I would like to install Debian on a Toshiba Laptop with 24MB memory.
I tried the lowmem version but the pcmcia settings aren't loaded right. (I need axnet_cs loaded and I think the settings for the older Toshiba laptops were a little awkward.)

So far only the netinstall distro from Debian has been able to identify and turn on the pcmcia card. Which is great; however the install crashes because of too little ram (KBD set to unicode 8 then freeze ,reload, reload).

(How) can I set and swap before starting the install?

If you can get to a virtual terminal or a psuedoshell then try using the swapon command. 25MB is so small, is it possible to install more memory?

From the installer page:

More RAM really is the best solution indeed. But, it can be done! Get yourself a rescue-disk containing a recent Linux kernel, the cfdisk program and their dependencies. In short: a mini distro Then put that image on floppy or CD-ROM and boot from that. Create and activate the swap from there.

The point when you want to activate the swap memory is when the installer asks for your native language. If the kernel and initrd files need to expand to more than 24MB, then this still may not work. Many distro's will notice a swap partition right of the bat and ask you if you want to enable it. Try creating one before running the install program. It could be that if it is enabled before the catalogs are read in, that you may have enough virtual memory to continue with the installation. Expect the install to take a very long time. The system will run slowly after installation as well if the swap memory needs to be used.

Slackware installs fine. I can cfdisk, set up partitions and turn on swap.
Debian lowmem from floppies sets up fine. I can cfdisk, set up partitions and turn on swap.
What doesn't happen is that the pcmcia ethernet card adapter is not being found and set up correctly (it uses the axnet_cs module; if anybody can suggest how to add that support to the lowmem install of Debian.)

Why not extra ram? It's an old laptop. To get it up to the maximum of 40MB ram would cost the same as another laptop with more ram.

Why bother? The machine is very capable of doing the simple tasks I want it to. I just need to be able to turn the ethernet card on.

There is a possibility in the very beginning of the install to run another command. However, the hard drive isn't mounted at that point and isn't listed in fstab.

Any ideas on how to improve pcmcia support (find and turn on the card) for the Debian lowmem.i install? (The Etch install finds and turns it on right (but crashes because of too little ram) the lowmem Debian install chugs along fine but it can't find the pcmcia card.)

Could you manually format and mount the drive with mkfs and mount -t (format ett3,xfs,ect...) /dev/*** /mnt, copy the device driver for the card to the hard drive, boot to the low-mem option, create a symlink to the file on the hd in the device directory and modprobe it?

Wow, what a sentence lol.

This looks really good. I am however stuck at the point of how exactly I find the file for the device driver.
what would I be symlinking to? ln -s /mnt/hda2/axnet_cs /what does the installer want?

I'm also thinking that I can use the lowmem install to get things going such as turning on swap and loading a root file system. Then I would like to mount the cdrom as executable and run the installer from there. How can I mount the cdrom as executable? Change fstab, mtab?

I applaud your endeavor. I did something similar on another Toshiba laptop with very little ram. I also successfully installed slackware then also Debian. I do not remember exactly how I did it (sorry). I did not use the lowmem option though (I don't believe - I think I had issues with it). I might have created and formatted the partition in another distro (like Slack) and then rebooted Debian cd #1, switched to another tty (alt+2) and typed "swapon /dev/hda#". Then I switched back to tty1 (alt+1). During the install I broke out of the normal routine and skipped the partitioning section (as I had already prepared the partitioning.

Hope this helps, I might go back and try to reinstall Debian on my Toshiba just for fun Maybe I can give more specific advise and also tell you exactly which model of laptop it was (possibly the same).

Good luck - MR

Thank you.
I applaud your success.
I guess the problem isn't so much installing an OS. I can do that but getting pcmcia working with an OS I can install. The Debian etch floppies have the drivers I need and configure correctly but the install crashes. Debian lowmem installs without a hitch but I can't get the pcmcia to work.

Any thoughts on installing through a laplink? I can't install via ssh if the pcmcia card isn't loaded.