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TAR.GZ File Compression for Windows  

http://www.psyc.nott.ac.uk/staff/cr1/gz.html

File compression is a nice way to reduce the amount of disk space required to store data; it works by reducing the redundancy in data. Most text and html files compress well, since they use some characters more commonly than others (for example the letter 'e' is much more common in English text than 'z'), and contain many words and phrases used more than once. Other file types (for example, MRI images) have less redundancy and regularity, so they are more difficult to compress.

Most Windows users compress files into ZIP format, while Linux and other Unix users prefer GZ (for single files) and TAR.GZ (for collections of files; the extension .TGZ is also used for these). Most of the free compression tools for Windows will decompress GZ and TAR.GZ files; however, creating GZ files is not a common feature. My ezGZ program (shift+click to download program and source code) is a simple drag and drop GZ/TAR.GZ compressor and decompressor. If you drop a file with the extension '.GZ', ezGZ will decompress the file; if you drop any other file on the program, it will create a new, compressed file with the GZ extension (e.g. 'filename.ext' will be saved as 'filename.ext.gz'). You have the option of setting the compression level between 1 (fast, but little compression) to 9 (slow, but optimal compression).Usually, a value of about 6 is fine.

It should be pointed out that the GZ format only stores one file, whilst the ZIP format can store multiple files. So, to compress collections of files, UNIX users first combine them using the 'tar' program, and then run 'gzip' on the .TAR file that produces. These tar+gzipped files are usually denoted with the extension '.TAR.GZ' or 'TGZ'. If you drop multiple files onto my program, it will give you the option to create a single '.TAR.GZ' file that stores a compressed copy of all the source files. Likewise, if you drag and drop any file with the extension '.TAR', '.TGZ' or '.TAR.GZ', ezGZ will decompress it.

 

MD5

http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/

This page describes md5, a command line utility usable on either Unix or MS-DOS/Windows, which generates and verifies message digests (digital signatures) using the MD5 algorithm. This program can be useful when developing shell scripts or Perl programs for software installation, file comparison, and detection of file corruption and tampering.

Fedora 2

http://fedora.redhat.com/download/

Read through all the instructions before you begin downloading.

The following steps need to be taken to download and install Fedora Core:

  1. Understand What You Are Doing
  2. Make Room on Your System
  3. Download the Files You Need
  4. Write Files to Media
  5. Boot From the CD-ROM or Boot Diskette to Run the Installation Program
  6. Check for Updates
  7. Get Help If You Need It

Understanding What You Are Doing

You are downloading an entire operating system, and in most cases, you are then going to install the operating system on your computer.

If you are connected to the Internet via a slow connection, like a modem, then downloading Fedora Core will be an extremely time-consuming process. The time it takes to download the installation files for Fedora Core depends greatly upon your connection speed to the Internet. For example, if you are downloading the installation disk images (called ISOs), then each image file will weigh in at just under 650 MB. This means that with a 56K modem connection it will take approximately 27 hours to complete the download of just one disk, and most installations require more than one.

Make Room on Your System

If you intend to transform your existing single-boot system into a dual-boot system, you need to make room for Fedora Core. You can do this by adding a new hard drive or by modifying the existing partitions on the hard drive already in the system.

Refer to Configuring a Dual-Boot System for more detailed instructions.

Download the Files You Need

To install Fedora Core, download the DVD image or the four ISO images of the installation CD-ROMs, even if you are planning to perform a hard drive installation.

 

Downloading the ISO Images

The ISO images are located at the following URL:

http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/i386/iso/ http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/x86_64/iso/

To install from a DVD that you plan to burn, download the following ISO image files:

For x86-compatible (32-bit): FC2-i386-DVD.iso (md5sum: 2d8a20014af287bf8c6b29f2da031f98)
For x86_64 (64-bit AMD64, EM64T):
FC2-x86_64-DVD.iso (md5sum: 5025c41edf87b679f036377013234d9b)

Note: If you are using HTTP or FTP to download, some download clients cannot handle the DVD image because it is larger than 4 gigabytes. Please refer to the documentation of your download client for details.

If you plan to burn CDs, to download the CD images:

For x86-compatible (32-bit):
FC2-i386-disc1.iso (md5sum: c366d585853768283dac6cdcefcd3a2d)
FC2-i386-disc2.iso (md5sum: fc3c926442cc85a469268651bd04c186)
FC2-i386-disc3.iso (md5sum: 5ad870e696953f4bbd0a91936873890e)
FC2-i386-disc4.iso (md5sum: c736f8048b12315b5c0b070de1d74867)


 

For x86_64 (64-bit AMD64, EM64T):
FC2-x86_64-disc1.iso (md5sum: 6ba7586c599926606ef0baacc7dce842)
FC2-x86_64-disc2.iso (md5sum: 9fa81dd04058c90f32602cef817fd3ff)
FC2-x86_64-disc3.iso (md5sum: 1eb2be40ca207efd624ec4d8be2dc74a)
FC2-x86_64-disc4.iso (md5sum: 4e295abe19e0de8f3e7ac9243af077be)

Since the Red Hat FTP site can experience extremely high volume, you may have better success using a mirror site. Alternatively, you can join the torrent.

ISO images containing the source RPMs are also located in the same directory as the ISO images containing the binaries; however, they are not required to install Fedora Core.

After downloading the ISO images, check the MD5 checksums for the ISO images to ensure that your download was successful. Do this by running the md5sum program from a shell prompt against your ISO images and comparing the values returned against the ones published by Red Hat. The file from Red Hat containing the official md5sum values is called MD5SUM and is located in the same directory as the ISO images on the FTP site.

The following illustrates the correct syntax for the md5sum command:

md5sum <isofilename>

In the above command, replace <isofilename> with the correct file name.

If the MD5 sums match, burn the ISO images to CD-Rs or CD-RWs. Note: writing the ISOs to CD requires a program such as cdrecord. If you want to perform a hard drive installation instead, copy the ISO image files to a location on the hard drive that will not be reformated for Fedora Core.

Mounting ISO Images

If you are already running Linux, you can save an ISO image to a directory on your machine or another machine on the network. You may then mount the ISO image to look at or copy files. To mount an ISO image, use the following command:

mount -o loop -t iso9660 <isofilename> <mountpoint>

In the above command replace <isofilename> and <mountpoint> with the correct file name and mount point respectively. The directory given as the mount point must exist.

Write files to media

Note: ISO images are not written to CDs/DVDs the same way as files.

If you are already running Fedora Core, refer to CD-Rs and CD-RWs for instructions on using cdrecord to burn the ISOs to CD.

Be sure to label the DVDs/CDs after burning them.

Boot From the DVD or CD to Run the Installation Program

The ISOs have an md5sum embedded in them. It is strongly recommended you verify the md5sum on any Fedora Core CDs or DVD you create using downloaded ISO images. This will ensure that the disk was burned correctly and prevent installation failures related to bad media. To test the checksum integrity of the DVD/CDs, boot off the DVD or first CD, and type the following command at the boot: prompt:

linux mediacheck

The checksum operation can be performed in any order.

To start the installation program, boot from the DVD, the first CD, or the boot CD made from the boot.iso image.

Check for Updates

You can use the Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) to check for updates.

Get Help If You Need It

If you need help installing, configuring, or using Fedora Core, join a mailing list or an IRC channel. There are plenty of users and developers ready to help you.