On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, Boris Daix wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Here are notes I wrote to be able to install Debian Woody with help
> of BRLTTY : it may interest Anders Holmberg (among others I hope...)
> that was looking for help on this subject. It's not supposed to help
> with Debian installation by itself, it just helps to become able to
> install without any well-sighted person. Please let me know if you
> encountered troubles, or if you have any suggestion.
at the moment I'm starting a project at nl.linux.org named BEDI.
This will hold a howto and brltty-prepared root.bin images.
Sinds the creation of those is kinda tricky and you need linux for it.
I probably will have a first set of root.bin's available in the next
weeks.
BEDI stands for Braille Enabled Debian Installation
B=Braille not brltty, this is chosen because the project then could
encorporate other braille-support tools later as well.
> Goody luck
>
> ,----[ DebInst+BRLTTY-Notes ]
> | Debian Installation tip for BRLTTY users
> | -+======================================+-
> |
> | Written by B. Daix (Thu Aug 22)
> |
> | Purpose
> | *******
> |
> | Woody installation process can be done via a set of floppies,
> | called "boot floppies". There are two of them by default : the boot
> | one (with linux kernel and friends) named "rescue floppy", and the
> | root one where is put setup stuff. Few other floppies can provide
> | modules (drivers-* ones), but those two boot ones are fundamental. As
> | you can guess, fitting all those means on only two 1.44 Mo sized
> | floppies is a real challenge... They are, as a consequence, really
> | well built and there is no place for guests there ! So we'll have to
> | manage a third floppy, to give BRLTTY a place.
> | So there are little things to do to install Debian with BRLTTY,
> | this file says which ones. The tip comes directly from Mario Lang and
> | his team, so let's thank them loudly ! Please be really attentive to
> | all points because if you don't, you could encounter troubles. You
> | should know that a brand-new way to install Debian is about to be
> | available, so this "boot floppies fashion" is going to be obsolete
> | soon.
> |
> | Official boot floppies tune
> | ***************************
> |
> | 1) Get boot floppies images, corresponding to the version you want to
> | install. Here, they are the current ones coming with Woody :
> | rescue.bin and root.bin
> | (/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/bf2.4/). We're
> | about to work on root.bin.
> | 2) Rename root.bin : "mv root.bin root.gz" then unzip it, "gunzip
> | root.gz" so that we have the mountable image now named "root".
> | 3) Mount this "root" image on a loop device (like if it was on a
> | floppy) : "mount root /mnt -o loop=/dev/loop0", where /mnt is the
> | mount point and /dev/loop0 an unused loop device. To check
> | everything goes right, "ls /mnt" should show a kind of normal
> | file-system with few things added.
> | 4) Edit the file named "rcS" in the loop-mounted image : "vi
> | /mnt/etc/init.d/rcS" for example. Jump to the end of file, and
> | insert the following lines before the last one ("exit 0") :
> | "echo "Please insert BRLTTY floppy and press ENTER"
> | read ret
> | cd /
> | tar xzf /dev/fd0
> | /sbin/brltty
> | echo "Press enter to continue"
> | read ret"
> | (Leave double-quotes like each time in this tip file) Save and
> | exit. We have to say that those seven lines will untar from
> | the third floppy we'll build and will run BRLTTY from the loaded
> | file-system, it's not on the target disk yet (as you're about to
> | install, hard drives are not ready yet).
> | 5) Edit the file named "inittab" in the loop-mounted image : "vi
> | /mnt/etc/inittab" for example. Then near line 21, replace the word
> | "null" by "tty1" so that "null::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS" becomes
> | "tty1::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS". Then, near line 25, remove the "u"
> | in "::respawn:/sbin/udbootstrap" so that it becomes
> | "::respawn:/sbin/dbootstrap" : this will prevent setup programs
> | from not using standard console tty1 "the normal way" (so that it
> | works with BRLTTY). In some case, this second modification is
> | superfluous, anyway, it's probably a good idea to do it. Save and
> | exit.
> | 6) Unmount the modified image : "umount /mnt", gzip it "gzip root" and
> | rename it "mv root.gz root.bin". Here it is.
> |
> | Building the third floppy
> | *************************
> |
> | 1) Compile BRLTTY for the display you want to use, do this
> | "statically" (no current libs linked so that BRLTTY works by
> | itself). There is an option in Makefile : "LINKSTATIC =
> | 1". Uncomment it or overload it in command line at compile time
> | (c.f. BRLTTY's documentation).
> | 2) Fake to install it in a personal directory specially built :
> | "mkdir $HOME/tmpbrl" and then "make INSTALL_ROOT=$HOME/tmpbrl
> | install" so that all BRLTTY's going there. Check it to recognize
> | etc, dev, lib and sbin dirs in it : "ls $HOME/tmpbrl".
> | 3) Create a tarball by first changing to the directory : "cd
> | $HOME/tmpbrl", then "tar czf ../brltty.tar.gz *". You should have a
> | file named "brltty.tar.gz" in the parent dir now.
> | 4) Copy this file to a free floppy - not the usual way, this is what I
> | would call a "brute copy"... like this (change to the tarball dir
> | before) : "dd if=brltty.tar.gz of=/dev/fd0 bs=1024". If no alert is
> | dumped, it worked well. It's "brutal" because in this kind of copy
> | you don't mount the device you are writing to, it prevents you from
> | having to mount things when you use the tarball.
> |
> | Going on the install process
> | ****************************
> |
> | Of course, you need to copy the images ("rescue.bin" and modified
> | "root.bin") on floppies - but it's the traditional fashion
> | (c.f. Debian's documentation). So you have three boot floppies :
> | rescue one, root one and BRLTTY one. No way to wait more, try it !
> | Restart your computer on rescue floppy, wait until it asks for
> | "root floppy" (system hangs up), insert it and hit ENTER. Then system
> | hangs up a second time : because of the first "read ret" line in rcS
> | script file. Here, insert BRLTTY floppy and hit ENTER again. Then
> | BRLTTY should be beeping at you, and all goes right. You'll last have
> | to hit ENTER to begin Debian installation process the usual way, due
> | to the second "read ret" line.
> | You should realize that BRLTTY stuff is loaded temporarily, as
> | system drives are not ready. So, to install it permanently, you must
> | wait until they are on (for example, before the reboot time), and as
> | there is a shell-enabled console available (ALT+F2), you will be able
> | to do so. Here is an example :
> |
> | - Insert the BRLTTY floppy again and then do "cd /target" and again
> | "tar xzf /dev/fd0" so that tar content will be put in target
> | drive too.
> | - Edit an INIT script so that BRLTTY will be run at boot time :
> | "nano-tiny /target/etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh" and find a good place
> | to insert the line "/sbin/brltty" (vi is not available in minimal
> | boot stuff).
> |
> | After this last step, nothing wrong can happen to you anymore ! But
> | let's remark that this last BRLTTY installation is not so clean :
> | Debian provides a package, so you'll have to do some washing when your
> | favorite OS is OK.
> |
> | Author
> | ******
> |
> | Boris Daix, reachable via carrefourblinux@yahoogroupes.fr or
> | directly at Boris.Daix@insa-lyon.fr.
> | Thanks to Mario Lang for his support, and thanks to Nath for her
> | test reports.
> `----
>
>
--
slainte mhaith (good health), slainte (cheers)
Uisce Beatha (water of live/health)
-----------
Andor Demarteau E-mail: ademarte@students.cs.uu.nl
student computer science www: http://www.students.cs.uu.nl/~ademarte/
Utrecht University irc: see webpage for details
-----------
Believe in yourself, know what you want, and make it happen!
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