Creating a RedHat Linux install CD

RedHat is a free, open-source version of Linux, the Unix variant used by the Tech Computer Center. You can create an install CD on any TCC machine with a CD burner; these machines are located near the Help Desk in Speare 5.

Here are the steps to creating a RedHat CD in linux on a TCC machine. In all of the examples, replace you with your username.

1. Make a directory in /tmp to hold the CD image:

   [you@hostname /u/you]$ mkdir /tmp/you

2. Change to that directory:

   [you@hostname /u/you]$ cd /tmp/you

3. Start ncftp and connect to infohost:

   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$ ncftp
   NcFTP 3.0.2 (October 19, 2000) by Mike Gleason (ncftp@ncftp.com).
   ncftp> open -u you infohost
   Connecting to 129.138.4.51...
   ProFTPD 1.2.7 Server (ProFTPD TCC Installation) [infohost]
   Logging in...
   Password requested by 129.138.4.51 for user "you".
   
   Password required for you.
   
   Password: (your password here)
   
   User you logged in.
   Logged in to infohost.
   ncftp ...ratium/accounts/s/you >

4. cd to the redhat current ISO directory and list the files in that directory:

   ncftp ...ratium/accounts/s/you > cd ~ftp/pub/linux/redhat/current/en/iso/i386
   ncftp ...redhat/8.0/en/iso/i386 > ls
   MD5SUM                     psyche-i386-disc1.iso
   psyche-i386-disc2.iso      psyche-i386-disc3.iso
   psyche-i386-disc4.iso      psyche-i386-disc5.iso

5. Get the CD images:

   ncftp ...redhat/8.0/en/iso/i386 > get *.iso
   psyche-i386-disc1.iso:                                 644.03 MB    1.65 MB/s

   You will get a progress bar for each ISO that looks something like the above when it is done, and like this while it is running:

   psyche-i386-disc2.iso:             ETA:   3:57  251.24/635.41 MB 1.62 MB/s

6. Quit ncftp.

   ncftp> quit
   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$ 

7. Find out the device number of the cd burner. The underlined entry is the one we are looking for:

   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$ cdrecord -scanbus
   Cdrecord release 1.6 Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Jörg Schilling
   scsibus0:
       0) *
       1) 'TOSHIBA ' 'DVD-ROM SD-M1401' '1008' Removable CD-ROM
       2) *
       3) *
       4) *
       5) PLEXTOR ' 'CD-R PX-W1210S' '1.02' Removable CD-ROM
       6) *
       7) *
   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$

8. Put a blank CD-R in the CD Burner, if you haven't already.
9. Run this command, replacing the X with the number from above (5 in this case). You can ignore most of the output of this. There are comments on what you need to watch for.

   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$ cdrecord -v speed=8 dev=0,X,0 psyche-i386-disc1.iso
   Cdrecord release 1.6 Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Jörg Schilling
   TOC Type: 1 = CD-ROM
   scsidev: '0,5,0'
   scsibus: 0 target: 5 lun: 0
   Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
   Version        : 2
   Response Format: 2
   Capabilities   : SYNC LINKED
   Vendor_info    : 'PLEXTOR '
   Identifikation : 'CD-R   PX-W1210S'
   Revision       : '1.02'
   Device seems to be: Generic mmc CD-RW.
   Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R driver (mmc_cdr).
   Driver flags   : SWABAUDIO
   Track 01: data  644 MB
   Total size:     739 MB (73:16.61) = 329746 sectors
   Lout start:     739 MB (73:18/46) = 329746 sectors
   ATIP info from disk:
   Indicated writing power: 8
   Is not unrestricted
   Is not erasable
   Disk sub type: 2
   ATIP start of lead in:  -11318 (97:31/07)
   ATIP start of lead out: 336226 (74:45/01)
   Disk type: Phthalocyanine or similar
   Manufacturer: Ritek Co.
   Blocks total: 336226 Blocks remaining: 336226
   Starting to write CD at speed 8 in write mode for single session.
   Last chance to quit, starting real write in 1 seconds.

   (there is a countdown here)

   Waiting for reader process to fill input-buffer ... input-buffer ready.
   Starting new track at sector: 0 
   Track 01:  67 of 644 MB written (fifo 100%).

   (This is a progress indicator. It should take about 10 minutes to burn a CD at 8x.)

   Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 675315712/675315712 (329744 sectors).
   Writing  time: 1106.495s
   Fixating...
   Fixating time:   61.937s
   cdrecord: fifo had 20609 puts and 20609 gets.
   cdrecord: fifo was 0 times empty and 13467 times full, min fill was 96%.
   [you@hostname /tmp/you]$

10. At this point, you should have a fresh RedHat CD. Repeat Step 9 for each CD you want to create.
11. Remember to delete the CD images when you are done:

    [you@hostname /tmp/you]$ rm *.iso

Last updated: 2003/03/18 20:18:43 UT
URL: http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help/unix/redhat_cd.html