User Feedback :: Why do I still do regular HD installs of DSL?



Before updating to DSL 1.1, I considered to give a "frugal HD install" a try! But I have to say that it is not as easy and comfortable as a "ordinary HD install" yet, and I had some problems:

- I thought about using the web install: ibiblio.org/pub... did not work (then I used alien2thisworld.net/... (cool name), this worked)
- I had to put backup/restore and! myDSL to hda3 (hda1 is Win98, hda2 would have been frugal DSL). Otherwise it did not work
- I typed in vga=784 when asked for boot options (still the script), but on the next boot this did not work, and I did see my screen flickering (only 640x480 works on my old monitor)

Some questions on frugal install:

- How do I configure a "frugal install" to boot without CD? Just like a normal HD install does with LILO!
- How do I configure a "frugal install" for automatically using my favourite boot options?
- How do I configure a "frugal install" to automatically backup/restore my screen resolution, keymap, customized files, preferences, applications (myDSL,...)?
- Will any customized data be overwritten, when changing the knoppix file for an update (customized fluxbox menu e.g.)?

A page where the pros and cons are listed would be great! My pros for "frugal HD install":

- the boot process is very fast
- the hard drive is very silent (silent mode? more gentle/sparing?)
- easy to update (knoppix file)

Right now I am using DSL with a "ordinary HD install" again ;-) I removed some stuff I do not need, added some stuff I need and customized many things (I just took my customized menu files of the last version e.g. ;-)
Nice feedback.

It's becoming apparent my next screenshot howto needs to cover a frugal install. I am by no means an expert at it but I can definitely show you how to do the things you're looking to do.

Thanks

Chris
Yes, screenshots would be great. Also a howto on "Documentation" (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/talk/node/62) like for a normal HD install on the page http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/talk/node/64 would be a good idea. There is Floppy, HD, USB, ZIP, Poorman's, but I miss Frugal, yet.

Because frugal seems to be a good way of using DSL, it would be great if someone would add a sentence like "you can copy DSL to your hard drive, or even better do an frugal install to HD" to the home page. Now only a "frugal CF install" is mentioned!
OK so, now that there was a lot of talk on the pros (and very few cons so far) let's practise a bit. I'm learning frugal HD-install from scratch right now. I'll let you participate and will explain the reasons why I have chosen a particular approach, and how I implemented that solution. I'm not experienced in Linux, just make my first (well, second) steps, so some Howtos and questions will sound dumb for the experts, but they might be exactly the sort of things which make it hard for someone coming from the Windows environment to get started.

If anyone thinks I should change the forum please tell me now and I'll move this thread.
Otherwise I'll add to this as I go forward.

Also, If I make mistakes, explain wrong, too long, too short, unclear, let me know.
My plan is, to just start collecting and once I have a certain quantity, start structuring and making sections and/or chapters.

Let's start.

A few rules
=========
1) If a command has to be typed, it is encapsulated in double quotes in these instructions.
Enter the command without the quotes on the Linux command line.


Howto make a frugal install onto a harddisk
==================================
Keywords: partition format harddisk structure setup frugal hd install

Tested with: DSL 1.1 frugal hd install

ATTENTION: This does not describe a parallel installation to existing Windows installations.
All data on your harddisk will be ERASED!!

1) Boot from the DSL live CD.

2) Prepare your harddisk for a frugal install.

Q: Should I have 3 partitions, i.e. for swap, DSL and my data/backups ?
A: Yes. One reason for me is to be able to make a backup of only
the data partition over the network using an imaging software
such as DriveImage or TrueImage.

- Open an Xterminal (the Linux command line).
  On the desktop right-click and select Xshells->Root access
  You need to have root access, i.e. act as administrator (called super user in Linux),
  to do things, which affect the basic Linux system (simply spoken).
- To partition your harddisk enter the following command (without the quotes):
  "cfdisk"
- Delete all existing partitions.
 WARNING: ALL EXISTING DATA ON YOUR HARDDISK WILL BE ERASED!!
- Create 3 new partitions, one swap partition, one for DSL, one for data.
  I assume, that you have only one harddisk in your system and it is
  master on the primary IDE controller. In Linux this would be hda.
  Then the swap partition will become hda1, the DSL partition hda2,
  the data partition hda3.

Q: OK, but how big should each partition be?
A: Just 2 examples:
   A small HD of 500MB: 100MB swap, 100MB DSL, rest data
   A larger HD of 20GB:  500MB swap, 500MB DSL, rest data (yes, appx. 19GB)

 To create a partition select New->Primary, then enter the size im MB.
 Do this for all 3 partitions.
- Now we need to define the partition types.
 Select the first partition hda1 and then select Type from the cfdisk menu.
 Enter file system type number 82 (=Linux swap).
 Select the second partition hda2 and set the type to 83 (=Linux).
 Set the type for the 3rd partion to 83 as well.
- Now we need to make the DSL partition hda2 bootable.
 Select the partition hda2 and then select Bootable from the cfdisk menu.
- To actually do all the above modifications to your harddisk one
  final step is required.
  FINAL WARNING: ALL EXISTING DATA ON YOUR HARDDISK WILL BE ERASED!!
  Select Write from the cfdisk menu.
- Exit cfdisk by selecting Quit.
- Now we need to format the partitions so that DSL can properly detect them.
Enter the following commands without quotes:
  "mkswap  /dev/hda1"
  "mkfs.ext2  /dev/hda2"
  "mkfs.ext2  /dev/hda3"

Your harddisk is prepared now.

3) Important: Reboot your system now.

To do this type the following command without quotes:
  "shutdown -r now"

Otherwise DSL might do funny things or throw-up error messages when continuing
the installation process, especially when you had a previous
version of Linux installed (for the experts: to me it looks as if the  
mbr was not written correctly if there was no reboot, because
LILO mounted from hda1 although I had specified hda2 in the
frugal script. I had in fact installed DSL into hda 1 previously.)

4) Get DSL onto your harddisk.
- Open a root Xterminal as described in 2)
- Enter the following command:
 "frugal_instal.sh"
Now you'll be asked some questions.
I've listed those questions, and the answers you should give in double quotes.
Remember to enter the answers without quotes!

#Enter target partition to hold image: "hda2"
#Install from Live cd: "l"
#List boot options, Example: toram ..... : "restore=hda3"
(Explanation: this option will automaticaly restore all files during
every bootup, which you have backed up using the DSL backup
function. You don't need to manually restore after the bootup is
completed.)
(You might want to specify these options instead - thanks
clivesay: "home=hda3  opt=hda3"
Using only these two options the above described option restore=hda3 is not required.
Many applications will install configuration data or even themselfs
into the directories home or opt. The options will ensure that these data
will not be lost after a restart of DSL, i.e are persistent. For the
curious: you don't need to add appropriate entries to filetools.lst.)
#Choose language/keyboard if other than english: Just press enter to stick with english
#Do you wish to specify a default restore partition: "y"
#Enter the partition to be used for backup/restore: "hda3"
#Do you wish to specify a different partition for myDSL: "y"
#Enter the partition to be used for myDSL applications: "hda3"
#Format the target partition: "y"

Now DSL will format the DSL partition hda2 and install itself onto it.
This might take a few minutes depending on your system speed.
Then it will reboot.

5) Remove the CD from the drive.

6) The system should now boot from your harddisk.
Congratulations!


Howto change boot options
==========================
Keywords: boot options start lilo config
Tested with: DSL 1.0.1 hd install, 1.1 frugal hd install

You can set parameters when starting up Linux.
Some of these might help if you have hardware, which
Linux does not support.

To make these parameters permanent without having to
enter them each time during startup, you need to edit
the line
 append=.....
in the file
 /etc/lilo.conf

Example:
 append=... nodma ...

After any change to the file  lilo.conf  run the command
 "sudo lilo -v"
and reboot your system.


Howto improve performance of DSL
===========================
Keywords: speed performance boot options toram
Tested with: DSL 1.0.1 hd-install, 1.1 frugal hd install

1) Try option compact to improve the read performance of your
DSL.
Edit file   /etc/lilo.conf
Remove the comment mark # in front of line # compact.

Warning: The option compact might not work, depending on your hardware!

2) Try option toram to load DSL into RAM (which is much faster
than a harddisk)
Edit file  
  /etc/lilo.conf
Append  "toram" (without the quotes) to the line
  append=....

Warning: To use the option toram you should have no less than
of 256MB RAM, or more depending on the applications you run.

After any change to the file  lilo.conf  run the command
 "sudo lilo -v"
and reboot your system.
Nice job!

I just did a screenshot howto for frugal. You can find it HERE in the Download section. Feedback is appreciated.

Chris]
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