Cloning FAQ

I often receive email with contents like this:

But what I do not understand :
In the howtos I read only about Installation with DOS or Linux.

Is it not possible to install muLinux directly from the Disk ?
Just like DOS and Windows-3.11 ???

Do I really need to install my DOS again before I can clone muLinux ?
I really hate to think about it !

Or can I install another Mini-Distro first ?
Most of them also run straight from the Floppy.

Installation Vs Cloning

The word Installation in muLinux should be not used, because muLinux runs primarily in the RAM, booting from a set of floppy disks (base floppy + add-on).
We reserve the word (installation) in order to describe the process where the images you downloaded are transferred to the floppies (see: Linux Install, and Dos Install).
Nevertheless, it can be cloned on permanent media, such an hard-disk.
In order to clone muLinux in some destination target machine, you must follow these steps:

• create your muLinux Floppy Set, in your source machine (Linux, or Win9x)
• take these floppies to the target machine
• put floppy #1 in the floppy-drive and reboot the target machine,
• Soon, you will have your mulinux running in RAM. You now have the chance to configure it as you like.
• after your get to the UNIX prompt, you must type "clone" on the command line, selecting the type of cloning you want. In other words: clone transfer the RAM content, AS-IS, to the HD.
• restart your target computer and start muLinux. This is the single floppy instance of muLinux, a very basic UNIX system. During this stage, it will ask you if you wish to load additional add-on floppies.
• put remaining add-on floppies into the drive, at request.

CD-ROM cloning

Once you have cloned to the HD, you can re-clone it into a different partition, if you like, and can also clone it on a CD-ROM (press "clone" and select "CDROM")

• Target machine equiped with a burning-device: mulinux can burn it
• Target machine without a burning-device: follow each step and transport the resulting ISO image to a different machine. Here a little howto burn a CD-ROM with an El-Torito ISO image.

Direct cloning

This feature is only for Windows installers. After they have followed the installation procedure, they can choose to immediately clone in the c:\linux directory, skipping the floppy-disk set creation.
This the only case where the word installatiion may apply with the usual meaning.