This is probably more of a notebook question then a Linux question. But I just picked up an IBM T21 Thinkpad on which I plan to install a Linux distro.

My initial problem is, I have ONE drive bay which can hold EITHER a floppy drive OR a DVD/CD drive.

I bought an external floppy drive, which when I plug it in becomes E:\> drive !!

My present OS on the notebook is Win98SE, and the boot disk I have is looking for an A:\> drive which doesn't exist with the DVD drive [D:\> drive] installed.

Can the external floppy drive be relabeled as A:\> ?? If so how ??

if you plan on installing linux over windows, this shouldn't be a problem at all, because there are no drive letters under linux. but if you're asking how do you boot to a floppy because it's not working, that's a BIOS problem. just press "delete" or "F1" or "F8" (can't remember what it is on IBM) as it's booting, and set the floppy as the first boot device.

sether,

Thanks for response.

This Thinkpad has a 20 gig HD and Win98SE still leaves about 85% "empty space".

I was hoping to save Win98SE and install a couple of Linux distros behind it. Win98SE has some "notebook ONLY items" that will probably be lost if I go the Fdisk & format route.

Since my "original posting" I have come to realize that I can never boot up from the external floppy since it goes through the USB connection, which is not "activated" until Windows is already up & running.

there's no usb floppy option in the BIOS setup? check for that.

why do you need to boot to floppy anyways? are you trying to do an ftp install of a distro by first booting to a floppy? if not, you should be fine just booting to a distro cd and installing that way.

sether,

Actually, the external floppy works just fine as the E:\> drive. It just won't "auto-boot" a floppy. Not being the A:\> drive, I can't insert a floppy then turn the notebook on and have the floppy boot-up.

I will have to "swap-out" the floppy and DVD drives in the drive bay.

1) With the floppy drive installed, I can boot up the Win98SE startup floppy and Fdisk & format the hard drive.

2) Shutdown and switch DVD drive for floppy drive.

3) Boot up again on the Linux distro CD and proceed with installation.

You will be able to partition and format the hard drive with your distro's installation CD, you don't need the Windows 98 boot disk.

MS3FGX,

Thanks for response.

Right now, the notebook has Win98SE on a 20 gig HD with about 85% "empty space".

I would like to keep this "copy" of Win98SE because of some "notebook ONLY" items that I'm not sure I can replace.

What I "hope" to do is install either RH or Mdk and "grab" about 15 gigs of the HD. "Squeezing" Win98SE into the first 5 gigs.

This way I hope to install another couple of Linux distros of about 5 gig each.

First, I have to get my hda1's and hda5's straight in my mind.

Right now the problem has changed.

Problem # 1:

The Mandrake 9.0 CD boots up to the opening screen and then I click "Install Mandake Linux".

The next screen [called "Reboot"] says "Your machine will now reboot and start installation".

But when I click "OK" NOTHING HAPPENS !!

Problem # 2:

The Red Hat 8.0 CD will not boot up !!

So right now my Linux installation is "NOWHERE".

for mandrake, you haven't installed anything yet? and it asks to reboot? try different options at boot such as acpi disabled.

for redhat, do you have a good copy of it?

try sticking to mandrake for now and see what happens when you try different things.