Re: Debian install w/o CD over wireless

[Jordan Bettis <jordanb@hafd.org>]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2001 at 01:58:11PM -0500, Danny Sauer wrote:
> So, I'm looking for a decent distrib for my firewall.  I don't have a
> floppy drive or second NIC in my network-connected PC (so there's no
> connection sharing going on there).
> 
> What I do have, however, is an ISP that runs linux and provides 802.11
> wireless to Lincoln (yay), a linux box with a floppy and 512MB drive
> (mmm, router), and a PCI PCMCIA adaptor loaded up with an 802.11 card.
> Unfortunately, slackware on that machine didn't install all of the nifty
> PCMCIA stuff I need to make this card work, so I've gotta download
> *something* to get it online.
> 
> I hear crazy Debian people all the time saying "all you need is a floppy
> and an internet connection; install the base from some floppies and have
> it pull the rest of the stuff over the 'net!"  Well, I guess it's about
> time I try Debian, but where in the heck do I find out how to install over
> my happy wireless link?  Is that possible?  I'll cobble together something
> else eventually, but I'd like to take this time to try the Debian way,
> since I won't be encouraged to do so later on and that's the only remaining
> package format I've not tried (the lrp doesn't count as "trying Debian").

I've never done it, but I'm _almost_ positive that Debian install has PCMCIA
support, so if your card is nativly supported by Linux, it'll probably just
work, just follow the menus.

One good trick with Debian though, after it installs base and gives you the
option to go with simple package installation or advanced, you don't want
ether, so pick advanced. That'll drop you into dselect, so quit that without
installing any packages, then use apt-get to install anything you need. 

That gives you almost complete control of what gets installed over base, 
which is espeically great for a firewall box.

-- 
Jordan Bettis <http://www.hafd.org/~jordanb>
The string is a stark data structure and everywhere it is passed there is much
duplication of process. It is a perfect vehicle for hiding information.
          -- Alan J Perlis: Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN 1982
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