Installing Linux
 

I want to put linux on my older PC, but there is no optical drive, can you download linux and install it that way or do I need to go out and get an optical drive for this system?



Thanks

Try searching here using something like "install from .iso". I think I have seen discussion of this.

My personal bias would be to install a CD read-write drive--they are pretty cheap and they are handy for many things.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList3.jsp

What do you have available to you? USB, network, floppy? Is there an existing operating system on the laptop?

With Debian you can install from a combination of USB memory stick and network. Have a look at;

http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...h04s04.html.en

Or a combination of floppy and network

http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...en#floppy-boot

I believe it can be done entirely from floppy as well, with a little trickery, but I couldn't find any links on that.

I only mention Debian as it's what I know. Look around the forums and install pages of other distribution for their distribution specific instructions.

If you have a second computer, you can pull out the HD, install a "basic" system (no windows etc), boot on the other computer again, and finish installing all the goodies. Alternatively you can install a full system, but you may have to play around a bit after transferring the HD again to get your X windows set up.

Each distro has its own bag of tricks and some have more (documented) tricks than others. If you have a look at the Debian Installation Manual there is a section on many tricks you can use to install.