Installing Linux On A Zip Disk

teopiltzin · 06-16-2011, 05:42 PM

I've been using Linux on and off for a few years and have Ubuntu installed on my HP Pavilion. It comes with a 100mb zip drive and I was wondering if you guys could tell me if there are any Linux distributions that would fit on a zip disk. How would I go about installing and booting off a zip disk? Thanks in advance.

TobiSGD · 06-16-2011, 06:10 PM

I have never tried that, but distributions small enough for something like that are Tincore Linux and Slitaz.

frieza · 06-16-2011, 06:12 PM

100 megs isn't much, there are small distributions of like damn small Linux, but thumb drives these days are relatively cheap and you'd probably have better luck getting a 4-16 gig thunb drive for like $16 and using that, but zip drives should be bootable, i just wouldn't recommend it as they are slower than the alternatives and less reliable.

teopiltzin · 06-16-2011, 07:24 PM

I know it wouldn't be the best choice, but all I wanna do is basically make use of the device. I still have no clue how to install it there and make it bootable. Any tips? I'll be browsing the web to try to figure it out myself. Thanks.

teopiltzin · 06-17-2011, 07:02 PM

Also, I was looking over linux.com and found a guide called zip-install which could be found here: http://www.linux.com/learn/docs/ldp/843-ZIP-Install#s3. I am currently looking at the zip debian installation, but the problem is my floppy drive doesn't work and you need two floppies for the installation. Looking at that, which would be the best choice?

jefro · 06-17-2011, 08:50 PM

You can still get zipslack. Wasn't much room and you had to boot to dos or maybe lilo.

TobiSGD · 06-19-2011, 03:14 AM

You noticed that this how-to is from 1998 and is dealing with Debian 1.2, Red Hat 4.2 and Slackware 2.2?
Nowadays you don't need floppys to bot Linux and distros (even a base-system) are much larger.

---------- Post added 19th Jun 2011 at 10:15 ----------

You noticed that this how-to is from 1998 and is dealing with Debian 1.2, Red Hat 4.2 and Slackware 2.2?
Nowadays you don't need floppys to bot Linux and distros (even a base-system) are much larger.

cascade9 · 06-19-2011, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frieza

100 megs isn't much, there are small distributions of like damn small Linux, but thumb drives these days are relatively cheap and you'd probably have better luck getting a 4-16 gig thunb drive for like $16 and using that, but zip drives should be bootable, i just wouldn't recommend it as they are slower than the alternatives and less reliable.

+1. Just because you have a zip drive doesnt make it worth using.