Subject: Linux installation

From: "Richard Austin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 13:37:33 -0000

Hi,

I'm trying to install ArmLinux onto my machine, and I'm coming up 
against a problem - I am getting the message 'HDE5 does not 
appear to contain the ArmLinux List Tree'

Let me just give a quick overview of the hardware

StrongArm + 64Meg RAM + RO4
APDL (ICS) IDE interface with 5 filecore partitions
3 partitions for Linux (swap, root and home) they come up as 
HDE6, 7 & 8

Initially, I was getting to the stage when the installer was asking for 
the drive containing the RedHat directory, I was getting drive 
failures which I could view on another console screen. I then 
realised that it probably didn't know about F+ format discs so 
reformatted the last partition to old filecore F format. This got be a 
bit further, but only up to the error. I'm following the instructions as 
per the web pages and am frankly lost. I have also assumed thet 
the RPMS are held in a (DOS) zip file, this zip file being in the 
directory RedHat. Or should the zip file (called RPMS) be in a 
directory called RPMS?

Any help would be gratefully recieved. Bear in mind that I'm a 
newbie, so need my hand holding a lot.

As an aside, once it's all going. Are there drivers for Castle SCSI 
cards yet? As my CD ROM is accessed through one it would be 
nice to have.

Richard Austin

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From: Russell King - ARM Linux Admin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:56:16 +0000 (GMT)

> directory RedHat. Or should the zip file (called RPMS) be in a 

RPMS is supposed to be a directory, which contains the .rpm files.
Have you read the "downloading" page, specifically the bit about
the directory tree for a local hard disk based install?
   _____
  |_____| ------------------------------------------------- ---+---+-
  |   |        Russell King       [email-masked]      --- ---
  | | | |  http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/~rmk/armlinux.html    /  /  |
  | +-+-+                                                     --- -+-
  /   |               THE developer of ARM Linux              |+| /|\
 /  | | |                                                     ---  |
    +-+-+ -------------------------------------------------  /\\\  |

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From: "Richard Austin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 11:31:23 -0000

Hi,

Yes I've read the pages, over and over. It doesn't mention whether 
the RMPS held in the RedHat/RPMS directory are in a zip file or 
not. If not then all filenames will get truncated - is this OK. If in a 
zip file, so we don't lose filename info, what is the zip file called 
and where does it live. I have also got a base directory in RedHat 
containing the comps file. Is there anything else I should have?

Maybe the problem is that I'm using IDEFS (APDL) on a 13.6 Gb 
disc, attempting to install ArmLinux at then end of the disc - the 
last Gb or so, in partitions 6, 7 and 8. 

Thanks

Richard

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From: John Joyce <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 11:58:36 +0000 (GMT)

On Sat, 25 Dec 1999, Richard Austin wrote:

> Yes I've read the pages, over and over. It doesn't mention whether the
> RMPS held in the RedHat/RPMS directory are in a zip file or not. If not
> then all filenames will get truncated - is this OK. If in a zip file, so
> we don't lose filename info, what is the zip file called and where does
> it live. I have also got a base directory in RedHat containing the comps
> file. Is there anything else I should have? 

The trick with the RPMs is to download them and zip or tar them up on
something which can handle long filenames - e.g. a unix box. Put the zip
or tar on your IDEFS partition and then extract in a fashion similar to
that described on Paul Vigay's page for installing off the Clan CD. (i.e.
mount the adfs partition, and extract from there to RedHat/RPMS) N.B.
directory must be RPMS not RPMs which caught me out. 

A similar trick can be played with the other directories and files
required.

hth

John Joyce

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From: Russell King - ARM Linux Admin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 19:38:20 +0000 (GMT)

Richard Austin writes:
> not.

It most definitely does say exactly what to do.  I quote from the raw HTML
source:

       <dt>Local Hard Disk Partition
       <dd>You need to create a directory structure on the partition you wish to
        use.  It should be:<pre>
            RedHat
               RPMS
               RPMS-1
               RPMS-2
               ...
               RPMS-19
               base</pre>
        The names in each of the <tt>RPMS</tt> directories are irrelevent - they
        have to be unique in each directory however.<p>
        The <tt>RPMS</tt> directories contain the packages from the
        <a href="ftp://ftp.arm.linux.org.uk/pub/armlinux/arch/rpc/install/RedHat/RPMS">RPMS</a>
        directory on the FTP site.  If a single RPMS directory is unable to hold
        the required packages, you may split them into the RPMS-1 through to RPMS-19
        directories.<p>

If this is not clear enough, please suggest improvements.
   _____

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From: Russell King - ARM Linux Admin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 19:34:55 +0000 (GMT)

> directory must be RPMS not RPMs which caught me out. 

Please note that the second stage installer has been re-written.  This is
no longer necessary.

All previous information related to weird and wonderful ways of getting
the RPMs to install should now no longer be applied to the new installer.
   _____
  |_____| ------------------------------------------------- ---+---+-
  |   |        Russell King       [email-masked]      --- ---
  | | | |  http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/~rmk/armlinux.html    /  /  |
  | +-+-+                                                     --- -+-
  /   |               THE developer of ARM Linux              |+| /|\
 /  | | |                                                     ---  |
    +-+-+ -------------------------------------------------  /\\\  |