Frugal Installation from Live CD

Forum: DSL Tips and Tricks
Topic: Frugal Installation from Live CD
started by: jhsu

Posted by jhsu on Aug. 06 2008,19:23

From my web site at < http://www.jasonhsu.com/linux-frugal.html >

1. Boot up DSL from the live CD.
2. Back up all files on your hard drive to an external memory drive or another computer. You MUST save all of your data, because installing an OS to the hard drive involves wiping out its entire contents. DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS STEP.
3. Use a hard drive erase program to erase your hard drive. If you are using Darik's Boot and Nuke, use the following settings for speed: Quick Erase method, verify feature turned off, 1 round
4. When the hard drive erase program is finished, reboot.
5. Boot up DSL again from the live CD. Go to XShells -> Root Access -> Dark
6. Enter the command "cfdisk". You are now in the cfdisk application.
7. Delete any and all existing partitions.
8. Create a new partition (hda1) for holding the original DSL image file. Make it a primary partition with a size of 55 MB. Place it at the beginning of the drive, and make it bootable.
9. Select "hda1" and make it type 83 (Linux). Select "Write" to write it to the hard drive.
10. Select the Free Space and create a new partition for the swap drive. Make it a primary partition with a size equal to double the RAM. Place it at the end of the space.
11. Select hda2 and make it type 82 (Linux swap). Select "Write" to write it to the hard drive.
12. Select the Free Space and create a new partition for the main drive. Make it a primary drive, and use the default size (rest of the hard drive space).
13. Select hda3 and make it type 83 (Linux). Select "Write" to write it to the hard drive.
14. Select "Quit" to exit cfdisk.
15. Format the partitions. Enter the following commands:
sudo mke2fs /dev/hda1
sudo mke2fs /dev/hda3
sudo mkswap /dev/hda2
16. Reboot the computer from the live CD again.
17. When you are in DSL, go to DSL menu -> Appls -> Tools -> Frugal Install -> Frugal GRUB Install .
18. Use hda1 as the target partition to hold the image.
19. Install from the live CD.
20. Select yes to format.
21. When the hard drive installation is finished, reboot the computer, and remove the DSL CD when you are instructed to do so.
22. When you are asked to select one of the multiple DSL options, choose the first (default) option.
23. At the DSL X setup, select cancel for the default configuration.

Posted by lucky13 on Aug. 07 2008,22:18

These steps may be fine so long as a user intends to use the full drive for DSL. But you gave a more general scope in your thread's title. I don't like your steps because you don't cover the other bases affecting users and thus give the impression that DSL can't coexist with other operating systems. It can coexist, and one needn't wipe/nuke a hard drive or remove another OS (or data) to do it.

What about resizing partitions? What about keeping the data from the other OS on a shrunken partition in its native filesystem if DSL can read it? Then it can be mounted and the data left alone during installs. And if the user decides he or she wants to go back to the other OS, it's still available.

There are also ways to install additional operating systems without more complex measures like DBAN, which is a nice utility but users who already have DSL on CD can use it to nuke their drives if they really need to do that. Especially if just using DBAN's quick erase. It's just as effective to use dd to zero out the drive and/or shred (in base) or wipe (from mydsl) with appropriate/paranoid options as doing a quick erase.