I'm trying to install slackware 7 from floppies/zip drive discs because as I understand from reading the install info, partial install from floppy is still possible in 7, Patrick V. says A1 files are too large now for floppies but can be put on zip disc, and 7 can give me a basic kde desktop environment. I'm trying to retrieve the necessary files on a windows xp system, so I've used rawrite to copy the boot/root files to floppy and have successfully formatted my drive with native linux type partition and have followed text-based setup install processes to the point that says "now insert disk A1." I see the set of files for A1 under the slackware folder in the files index, but I'm confused as how to get these onto a zip disk. I've tried to write them to the disc with rawrite also, but my dos shell window just disappears when I input the drive letter to write to, no matter whether it's rawrite, rawrite12, rawrite13, or rawritent, as were the versions provided in the file indexes. Any suggestions where to go from here? If I could just get the a series and kde series loaded I'm assuming I'd have a basic GUI and could load the rest of whatever I eventually may need with synaptic package management or whatever the equivalent thing is for slackware.

Hi,

May I ask what you're trying to achieve (apart from the obvious,
which is to install w/o a CD-ROM), and why you're choosing an
ancient version of Slack?



Cheers,
Tink

are you installing to the zip drive or your harddrive, if the zipdrive how big is it. What did you format as a linux partition. Dos and windows cannot see a linux partition.
you will also have to install X1. kde needs X.

My zip disc is 100 mb. I have one tower with xp and another tower to install the slackware. I'm just trying to do this to get a minimal install going with no cd boot just to see if it can be done because I have no life. I'm trying to get the files from this link http://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/sla...slackware-7.0/ with my xp tower, so I've suceeded in getting the boot/root discs on floppy with rawrite and formatting the harddrive on the other tower and following the text based setup instructions until it gets to the point to insert the A1 disk. The question is how to get the a1 disc files onto a zip disc so I can run it. (I have both zip and floppy drives in both towers) Can I make the disc in windows so the linux setup processes will recognize it? The instructions are pretty clear about making the boot/root with rawrite but not so for the rest of the setup files. Maybe it's just because rawrite boot/root thing is for people setting up linux partitions on a disk they have dos partition on, like what the umsdos.gz rootdisk file is for, but if it is possible to copy the a1 files in windows to disc so that it's readable by linux, I'd like to know. Oh, and thanks for telling me kde is reliant on x.

did you format your zipdrive as fat32. if i remember right the old compag's, which i have one similar to your setup, gives you the option to format in either fat16 or fat32.
windows xp has trouble seeing the fat16 format. I think you can copy the files to floppy in xp and insert when asked during setup. I did something similar to what you are attempting to do about two years ago. The way I did it was to put zipslack on the zip drive boot it with boot floppy. Then move it over to a linux partitons according to the zipslack FAQ.s. the one thing I do remember about using zipslack was that it was slow booting.

I found this link http://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/sla...9/README39.TXT and think that probably with the addition of your helpful replies I will eventually be able to comlete the task. Thank you all.

Hi,

Along with the 'rootdisk' you will need a bootdisk. If you look at the 'Install.txt' on the earlier versions you will be instructed about the 'rootdisk' and 'bootdisk'.

You already created the 'rootdisk' now you will need to create a 'bootdisk' that is used to support your hardware. Typically a 'bare.i' would support most ide supported systems that were in use during that era. The choices of 'bootdisk' images are provided to hopefully allow you to do a install.

You could use multiple floppies or even install from your hdd. It's been a while for me to install from floppy but it's doable. You should look at the text files that are provided on each version to aid you in building your install.