rudiedirkx

Hi

I'm a total noob in linux installation, so probably a pain in the ***.
I've downloaded a few iso's (1-5) and burned a few. I burned iso-1 and booted the pc with that cd. All worked out fine. Except for totally no network. interfaces file is empty and hosts file says only 127.0.0.1.
So I have to get the network running. I thought I'd install a few more packages first, to make networking easier. So I burned iso-2 and iso-3.
Now I'm stuck in `dselect`. I have no idea how it works!!

The cdrom drive is at /cdrom/ and the packages are in a big pool of dirs (a-z) at/cdrom/pool/main/...

The problem is, I cant tell debian where the packages are. It just doesnt understand me, or I dont it.

The cd layout is something like this (not how the dselect guide says it 'should' be):
\boot\
\dists\
\dists\sarge\
\dists\sarge\contrib\
\dists\sarge\contrib\binary-i386\
\dists\sarge\contrib\binary-i386\Packages
\dists\sarge\contrib\source\
\dists\sarge\main\
\dists\sarge\main\binary-i386\
\dists\sarge\main\binary-i386\Packages
\dists\sarge\main\debian-installer\
\dists\sarge\main\debian-installer\binary-i386\
\dists\sarge\main\debian-installer\binary-i386\Packages
\dists\sarge\Release
\dists\frozen (0b)
\dists\stable (0b)
\dists\testing (0b)
\dists\unstable (0b)
\pool\
\pool\main\
\pool\main\a\...deb
\pool\main\b\...deb
\pool\main\d\...deb
\pool\main\d\...deb
etc

I have no idea whether its a normal layout or not, but I know the location of the packages (.deb) and the location of the Packages files. I just dont know how debian is gonna know too...

I use dselect. First option is [A]ccess, I choose apt.
Than I have to make a source list.
First question: "Please give the base url of the debian distribution. The access schemes i know about are: http file ftp"
I input: file:/cdrom/dists/

Next: "Please give the distribution tag to get or a path to the package file ending in a /. The distribution tags are typically something like: stable unstable testing non-US"
I input: stable (is default)

Next: "Please give the components to get. The components are typically something like: main contrib non-free"
I input: main contrib

Then: "Would you like to add another source?"
I say: No

So I goto step 2: [U]pdate.
Immediately lots of errors (cant find ...):

Err file: stable/main Packages
..File not found
Ign file: stable/main Release
Err file: stable/contrib Packages
..File not found
Ign file: stable/contrib Release
Failed to fetch file: /cdrom/dists/dists/stable/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz
..File not found (well true, because it doesn't exist, but I never said so! /cdrom/dists/stable is a file, not a dir! Only dir there is /cdrom/dists/sarge/)
Failed to fetch file: /cdrom/dists/dists/stable/contrib/binary-i386/Packages.gz

Yes it says /dists/dists/

And some more (reading packages...done << sure, none read).

I dont understand What do I do wrong? Is it a bad cd structure? Do I input wrong dirs?

Please help!


PS. The cdrom is the only way to install packages for me now, since network doesnt work (why, no idea). I dont know how to get it up, but some inet guide says about my network card (plug-n-play) that it needs something like isapnp. I downloaded that package, but have no idea how to get it on the pc!

Thanks alot

rudiedirkx

Now I got it (dselect apt) to say:

Failed to fetch file:/cdrom/dists/sarge/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz
and same for
file:/cdrom/dists/sarge/contrib/binary-i386/Packages.gz

And that's weird, because they DO exist! So can I conclude file:/cdrom/ doesnt exist??

How do I get to my cdrom drive then???
Thanks

boggy

Honestly.. If I where you I would just download 3.1 net-install. It should auto detect your network and you'll have the newest of the new. Not to mention it'll save you time, cd's and all these other problems your having.

rudiedirkx

That sounds like a great idea, but that's the whole problem! I don't have network access!
Something wrong with the network card or something. I have no idea. Have to install Linux to fix it. Install a package for the networkcard and when the network works, I can download and update like that.

How else to install Linux when network is unavailable?