[UCLA-LUG] Disembodied HDD install

[Frederick Lee]

On Wed, 05 Apr 2000 10:17:24 PDT, said "elliot jordan" <ejisjc@hotmail.com>:
>Would it be possible to bring in my hard drive only and windows/linux cd's 
>to the fest to get it installed together? thanks


Short answer: Yes, but good luck.


Long answer:

You could, but you will not get the best possible install.  The least we can
guarantee in such a condition is that a Linux-based OS will be installed, and
that it may work in text mode.  Provided we can find another machine to host
the drive at all.

What you will either have to do without, or set up on your own later on, is
the X Windowing System (XFree86) with properly tuned resolution.  The best
X setup is highly dependant on what kind of video card and monitor is used.

Video cards have a maximum dot clock, i.e. a maximum driving frequency.
Trying to drive a video card at 125 MHz when rated for only 80 MHz is a
Bad Thing.  Trying to have the video display 32-bit color when it can't
possible use anything beyond 24 bits is also a Bad Thing.  If the monitor
can only take a maximum of 90 Hz horizontal, and the video card is trying to
drive it at 120 Hz, that is a Very Bad Thing.  If X tries to treat an ATi
card as an S3 Virge, Very Bad Things can happen.

The highest setting that can be done blindly is 60 Hz 640x400 at 8bpp (256
colors), which is utterly Ugly.  This is a setting capable by just about every
analog monitor and SVGA video card (it was also standardized, for the sake of
MS-DOS before version 7.0).  Beyond that, every card has its own way of
tweaking the monitor (and thus the need for video drivers).

Windows 9x users will note that 640x400x8 @ 60Hz is what "Safe Mode" uses.
This is the highest setting that can be used without video drivers (which
would be under suspicion and thus "unsafe" to use).  If you want a taste of
how ugly this resolution is, boot up a Windows machine into "Safe Mode".
(Whap F8 (or F5?) on bootstrap message to get there)


There may also be other things we need to know about the system during
installation(s).  If you don't bring your machine in, be prepared to answer
some fairly technical and detailed questions about your machine and peripherals
(such as the exact revision and date of a chipset in use, which can determine
what driver to use).  Otherwise, we'll have to resort to assumptions that may
or may not be right (considering PC hardware, probably not right).  Also, bring
a blank floppy to the InstallFest to create a Linux rescue disk in case things
go south once the hard drive returns home.




<rant type=personal>
I don't know about the other installers, but IMNSHO, the Windows installation
is something you'll have to start yourself.  Due to some really funky things
possible from shrinkwrap licenses, copyright protectionism, and the DMCA, I,
for one, am NOT going to risk being the one to click "I Agree".  It is my
understanding that whoever ("the party"?) does the agreeing is the one agreeing
to take liability for contract violations wrt Windows.  I personally am not
going to risk being it.
</rant>


-Fred