FTP install SuSE 9.3 on DELL Latitude C600

Steps

The following steps are taken in order to install SuSE 9.3 on my Dell Latitude C600 laptop.

  1. create bootdisks

  2. boot from first disk

  3. ftp install

1. create bootdisks

First search a mirror for SuSE 9.3. They are listed at http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html

Write down the address of the mirror, you will need this in step 2.

My laptop does not have a CD-ROM so I go for the floppy boot. On my desktop system I created the bootdisk with the dd command:

# dd if=bootdsk1 of=/dev/fd0

And the same for disk 2-6

2. boot from first disk

Booting disk1 gives a nice graphical screen with different installation options. Because I know the ACPI for the Dell is flaky I choose for Installation ACPI Disabled.

With F2 I choose 1024x768 and with F3 I choose the FTP option. There I have to fill in the ftp server and the directory. In my case:

server: ftp.nl.uu.net

directory: /pub/linux/suse/i386/9.3

After pressing Enter the kernel is loaded and the disks 2-6 have to be inserted when asked for.

When all the disks are loaded the installation starts with a hardware initialisation. The system is trying to get an IP address for eth0 with dhcp, but because I don't run a dhcp server this failes and starts manual installation. Then I get a choise for DHCP. Choosing NO I can give my desired network parameters.

When everything is right the FTP install is started and YaST is started.

3. ftp install

First you have to agree with the Novell Software Licence Agreement.

After choosing your language for the installation the rest of the hardware is probed.

Then you can choose between a new installation, update an existing system, repair installed system and boot installed system. I choose New installation.

I use the following partitioning:

Packages: base with KDE, Office, ...

I agree with the Package License for flash-player 7.

Even with my cable connection it takes more then 2 hours downloading the selected packages.

4. additional packages

Now it's time to install additional packages. In particular the multimedia packs. They can be choosen as optional with Yast Online Update. After that you have to run the Software Install and Remove tool for resolving the dependencies.

Also missing in the standard installation were the file-locate-utils with the locate command.