FCRS INSTALLATION MANUAL

1 Server Requirements

Minumum 2 serial ports, floppy disk controller, 256MB RAM, 4GB Hard disk. Parallel port and CD-ROM burner recommended.

2 Client Requirements

Bootable floppy disk controller or CD-ROM. 386SX 12MB RAM. 1 Serial port.

3 Installation.

The prepackaged software comes in two variants. As a live CD installable on a dedicated computer and as a Debian-stable (sarge) package. When downloaded and burned with a CD-R burning tool you can boot from the CD and run the software as demo software. Note that all files will be lost when rebooting the computer. When running as a live CD, the system will be slower than if installed on hard disk. The CD is based on the live Knoppix distribution (http://www.knoppix.net) and it is possible to install knoppix on the hard disk and use it as any other debian-like operating system. All documentation on the knoppix web site should also apply on the FCRS live CD.

3.1 KNOPPIX-FCRS Live CD installation.

Download the CD from http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/fcrs and burn it with a cdrom-burner. How to burn a CDROM is not covered in this manual.

The following steps show how to install the FCRS system from the CDROM on to a dedicated FCRS Server. All existing data on the hard disk will be lost! To install it on hard disk do the following steps:

  1. Boot with the FCRS CDROM. You will be presented with a graphical user interface and Desktop area.
  2. Press Ctrl-Alt-F2 to get a root termial.
  3. Type the command ``knx2hd'' (without the quotes). You will now get a menu. Move cursor with the TAB key and select items with the space key.
  4. If the computer has not had Linux previously installed; choose partition. Delete all existing partition and create 1 Linux partition. You may also create a swap partition if wanted. Choose Write. Then choose Quit.
  5. Choose configure installation. Choose Debian.
  6. Choose start installation. Wait until finished then reboot.

3.2 Installation of the Debian sarge package.

If you already have Debian Sarge installed on a computer it is easy to install FCRS. Just add the following line to the file /etc/apt/source.list:

deb http://fcrs.sourceforge.net/fairdebs /

Issue the command "apt-get update && apt-get install fcrs" (Without the quotes) in a root terminal. This will automatically install FCRS and all its dependencies. If you intend to use more than 4 native serial ports (Onboard+PCI Serial I/O Cards), or need to support the latest usb2serial HUB's you will also need to upgrade to the kernel found on the sourceforge download page. The live CD already has this kernel.

4 Boot Images

You need the FCRS boot media, CD-ROM or floopy, to boot the computers to be wiped.

4.1 CDROM

The bootable CD-ROM image is located in /opt/fair/lib/fcrscd.iso and on the sourceforge download pages. Burn it with your favorite CD burning tool.

4.2 Floppy

To create a bootable FCRS client floppy on the server: Insert a floppy disk on the server floppy disk controller. Open up a terminal and type: sudo /opt/fair/bin/makefloppy.sh. To create a floppy with MS Windows, download the image on sourceforge and use the program RAWRITE to write it. RAWRITE is public domain available on the internet.

5 Setting up a printer

FCRS uses CUPS for printing. Point a web browser to the URL http://localhost:631 and select your printer, choose parallel or network connection and save. Alternatively, start KDE control center. Click peripherals -> Printers -> Administrator mode. Add your printer. Select paralell or network connection. Apply

6 Serial ports

6.1 On Board Serial Cards and PCI Serial I/O Cards

All PCI Serial I/O Cards with Linux support should work. FCRS Supports up to 16 serial ports on-board and on PCI serial I/O cards.

6.2 USB2Serial HUBS

All USB2Serial HUBS which is supported in Linux should work by just connect them.

About this document ...

FCRS INSTALLATION MANUAL

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The translation was initiated by FAIR International on 2006-03-24


FAIR International 2006-03-24