Linux laptop

[MechCD]

I'm going to be installing linux on an older laptop i have. One problem, the CD drive and the floppy drive cannot be installed at the same time. Does the floppy boot disk "switch over" to the Cd-ROM when it asks for the CD? If so, i could swap them out and then continue. If not, i might have to do a network install. Network install scares me. i've never done it before :D The laptop has an Etherlink III NIC installed and internet access if needed.

[bumblebee]

You probable can't switch drive's with out powering down the Laptop first:(

But that shouldn't be a problem cause your Linux CD, is probable bootable:)

If not, most linux dist have network boot disks that should support your NIC, and you do a network install from a ftp server or NFS. I've done a NFS install a long time ago, It wasn't to hard to setup another linux machine to share a folder, or the mounted linux CD. That was using Redhat I think, but the others should be the same.

Hope this helps.

[zhotfire]

What distro are you using Mech? Like bumblebee says, the install cd should be bootable. :) :baa:

[Yo_Mama]

But the laptop is probably too old to have that option (boot from CD). Sounds like a network install, except linux drivers for pcmcia nic's are pretty rare. Good luck!

[MechCD]

The laptop is too old for bootable CDs. I can switch out the CD-ROM while it is turned on, when you open the lid, it goes into a psuedo sleep mode and comes back on rather quickly when you close the lid.

next problem... Doesn't the install detect things like the CD-ROM before it starts the install?

As for network install, all i have that is close to linux is Win2k. Would a shared CD-ROM be sufficient, or do I need some special stuff set up?

[MechCD]

it manages to connect to http and ftp servers. I just can't find a decent server. Plus FTP is so goddamn slow that it times out before getting a directory listing! A few HTTP servers would be nice.... Redhat's mirror list has ONE HTTP server...

I got lost after reading on how to set up an NFS server, it looks like that is a linux only ordeal.

Maybe i could set my WIn2k box to have an http server on the LAN only?

[MechCD]

I can't beleive how slow this here ftp server is..... You would think redHat woudl allow more than 200 users, and give those 200 users a faster connection. This is mighty pathetic... most of the mirrors only allow 20-50 users. And soemhow I'm suppsoed ot pick one of these 40 crappy servers and get a decent connection

[X-Calibur]

Set yourself an FTP server on your LAN and install from there, it should be migthy fast if you have a 100 Mbit LAN.

Good luck!

X'

[phil]

Originally posted by X-Calibur
Set yourself an FTP server on your LAN and install from there, it should be migthy fast if you have a 100 Mbit LAN.

Good luck!

X'


Yup...this is what I'd do Mech.

[MechCD]

That is what I did, except I never turned FTP on :( HTTP was plenty fast on my 100mb/s network. the laptop's HDD is slower than the network and my ATA66 HDD. I set it all up and had everything copied off the the 3x CDs before the installation managed tog et everything it needed to start.

I booted off the PCMCIA disk. It asked for the PCMCIA device driver disk, and i stuck that in. It must have found my network card because all the network install options worked without me doing anything. All I;m waiting for now is for everything to install.

1.3gb sounds a bit steep in the space department... I hope i can slim it down once it is installed....

I'm using Redhat 7.3 by the way :baa:

[X-Calibur]

Yikes.... RedHat is FAT FAT FAT , you mat have opted for a lighter version, like the Small Linux Distro or still maybe too fat Mandrake or the like. If you turn off most of the packages it will fit okay, and then you can add the packages one by one as they are needed; don't try the other way around, unless you have plenty of Aspirin for the announced headache... :D

X'

[MechCD]

Mm too much 1.3gb on a 2.1gb hdd.

I'm now having video troubles. I'll start a different thread for that