Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 02:12:44 -0800 From: Rick Moen To: Jill Ratkevic Subject: My installfest disk User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Hi, Jill! I hadn't forgotten our conversation. Here's a kind of catalogue for my "installfest CD", which I hope might be useful to you, for starters. I've done my best to explain, for each entry, why it might be useful to installfest organisers, and (where applicable) what URL to get it from. I do strongly recommend that people running Linux installfests keep something like this disk on hand. REDISTRIBUTABLE: File: 3c5x9cfg.exe Size: 231749 Why: Putting old 3Com ISA cards in non-PnP mode helps Linux installers. Also does card diagnostics, changes IRQs and I/O base addresses. There are a lot of these cards still around. Desc: 3Com's configuration utility for 3C509 series ethernet cards, extracted from the EtherDisk archive for convenience. MS-DOS proprietary binary. Note: Technically lacks any licence granting the right to redistribute, but 3Com clearly isn't going to object. From: ftp://ftp.3com.com/pub/nic/3c509/ File: 3c5x9setup Size: 14035 Why: Does on Linux everything 3Com's DOS utility does, except on Linux. Desc: Donald Becker's configuration utility for 3Com 3C509 series ethernet cards. Linux i386 binary under the GNU GPL. From: http://www.scyld.com/diag/3c5x9setup.html File: 3c5x9setup.c Size: 16851 Why: Does everything 3Com's DOS utility does, except on Linux. Desc: Donald Becker's configuration utility for 3Com 3C509 series ethernet cards. C source code under the GNU GPL. From: http://www.scyld.com/diag/3c5x9setup.html File: bootit-ng-1.32a.zip Size: 446307 Why: Compact, polished, redistributable NTFS resizer, to make room for Linux. Desc: TeraByte Unlimited's BootIt Next Generation. Provided is a raw floppy image that you write to a floppy disk using any means you have (e.g., dd on Unix or the provided bootitng.exe utility or a Rawrite version on MS-DOS. You boot that floppy, which then lets you resize FAT or NTFS. Optionally, you can install files onto a hard drive to allow both multiboot mgmt. and further resizing without the floppy, plus support of more-flexible partition structures. Fully functional trial version; obligation to register for US $30 if used after 30 days. Proprietary binary code. From: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ File: chop-3.1.zip Size: 27340 Why: Essential if you need to ferry large files to a Linux machine and don't have use of ethernet, ZIP disks, etc. Desc: Walter J. Kennamer's CHOP utility to cleanly cut any file into multiple pieces of a specified size, e.g., 1.4 MB to fit on floppies for inter-machine transport. Works perfectly on binary or text files. You can specify chunks of characters that must remain intact during splitting. Proprietary MS-DOS binary, free of charge for non-commercial use. Use DOS COPY or Unix cat utilities to reassemble pieces. (Original filename was CHOP31.ZIP.) Available among other places at http://linuxmafia.com/pub/ms-dos/ . File: partboot-1.4.21.img Size: 1466248 Why: Best non-NTFS filesystem resizer, on a boot floppy, to make room for Linux. Desc: GNU PartEd partition-editing program, boot diskette image. Resizes, copies, checks, creates, recovers, destroys filesystems. Resize support for FAT, ext2/ext3, Linux swap, and ReiserFS filesystems. Standalone Linux i386 binaries under the GNU GPL on a boot image supporting most but not all i386 hardware. (You may be able to build support for other disk hardware using mkpart to make a bootdisk: ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/mkpart/) You'll also need the root filesystem image. From: http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/ File: english.au Size: 41493 Why: The canonical test file to prove your sound drivers work. I.e., "cat english.au > /dev/audio". Desc: Linus Torvalds says how he pronounces "Linux" (in English). Sun .au (ULAW) sound file. From: ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/ File: parted-1.6.3.tar.gz Size: 1156134 Why: Best non-NTFS filesystem resizer. Non-bootdisk version usable on hardware the bootdisk can't figure out. Desc: GNU PartEd partition-editing program. Resizes, copies, checks, creates, recovers, destroys filesystems. Resize support for FAT, ext2/ext3, Linux swap, and ReiserFS filesystems. C source code under the GNU GPL -- known to compile and run cleanly on Linux- and HURD-based distributions running on Alpha, i386, PC98, PowerPC, and SPARC. From: http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/ File: partroot-1.6.2.img Size: 1192053 Why: Best non-NTFS filesystem resizer, on a boot floppy, to make room for Linux. Desc: GNU PartEd partition-editing program, root filesystem image. Resizes, copies, checks, creates, recovers, destroys filesystems. Resize support for FAT, ext2/ext3, Linux swap, and ReiserFS filesystems. Standalone Linux i386 binaries under the GNU GPL on a boot image supporting most but not all i386 hardware. You'll need the boot image. From: http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/ File: partition-resizer-1.3.4.zip Size: 201153 Why: One of several redistributable non-NTFS filesystem resizers, to make room for Linux. Desc: John Lagonikas's Partition Resizer, a DOS utility to resize FAT partitions. (Requires real-mode DOS, and so will not run under MS-Windows 2000, XP, or ME except bootable floppies.) Free-usage proprietary MS-DOS binary. From: http://www.zeleps.com/ File: rawrite32.zip Size: 363726 Why: Write images to floppies within most versions of MS-Windows, eliminating the need for an MS-DOS boot floppy to run rawrite, e.g., to write Linux installation floppies. Desc: Martin Husemann's Win32 port of rawrite to all Win32 operating systems. Utility for writing of diskette-image files, e.g. to install Linux from floppies. C and C++ source code and Win32 binary under a free-usage licence. Compilation requires RSADSI's MD5 source code (added), zlib source code (added) and Microsoft Developer's Studio 6. From: http://www.duskware.com/rawrite32/ File: rawwritewin-0.6.zip Size: 248679 Why: Write images to floppies within MS-Windows NT/2000/XP, eliminating the need for an MS-DOS boot floppy to run rawrite, e.g., to write Linux installation floppies. Desc: John Newbigin's Win32 port of rawrite to Win32, to compensate for problems getting past the Hardware Abstraction Layer, especially in NT-based versions of MS-Windows such as Windows2000 and Windows XP. Utility for writing of diskette-image files, e.g. to install Linux from floppies. Pascal and C++ source code and Win32 binary under the GNU GPL. Compilation seems to require Borland Delphi and Borland C++. From: http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/rawwrite.htm File: ranish-partition-manager-2.43.zip Size: 174463 Why: One of several redistributable non-NTFS filesystem resizers, runnable from inside MS-Windows 9x, to make room for Linux. Desc: Ranish Partition Manager is a partition resizer and MBR-based multiboot manager that runs and installs from MS-Windows 9x only (not ME/NT/2000/XP). Resizes FAT partitions. Free-usage proprietary Win32 binaries. From: http://www.ranish.com/part/ File: telix-3.51.zip Size: 724618 Why: For copying files, e.g., Linux installation files, to DOS machines over null-modem cable. Desc: deltaComm Development, Inc.'s Telix modem/terminal program for MS-DOS. Fully functional proprietary binary software with obligation to register for US $70 if used after 45 days. (Original archive filename was telix351.zip.) From: http://www.telix.com/delta/deltacom/tfd/ File: tightvnc-1.2.6_x86.zip Size: 489936 Why: Lets you run MS-Windows programs remotely, e.g. from Linux. Desc: Constantin Kaplinsky TightVNC enhanced VNC (Virtual Network Computing) cross-platform remote control/execution software. Win32 binaries under the GNU GPL. Among other things, this will let a single user run a Win32 machine's programs remotely from a Linux/X11 desktop machine, with graphics, using the Linux vncviewer client software locally. For multi-user concurrent access to Win32 applications from Linux, use Rdesktop (http://www.rdesktop.org/) on Linux instead to get to Windows NT Terminal Server / Windows 2000 Terminal Services over RDP protocol (aka ITU-T T.128, aka SHARE), instead. From: http://www.tightvnc.com/ File: tridiavnc-win32-installer-v1.5.exe Size: 1481126 Why: Lets you run MS-Windows programs remotely, e.g. from Linux. Desc: Tridia Corporation's TridiaVNC enhanced VNC Server (and client) utilities for Virtual Network Computing cross-platform remote-control/execution software. Win32 binaries under the GNU GPL. Among other things, this will let a single user run a Win32 machine's programs remotely from a Linux/X11 desktop machine, with graphics, using the Linux vncviewer client software locally. For multi-user concurrent access to Win32 applications from Linux, use Rdesktop (http://www.rdesktop.org/) on Linux instead to get to Windows NT Terminal Server / Windows 2000 Terminal Services over RDP protocol (aka ITU-T T.128, aka SHARE), instead. From: http://www.tridiavnc.com/ File: vnc-3.3.4-x86_win32.exe Size: 540845 Why: Lets you run MS-Windows programs remotely, e.g. from Linux. Desc: RealVNC Limited's (formerly AT&T Cambridge's) VNC Server (and client) utilities for Virtual Network Computing cross-platform remote control/execution software. Win32 binaries under the GNU GPL. Among other things, this will let a single user run a Win32 machine's programs remotely from a Linux/X11 desktop machine, with graphics, using the Linux vncviewer client software locally. For multi-user concurrent access to Win32 applications from Linux, use Rdesktop (http://www.rdesktop.org/) on Linux instead to get to Windows NT Terminal Server / Windows 2000 Terminal Services over RDP protocol (aka ITU-T T.128, aka SHARE), instead. From: http://www.realvnc.com/ File: gusto-0.4.tar.gz Size: 119673 Why: No special reason, except I was interested. Desc: Gusto is a build-from-source Linux distribution using the my friend Nick Moffitt's innovative GAR software-building system. From: http://www.bamsoftware.com/software/gusto/ File: lnx-bbc-1.618.iso Size: 49520640 Why: Indispensible distribution on a credit-card sized CD, supplying many tools for maintenance/recovery. Desc: LNX-BBCs can be used to rescue ailing machines, perform intrusion post-mortems, act as a temporary workstation, and perform many other tasks. From: http://www.lnx-bbc.org/ File: ntfsresize-static-021127.tgz Size: 199560 Why: The only open-source tool for non-destructively resizing NTFS, e.g. to make room for Linux. Desc: ntfsresize non-destructively resizes Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windwsw XP or Windows .NET NTFS filesystems. It is part of the open source Linux-NTFS project and included in the ntfsprogs package. From: http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html File: timos_rescue_cd_set-0.9.7.iso Size: 59899904 Why: Furnishes recovery utilities, including partimage and many others. Desc: Timo Benk's Rescue CD is an easily reconfigurable recovery system on a mini-CD image. From: http://rescuecd.sourceforge.net/ File: tomsrtbt-2.0.103.tar.gz Size: 1829836 Why: Indispensible mini-distribution on a floppy (for machines with no CD drive). Diagnose/identify hardware, test RAM, repartition, etc. Desc: Tom Oehser's famous disk image packs much more onto a single bootable Linux floppy than anyone would have thought possible. From: http://www.toms.net/rb/ File: (something) Size: (something) Why: Use my external SCSI CD-ROM drive on machines lacking a CD drive. Desc: My Trantor T358 in a parallel-port to SCSI adapter, making any PC with an enhanced parallel port able to support SCSI devices such as my Toshiba 3401S that I have in an external case. These files are the Trantor T358 drivers for DOS/Windows/other. The hardware device was also known as Adaptec APA358 or NEC EPP001. It might suffice to solve some difficult Linux installation problem, if the installer program includes the driver. This is the driver set that came with the hardware, and its exact contents are probably not all be findable on the Internet, but various driver sets can be found. File: fips20.zip Size: 177297 Why: The classic Linux filesystem resizer for FAT (making room for Linux). Desc: Non-destructive repartitioning util. for FAT partitions. Runs on DOS. Created and maintained by Arno Schäfer. From: http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/ NON-REDISTRIBUTABLE: File: diskeepwr-lite-7.0-build-418.exe Size: 12425080 Why: Defragment NTFS before resizing it to make room for Linux. Desc: Executive Software's "freeware" defrag utility for NTFS and FAT to run on any Win32 system except Win95. Proprietary Win32 binary. From: http://www1.execsoft.com/dklite.exe Note: Licence doesn't include the right to redistribute, but it's downloadable for free, and Executive Software might not mind people passing it around. File: (something) Size: (some size) Why: Provides needed drivers for some old DOS/Windows systems' SCSI-based CD-ROM drives. Desc: Adaptec EZ-SCSI 3.1 for MS-DOS/Windows and other OSes. File: (something) Size: (some size) Why: For moving files onto DOS/Windows machines via "laplink" parallel cable. Desc: An old version (5.0) of Symantec's Laplink. Some exotic machines such as IBM and Toshiba palmtops require something like Laplink to transfer a boot image and LOADLIN.EXE to get Linux going on them. Also on the disk: Floppy images of IBM PC-DOS 6.3, MS-DOS 5.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22, 7.0 Why: Sometimes, you just simply need DOS for something, e.g., to run some hardware setup/diagnostic utility, to unpack a self-extracting archive, to apply ROM upgrades, etc. And because floppy media wear out.