Linux - DistributionsThis forum is for Distribution specific questions.
Red Hat, Slackware, Debian, Novell, LFS, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora - the list goes on and on...
Note: An (*) indicates there is no official participation from that distribution here at LQ.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I have a old laptop where the CD-ROM is basically dead. The BIOS cannot boot from USB key, but can boot from PCMCIA drive (!?) and PXE.
I had the bright idea that I'll setup a PXE server on my Windows Machine since I don't think anyone sells PCMCIA hard disk any more. I downloaded a program call TFTPD32. I created dump the content of the pclinux CD into the TFTPD32 directory. I run the TFTPD32 program and set the ISOLINUX in the pclinux directory as the base directory. Because I already have a DHCP server, I configure TFTPD32 to issue in a different range than th current DHCP server.
I copy syslinx and copy the pxelinux.0 image. I follow the instruction in syslinux and create a pxelinux.cfg directory. In it, I create a default text file with the following entries (copied from the grub):
I started up the laptop and select network boot. Success! Well sort of, I can see initrd running. It works great until it gets to the point where it's trying to mount loop image and fails. I am guessing that the root isn't correct.
After playing around with the initrd parameters a bit, I was able to get to the point where I can see the PcLinx OS logo appear with the progress bar. However, at this point, the whole things stops (the TFTPD server indicated that the request had timed out). Reading some of the other post about LiveCd, it appears that I have to break open initrd and edit some config files. If I had access to a Linux machine, this would be less of a problem.
Another possibility would be to try to install Grub For DOS and load it over the net. However, I examine the PCLinux repository and cannot find a netboot image.
Currently, I am in the process installing ubuntu using instlux. That appears to be working at the moment.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.