Ubuntu 9.04 - which package shall I download

[satimis]

Hi folks,

I need to install Ubuntu 9.04 i386 workstation on a new HD with net installation. I found follows;

[DIR]	Parent Directory	 	-
[DIR]	386/	18-Apr-2009 01:03 	-
[ ]	boot.img.gz	18-Apr-2009 01:03 	11M
[DIR]	gtk/	18-Apr-2009 01:03 	-
[ ]	mini.iso	18-Apr-2009 01:03 	11M
[ ]	netboot.tar.gz	18-Apr-2009 01:03 	11M
[ ]	pxelinux.0	23-May-2009 08:03 	14K
[DIR]	pxelinux.cfg/	24-May-2009 14:51 	-
[DIR]	ubuntu-installer/	18-Apr-2009 01:03

Please advise whether to download "mini.iso" OR "netboot.tar.gz"? If download the latter do I need to burn a CD? If NO then how to connect Ubuntu website to install the OS. Please advise. Pointer would be appreciated. TIA


B.R.
satimis

[i845_]

Use either mini.iso or boot.img.gz.

The mini.iso image is meant to be burnt to a CD. Personally, I'd hate to waste a CD over such an image; it's only 11 Mbytes in size. CD-RWs are a better idea.

The file, boot.img.gz, can be used to create a bootable USB stick. To use it, you need to:

a. Wipe your USB stick clean (Unnecessary, but I like to start with a clean slate. Warning: All the data on the USB stick will be destroyed!)

umount /dev/sdX
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=notrunc

b. Write the boot image to your USB stick:

gunzip boot.img.gz
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/sdX

Or, you could do it with a single command:

zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdX

That's it.

[satimis]

- snip -

The file, boot.img.gz, can be used to create a bootable USB stick. To use it, you need to:

a. Wipe your USB stick clean (Unnecessary, but I like to start with a clean slate. Warning: All the data on the USB stick will be destroyed!)

umount /dev/sdX
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=notrunc

b. Write the boot image to your USB stick:

gunzip boot.img.gz
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/sdX

Or, you could do it with a single command:

zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdX

That's it.

Hi i845_,


Thanks for your detail advice. The steps are important to me.

What is "conv=notrunc"? Thanks

B.R.
satimis

[i845_]

While performing a copying operation using dd, if the conv=notrunc option is not set, and dd encounters multiple adjacent sectors of zeros in the input file, it writes a string of 5 asterisks where the first sector should have been in the output file, and omits the rest. This is done to conserve space. A sector containing anything other than a zero is not truncated.

The conv=notrunc option turns off the aforementioned behaviour.

Say you have 10,000 blank, adjacent sectors, in the input file. Without conv=notrunc, dd will write 5 asterisks where the first sector should have been written in the output file, and leave out the rest of the 9,999 sectors. With conv=notrunc, all 10,000 sectors will be reproduced in the target.

In our case, we need to keep pumping zeros into the USB stick till it runs out of space. Without the conv=notrunc option, all we'll push in is a string of 5 asterisks.

[satimis]

While performing a copying operation using dd, if the conv=notrunc option is not set, and dd encounters multiple adjacent sectors of zeros in the input file, it writes a string of 5 asterisks where the first sector should have been in the output file, and omits the rest. This is done to conserve space. A sector containing anything other than a zero is not truncated.

The conv=notrunc option turns off the aforementioned behaviour.

Say you have 10,000 blank, adjacent sectors, in the input file. Without conv=notrunc, dd will write 5 asterisks where the first sector should have been written in the output file, and leave out the rest of the 9,999 sectors. With conv=notrunc, all 10,000 sectors will be reproduced in the target.

In our case, we need to keep pumping zeros into the USB stick till it runs out of space. Without the conv=notrunc option, all we'll push in is a string of 5 asterisks.

Noted and thanks

B.R.
satimis