The
first (host) system is used to prepare the installation media and
must contain a working Linux system. The second will be the target
system. Once the media has been prepared it can be used to install to
as many target systems as you like. I work from cdrom but you can
down load your distribution from the Internet if you have a fast
enough connection. For me this is not practical.
<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.5">1.5 Conventions:</A>
</H2>
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
let (floppy) represent the path to and directory you
mount your 1.44 meg floppy disk on.
let (zip) represent the path to and directory you
mount your zip disk on.
let (cdrom) represent the path to and directory you
mount your cdrom on.
let (verx.x) represent the distribution version you
are installing.
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>If you down load your disk images please let (cdrom)/slakware the path
and directory to those images. My parallel port zip drive shows up on
my system as
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
/dev/sda4
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
I've never seen it come up as any thing else unless I run fdisk on it
and change the partition table, creating more than one partition on
the disk. Then I always get corrupt disk error messages when I try to
use it. You may however mark the partition type 83 Linux etc... if
you wish with out trouble. You also need to know the device names of
your cdrom and 1.44 meg floppy drives. Mine are
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
/dev/hdc cdrom
/dev/fd0 1.44 meg floppy
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'll use my device names, you use yours ;-|)
<P>About Slackware and slakware (note the missing c in slakware).
Slackware is the name of the overall distribution and slakware is the
name of the directory where Patrick Volkerding places the stable "not
experimental or developmental" packages for installation. Whenever
I'm writing about slakware I'm writing about the directory.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.6">1.6 Other reading:</A>
</H2>
<P>
<CODE>
<A HREF="http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/LDP/gs/gs.html">Linux Installation and Getting Started</A></CODE> by Matt Welsh
<P>If you are having trouble accessing your zip drive please see the
Linux <CODE>
<A HREF="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/ZIP-Drive">ZIP drive mini-HOWTO</A></CODE> by Grant Guenther
<P>When you have completed your install I can not recommend strongly
enough that you work through the <CODE>
<A HREF="http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Small-Memory.html">Small-Memory mini-HOWTO</A></CODE> by Todd Burgess
<P>
<P>
<H3>Slackware</H3>
<P>I also recommend the LOWMEM.TXT document from the Slackware
documentation on your cdrom or Slackware ftp site. This document
discribes a system that eleminates many of the difficulties discribed
in that document.
<P>
<P>
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