[PLUG] PLUG Digest, Vol 94, Issue 30

[Mike C.]

>
> >I have been told that netinst is capable of the fine control
> >of *initially* installed packages that I desire. Besides

>netinst should work.


It isn't so much that the netinst or biz card image will give you fine
control, such as Gentoo, but that it installs only the base system or just
the installer. Any packages beyond that have to be selected and then
downloaded from the internet.

"*What is the difference between the netinst and the business card images?*
The netinst image contains the installer and the base system. It will allow
you to install a very basic system from the CD; any other packages you
might want to install have to be downloaded from the internet.

The business card image is smaller than the netinst image to fit on
business-card sized cds. It does not contain the base system, but only the
installer: even the base packages need to be downloaded from the net."
Install via wifi is supported, "but with some restrictions." I presume
those restrictions are that in order for the install to work over wifi,
there must be a driver that supports your wireless card in the kernel
image.

This was the problem I ran into when I attempted to do a Debian Lenny
netinstall over wifi on my Thinkpad T40 a few years ago.

"The network install assumes that you have a connection to the Internet.
Various different ways are supported for this, like analogue PPP dial-up,
Ethernet, WLAN (with some restrictions),"

Most public wifi hotspots, free or not, do use a captive portal page that
requires the user to accept their terms & conditions of use. Which would
require the use of a browser. Which is not yet installed.

The bad news is that nobody on the PLUG list has done this specific type of
install successfully. The good news is that you have the opportunity to
figure it out, document it and contribute something to the Linux community!
:-)