Installing Debian packages from CD images without burning the CDs

The Debian distribution is growing, and now consists of something like 7 CDs or 2 DVDs. But no simple way is provided to install packages directly from the ISO images without burning them to a CD or DVD first. I decided I'd like to do exactly that, so I'll share how I did it here. Perhaps the Debian developers will add functionality to apt to do this automagically at some point.

1. Put the ISO images somewhere sensible.

   mkdir /iso
   mv debian-31r0a-i386-binary-*.iso /iso

2. For each ISO image you need a directory to mount it on.

   mkdir -p /mnt/deb/iso1
   mkdir -p /mnt/deb/iso2
   mkdir -p /mnt/deb/iso3

   and so on...
3. For each ISO image add a line to /etc/fstab to mount it on system startup.

   /iso/debian-31r0a-i386-binary-1.iso	/mnt/deb/iso1	iso9660	loop	0	0
   /iso/debian-31r0a-i386-binary-2.iso	/mnt/deb/iso2	iso9660	loop	0	0
   /iso/debian-31r0a-i386-binary-3.iso	/mnt/deb/iso3	iso9660	loop	0	0

   and so on...
4. For each ISO image add a line to /etc/apt/sources.list to use it.

   deb file:///mnt/deb/iso1 sarge main contrib
   deb file:///mnt/deb/iso2 sarge main contrib
   deb file:///mnt/deb/iso3 sarge main contrib

   and so on...
5. Tell Debian to use use the images.

   mount -a
   apt-get update

From now on apt should use the ISO images directly when you install packages.

-Ketil

posted at: 15:10 | path: /2005/10/23 | permanent link to this entry

ASUS A8V Wireless Edition on Linux

I have made instructions available on how to use the wireless interface on the ASUS A8V Wireless Edition motherboard under Linux. These instructions should work for anyone using a device with the Ralink RT2500 chipset. Judging from the number of hits I get on similar instructions I have made before, I assume this will be useful to someone.

-Ketil

posted at: 14:42 | path: /2005/10/23 | permanent link to this entry