$Id: INSTRUCTIONS,v 1.21 2008/09/03 16:53:38 amb Exp amb $

These are bootdisks for the Linux/Athena installation procedure.

***
*** WHICH IMAGE TO USE
***

First, consider using none of these.  MIT's PXE network booting service
provides for network installs of Athena, and requires no media at all.
It should have install images that are as current as what is here.

Otherwise, the primary install image is a bootable CD image, athena.iso.
It contains all hardware drivers that are part of the release.

If you have hardware that can boot from a floppy drive only, it's
probably old enough to be able to use one of the older, floppy-based
installers.  In that case, look in the "old" subdirectory, where you'll find:

athena.img - floppy boot image for common athena hardware
drvnet.img	(Additional standard network drivers.)
pcmciadd.img    (Additional PCMCIA drivers.)

athena-old.img - V4 boot image for common athena hardware

NOTE: The athena-old.img floppy image dates from mid-2003.  It will not
      include drivers for the latest hardware, but contains many more
      network drivers than the current single-floppy install.  If you
      cannot use the CD image (which contains all drivers) and your
      hardware is too new to use athena-old.img, use athena.img along
      with drvnet.img.  (See below for more information on this.)

***
*** MAKING A BOOTDISK
***

*** From an Athena machine:

1) If the floppy you want to put the image on has not been formatted, you
can format it by:
    On a a linux machine, run the command "fdformat /dev/fd0H1440".
    or, on a solaris machine run the command "fdformat -U"

2) Make sure you are copying the right data:

     attach bootkit; cd /mit/bootkit/rhlinux
    
3) Copy the bootdisk image onto the floppy:

    Under Solaris:

        volcheck
        dd if=athena.img of=/vol/dev/aliases/floppy0 bs=18k conv=sync   

    Under linux:
    
        dd if=athena.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=18k conv=sync  

*** From a non-Athena Unix machine:

Instructions are the same as above, except that you (probably) won't be
able to get a copy of the floppy image via AFS.  Instead of step 2 above,
using a web browser, visit this URL:

http://web.mit.edu/bootkit/rhlinux/

...and download athena.img from that page.  Otherwise, the instructions
should be the same.

*** From a machine running a Microsoft operating system:

Using a web browser, visit this URL:
http://web.mit.edu/bootkit/rhlinux/

Download athena.img and rawrite.exe.  Insert a blank, formatted floppy
into your machine and run rawrite.  Follow the instructions to copy
athena.img to your floppy.  The file rawrite3.doc contains the official
rawrite documentation, should you need it.

Alternately, if you already have hardware and software on your machine
for creating CD-ROMs, you can download the file athena.iso, which is a
complete CD image, ready for burning.  Instructions for this depend on
the software you are using.  (On an Athena machine, note that the
instructions in the cdrecord locker have not been updated for 9.4 as of
this writing.)

***
*** INSTALLING AN ATHENA LINUX MACHINE
***

Put the boot floppy or CD into the drive of the computer.  Turn it on (or
hit the reset button).

If you are booting from CD, you may need to override the default boot
media; this is usually done on modern PCs by pressing F12 at the startup
screen, although some vary.

You should see a "Welcome to MIT's Red Hat Linux Athena!" message,
followed by a paragraph of text and a prompt that reads:

boot:

If you have supported network hardware, either wait or just hit return at
this prompt.  (If you do not, see below.)  The machine will begin booting
off of the floppy/CD.

[Note: as of June 2008 the instructions below are obsolete in detail for
the newest installer media, but the general principle of configuring your
network and following the prompts is the same.]

It will then stop with a screen that reads:

"You may now remove the boot disk.  Please enter the IP address for this
machine."

Enter the machine's IP address, or select the "Advanced" menu and select
the box for a DHCP install.  You may also remove the floppy/CD at this
point.

* If you are installing with the version 4 installer, and are on an
* MITnet machine with a nonstandard local network configuration requiring
* use of the advanced network settings page (other than DHCP), see the
* warning at the end of this file.

It will then ask for "HTTP host name:" and "Ramdisk image:".  The filled
in defaults are correct.

It should begin loading the ramdisk from tae-kwon-leap at this point.
It will print a warning banner.

It will now ask for the install location and the control file.  Hit
return to accept the defaults for normal installs.

If you have not yet removed the floppy/CD, do so now.

The install will now proceed automatically.  There will be a notable
pause after the installation of the athena-sendmail package; don't let it
alarm you.  The entire install process takes approximately 25 minutes on
a Pentium III Dell OptiPlex GX1.

The workstation will finish installing and reboot into Athena.

Once the machine has been installed, please visit:
     
http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/athena/minimal.html

...for more information about Linux Athena.

***
*** IF YOU HAVE NONSTANDARD NETWORK HARDWARE
***

If you try to install Linux Athena from floppy, but are not prompted for
a network address after the boot screen, you may need additional drivers
for your hardware.  Using the same procedures listed above for creating a
boot floppy, create another floppy (called the "driver disk"), from
either the "drvnet.img" file (for most network devices) or the
"pcmciadd.img" file (for unusual PCMCIA network devices).  At the "boot:"
prompt referenced above, instead of just hitting return, type "linux dd"
and hit return.  (Instructions for this step are also on the boot
screen.)  After the initial boot disk is read, you will be prompted to
insert the driver disk, after which the install should proceed as above.

*** 
*** PROBLEMS WITH THE RHLINUX VERSION 4 INSTALLER, RELEASED 7 AUGUST 2003,
*** AND SOME MITNET ADDRESSES
***

If you are installing from an MITnet address, the installer can usually
look up your address in its database and determine the correct network
settings.  If your local settings are nonstandard, however, you would
normally use the "Advanced" button on the initial screen ("Simple TCP/IP
Configuration") to reach the advanced configuration page where you can
enter your nonstandard settings.  However, if you select the "Advanced"
page and immediately enter an MITnet address, the installer will crash.

To work around this bug, go to the advanced configuration page and first
enter a non-MITnet address ("1.1.1.1", for instance) in the "IP address"
field, and press enter.  (Bogus default values will be filled in for the
other fields.)  You can then correct these entries, including the "IP
address" field, with no problem.

Use of the "Advanced" page with non-MITnet address, or use of the "DHCP"
checkbox, will not crash the installer.