Re: tlug: install to no-CD notebook

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Eric S. Standlee wrote:

> In regards to the "copy them over a serial link" step, please tell me how
> to do this on both the Win3.1 side and the Linux box and the wiring in
> between.
> 
> I was going to do this via plip, but finding a cheap null modem has proven
> to be impossible here in BFE Nara.  And, as simple as it sounds to go to
> Osaka, life circumstances prove that hard also.

plip == PARALLEL line IP... a  null modem is irrelevant.  To use plip, you
need a 'laplink cable' (named for the old Laplink program).  Basically
it's like a parallel null modem with the TX and RX pins switched.

> 
> So, I guess what I want to know first of all is:
> 
> Can I use any type of serial cord to connect a port on my Linux installed
> desktop and a port on my Win3.1 486 8MB 170MB HD laptop?  I currently own
> a 25 Fem/ 9 ?fem? cable for my external modem.  Can I use this for a
> serial connection?  How?
> 

it won't be simple.  I don't think that any distro's boot disks come with
PPP support, so you'll have to have an extra disk handy... if you were
doing it with TL, I'd suggest (this is just a guess)

1.  Boot the TL boot disk
2.  Tell it you're doing an FTP install
3.  Put in the supplemental disk when asked to do so.
4.  You now have a shell on ALT-F2.  You can pop the supp disk out, put in
your disk that contains ppp.o and pppd (don't need chat/dip if you're not
using an actual modem).  mkdir /tmp/floppy and mount /tmp/floppy (don't
mount it on /mnt/xxx, the installer will mount your hard disk partition on
/mnt.  Make sure that you copy ppp.o and pppd from a system that's got the
same kernel version as the TL boot disk (2.0.35 if TL 3.0comdex, 2.0.36 if
TL 3.0.1)  Make sure that the pppd binary is glibc-linked.  Actually, it
should probably be statically linked, since it wants some libraries that
aren't on the boot/supp image set.

5.  start pppd on the installed machine.  I'm not sure what options you'd
want, but probably something like 
'pppd /dev/ttyS2 115200 192.168.1.1:192.168.1.2 crtscts noauth'

6.  start pppd on the notebook, maybe like:
'pppd /dev/ttyS0 115200 192.168.1.2:192.168.1.1 ctrscts'

(you may need to change port device names to match your system, and you
might need to use something slower than 115200 - unless you know for sure
that the 486 has a 16550A UART on its serial port (or something better).
If it's a 16450, you'll be limited to 9600 (reliable) bps).

7.  make sure that a route is set up - do 'route -n' on the installed
machine and see what happens.

8.  Assuming it's working ok, ALT-F1 on the notebook to get back to the
installer.  Do an FTP install, specify 192.168.1.1 as the host address
(make sure the installed machine is running inetd with ftp configured),
and do your FTP install.  You'll probably need to do a 'custom' install to
get the stuff you want into 170MB.


Let me know if this actually works, I'd be interested to see how/if it
does.

--------------------------------------------------
Scott M. Stone <sstone@example.com, sstone@example.com>
Head of TurboLinux Development/Systems Administrator
Pacific HiTech, Inc (USA) / Pacific HiTech, KK (Japan)


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