Install: network install
The network install starts a small system from a RAM disk and takes the packages from
http://pkg.amigaux.org/1.1. It runs in two stages: first a minimal system onto the target
disk, then, at its first boot, the rest of the package set you chose, from the repository. A
broken download is tried again, and an interrupted second stage carries on where it stopped.
You need
- a network card the system drives (the Z3660's Ethernet, or an A2065: hardware) and a network that reaches the internet, by DHCP or with a fixed address;
- the network-install CD,
amix-1.1-netinstall.iso. It starts like the install CD: with the boot floppies or the Z3660 boot disk, or by itself through an A4091 boot ROM that carries a CD filesystem; - a target disk on a supported controller, which is erased. The full set needs 1 GiB; on a 512 MiB disk the installer warns and lets you choose a smaller set;
- the Kickstart ROM for your machine, from your own ROMs.
Install
- Start the network-install CD as you would the install CD.
- Give the network settings, choose the target disk by its id, and choose the package set: minimal, standard or full.
- The first stage puts a minimal system on the disk: the base packages, the kernel and its modules. If the repository lacks a package of the set you chose, it stops here, before installing anything.
- Take out the boot floppies or boot disk and the CD, and switch off and on. A boot disk left in place starts again: its priority, 5, is above the installed disk's 2.
- At the first boot the system asks its questions once (first boot), with the network answers you gave as the defaults. Then, before the login prompt, it fetches the rest of the set, one package at a time with a line for each, trying each three times. With the full set this first boot can take over an hour (65 minutes to the login prompt, measured over the internet); the standard set takes much less. Let it run.
If the network drops during that first boot, each package is tried three times, 30 seconds apart,
and a stalled download waits up to 5 minutes for data on each try, so one package can hold the
boot for about three quarters of an hour. If it still does not install, the first boot says what
is missing and goes on to the login prompt; the system works with what it has, and the next boot
carries on (or, as root, /sbin/sh /var/adm/firstboot/netset.sh). If the repository no longer
has a package the installation chose, it stops at once and says so.
On a Z3660 the SD card kit has it ready, with no CD at all: its preset 2 starts the network installer from the card, with an empty 1 GiB disk at unit 6 to install onto; preset 3 then boots that disk.