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Linux - Laptop and Netbook Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).

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Old 08-01-2005, 07:55 AM   #1
KnEw2LiNuXOK
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A good GUI/X-Windows distro for a floppy drive lappy


Specs:
5x86 @100MHz
24Mb Ram
400Mb HDD
.5 or 1Mb graphics
Floppy
No CD Rom

I do have an ethernet pc card for it though and a desktop with an ethernet port, so can I install D.S.L. that way some how?


Last edited by KnEw2LiNuXOK; 08-01-2005 at 07:56 AM.
 
Old 08-01-2005, 08:07 AM   #2
comptiger5000
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I'm not sure about network, but damn small linux should be fine
 
Old 08-01-2005, 08:09 AM   #3
KnEw2LiNuXOK
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But the laptop does not have a cd drive.
 
Old 08-01-2005, 08:21 AM   #4
okmyx
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With the ethernet card you should be able to get hold of a boot floppy with PCMCIA support and then kick start a net install of any distro.

Found this link below which might be useful

http://howtos.linux.com/howtos/Laptop-HOWTO.shtml

Last edited by okmyx; 08-01-2005 at 08:28 AM.
 
Old 08-01-2005, 08:30 AM   #5
comptiger5000
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how big is D.S.L (cd image)
 
Old 08-01-2005, 10:55 AM   #6
okmyx
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50Mb ish
 
Old 08-01-2005, 12:04 PM   #7
comptiger5000
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you might be able to find a way to split it to like 40 floppies
 
Old 08-02-2005, 03:22 AM   #8
KnEw2LiNuXOK
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Well I can plug my laptop hard drive into my desktop and copy files from a cd to it. I dont think I could just install an operating system like that could I (because the hardware would be different when I put it back into the laptop, right?).
 
Old 08-02-2005, 07:29 AM   #9
theYinYeti
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...It might work... Yes, it might.

Or you could perhaps "create" a virtual laptop similar to yours, with access to your PC's CDROM and (plugged-in) laptop drive, using a virtual PC software, such as Bochs...

Yves.
 
Old 08-03-2005, 01:36 AM   #10
DDoS YourseLF
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Amazing, I was JUST about to ask the SAME question.

I have a Dell Latitude XPi M166ST.

Pentium MMX 166mhz
NO CD-ROM
Floppy
Linksys WPC11v4 802.11b Network Adapter

I need a boot floppy that supports the WPC11v4 and can do a network install.

Haha, I hope its possible!
 
Old 08-06-2005, 05:48 AM   #11
daWabbit
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No CDROM for Installing

I have had the same problem, more than once.

I've solved them by hitting up my friends and surplus parts houses until I have both a 100 MB Zip drive and a CDROM which connect through the parallel port. Total investment in both is $15 (US).

DamnSmall Linux works fine. So does the 24 floppy Debian net install, if you have hardware to access a network of any speed with a CDROM connected to it. Using the Debian floppy set, it sees the parallel port Zip drive as if it were a cdrom. I'm sure there are other distros, as well, though I admit I haven't kept up with it.

I have one 486 lappie that I have DamnSmall installed on. Full gui (IceWM) plenty of apps and space for some files with only a 500 MB hard drive! You can do this, if you're just willing to tinker with stuff. I did, and no one is going to call me a Linux ace who knows me. That's my favorite machine for text entry, by the way, and I use it a lot.

Good luck;
Jack
 
Old 08-06-2005, 09:01 AM   #12
DDoS YourseLF
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I actually found a solution.

Redhat 9

You need only boot disks and some time!

diskboot.img - Gets it going
drvnet.img - Network Drivers (I modified and added my own driver in for the WPC11v4)
pcmciaadd.img - PCMCIA

I did the above and completed a successfull FTP install!
 
Old 08-12-2005, 04:00 AM   #13
brieeyeball
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got the same deal, laptop with no cd drive and no net card.

Toshiba Satellite 100CS
Pentium 75 MHz
24MB RAM
528MB HD
 
  


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