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There are several tasks you must perform (or have performed for you) prior to installing the Realm Linux on your machine. The following is a short list of these tasks:
Ensure you have an IP address on the NCSU network; a pooled DHCP address will work for most install types, but it is better if you can obtain a manual DHCP address as it works best. Static IPs also work but limit you to manual installs.
Ensure your hardware is not listed as incompatible with either Red Hat Linux or the Realm Linux. For information on Red Hat compatibility, go to the Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List. The hardware compatibility list for the Realm Kit is identical to that for Red Hat Linux.
A standard Realm Linux installation requires approximately 2.5+ gigabytes of available, unallocated space. Please ensure you have sufficient disk space available for the complete install, and also note that this disk space requirement does not include any local file space usable by the end user.
If you are an NCSU System Administrator please look at using the Web-Kickstart system for doing automated installs.
After you have gone through the above tasks, you will either need to create a bootable CDROM or use multiple boot floppies. The recommended method is to use a CDROM as it is much faster and you don't have to change disks. To create a boot CD you will need a blank CD-R or a usable CD-RW and access to a Linux machine with cdrecord or a Window machine with CD burning software. To use disks you will need 2 blank 1.44MB high density disks and access to any machine with the dd command or a Windows machine. [1]
Next, you need to download the bootable image(s) from any of the Realm Linux
mirror
sites.
All images can be found in the
images/ directory. For a CD image you should get
boot.iso or for floppies you need bootdisk.img
and drvnet.img. [2]
If you are using a DOS or Windows machine to generate boot floppies, you
will also want to get the dosutils/rawrite.exe
executable as it is required to write the image to the diskette.
First, download the above files into an empty directory. I'll assume that the
directory name is going to be C:\linux; if you choose
a different directory, simply substitue the names as appropriate. To burn
a CD image you can use your favorite burning software under Windows to create
a CD. The image is small and in a short amount of time you should have a
bootable CD.
To create floppies its very easy to use the rawrite at a command prompt. You should be able to use the commands below.
C:\> cd linux C:\linux> rawrite Enter disk image source file name: boot.img Enter target diskette drive: a: Please insert a formatted diskette into drive A: and press --ENTER-- : [Enter] C:\linux> C:\linux> rawrite Enter disk image source file name: drvnet.img Enter target diskette drive: a: Please insert a formatted diskette into drive A: and press --ENTER-- : [Enter] C:/linux>
To make a CD image you'll need one blank CD-R or a CD-RW, a computer with a CD burner, and access to the cdrecord command. Simply run the following command.
$ cdrecord speed=8 dev=0,0,0 -v -data boot.iso
You may need to change the dev
option to reflect where your CD burner appears to the system.
You can find the device numbers by running the following:
$ cdrecord -scanbus
Floppies can be made from any UNIX or UNIX-like environment in which the
dd command and a floppy drive is accessible from a shell
prompt. Again, you need to download the boot image as above. Once you have
done so, execute the commands below to transfer it to the floppy disk. If your
floppy disk device name is not /dev/fd0, simply substitute
the proper device filename where appropriate.
$ dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k $ dd if=drvnet.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k