Installing linux on my laptop.. Problems

boreo · 03-02-2003, 07:30 PM

Hi, I have an old panasonic laptop and i want to install Linux Redhat 7.1. The only problem is that i can't have both, the cd drive and the floopy drive installed at the same time, and the computer is not bootable from the CD, so i have to use a boot floopy disk to start the redhat install.. What do I do?.. Start the install with the floopy and then take out the floopy drive and insert the cd drive?.. Or how can I use the CD without using the floopy.. By the way I have win98se.. Thanks for your help...

Pentium(r) Processor
48 MB RAM
2 GB

je_fro · 03-02-2003, 07:32 PM

I think you'll have to boot from floppy and then connect your cdrom to start install.

Q*Bert · 03-02-2003, 07:40 PM

2 questions:

1. What is your hardware setup? Are the floppy docking units or PCMCIA or USB?
2. What functionality do you need from Win98SE? You see you don't have much of a hard disk and you'll need the space Windows is using. Windows 2000 SP3 is a half acceptable attempt at an OS, but Win98 'Special Edition'?

boreo · 03-02-2003, 07:45 PM

When I get to the part that ask me what type of media contains the packages to be installed i select local CDROm.. Then ask me "What type of CDROM do i have" "SCSI" or "Other CDROM" i click on "Other CDROM" and then ask me if i have a driver disk.. Where do i get a driver disk? and not only that how is the computer going to reconized the cdrom if is not installed? Or should i take the floopy drive out and install the cd drive untill the device is reconized?

boreo · 03-02-2003, 07:47 PM

Hi Q*Bert.. I have foppy docking units.. And i want to erase win98.. I just want Linux here.

Q*Bert · 03-02-2003, 07:55 PM

We'll need the precise model and manufacturer of your computer ...

boreo · 03-02-2003, 07:57 PM

Panasonic CF-25
Pentium(r) Processor
48 MB RAM
2 GB

It looks like if it was made for the military...

je_fro · 03-02-2003, 07:59 PM

You can't have the CDROM and floppy hooked up at the same time?

Do you have broadband available to the laptop?

If so, maybe try net install.

ftp://mirror.hiwaay.net/redhat/redha...s/i386/images/

get the bootnet.img

and seeif you can do a net install.

boreo · 03-02-2003, 08:01 PM

This laptop desn't even have a modem... Its pretty old... And no, I can't have both.. The CDROM and floopy hooked up at the same time... Thats my problem..

Q*Bert · 03-02-2003, 08:06 PM

Okay.

You have the MKII model.

Look here http://www.hempeldesigngroup.com/lin...sonicCF35.html

and here
http://www.linux-laptop.net/

Someone else has always done it before ...
good luck.

Q*Bert

boreo · 03-02-2003, 08:08 PM

Thanks.. I'll read the first link.. I already check out the first one.. I'll let you guys know if anything...

Q*Bert · 03-02-2003, 08:09 PM

Just in case you miss the important bit:

# Put your laptop to sleep to change the drives in the bay.
# Remove the floppy drive from the bay and insert the CD-ROM drive. Insert any PCMCIA cards you'll need, especially your network card and modem. Currently, Linux does not WinModems, but apparently this will be coming soon. Power up the laptop and it should indicate that it is restoring memory from disk. When it's done, you should be in A:\WINDOWS\COMMAND. Of course, there is no floppy drive present. Open the CD-ROM drive door and insert the OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 Binaries and Installation CD. Reboot the computer using CTRL-ALT-DEL.
# The bootloader should keep itself busy for a minute or so and then a screen giving you a number of install options appears. Choose Non-graphic install mode - the others will hang the CF-35. The installer will busy itself probing the hardware before it decides that it will install from the CD. Finally, the LISA 3.2 menus will appear. When answering the following prompts, be careful not to hold the Enter key down for too long, you will bounce through subsequent menus! Also, note that the button with the white text is the one selected when you hit Enter. It's obvious with three choices, but not so clear when there are only two!

boreo · 03-02-2003, 08:52 PM

Hey guys I found an easier way to do the install Linux on my laptop.. I went in win98 and restarted the computer in DOS mode with the CDrom mounted in the drive.. Then wrote this command d:/dosutils/autoboot.bat and the installation is on as I write this,.. Thanks for all your help anyways...

boreo · 03-02-2003, 09:09 PM

Another question.. I only have 2GB on my laptop.. And I'm installing GNOME Which is like 1.2 GB.. What should i do?.. Install a lighter X server? I also want to uninstall some packages that i won't be using.. I wannted to uninstall some packages but it said that had dependencies.. So i didn't want to mess it up and left everything as it.. But what do you guys suggest?

je_fro · 03-02-2003, 09:13 PM

The whole install + GNOME is.
RH installs a lot of stuff. What I've done (for RH8) is do the minimal/firewall install, then come back later and install XFree and GNOME. It doesn't save much room, though.