installing linux without cd

serious issues · 01-07-2008, 10:18 AM

i have a really really old compaq armada 7770 laptop that i wanna install linux on, but i have no cd drive just floppy. is there a linux that will fit on a floppy or a couple of floppys

bigrigdriver · 01-07-2008, 11:32 AM

http://users.sunet.com.au/~tsn/floppy_linux.html

serious issues · 01-08-2008, 11:01 AM

another thing that would be nice is to find a version that has a GUI interface that will fit on some floppys?

tagno25 · 01-08-2008, 11:57 AM

do you have a network card?

H_TeXMeX_H · 01-08-2008, 01:06 PM

You must be kidding. The most you'll ever get for a bunch of floppies is a curses interface.

Indeed, you may want to try a networked install if you must have that. Do you realize that not even the Window$ installer has that ? and it's on a CD or DVD.

eastg · 01-10-2008, 06:30 AM

Try DeliLinux. I installed it on an old Compaq LTE 5300 using only floppies.

jens · 01-10-2008, 12:13 PM

It's possible (even with plain Debian and without a network connection), but it's not pleasant.
From the Debian installation instructions:

Quote:

2.7 Can I install it from a pile of floppy disks?

First of all, a warning: whole Debian GNU/Linux is way too large to be installed from media as small as a standard 1.44MB floppy disk - you may not find installing from floppies a very pleasant experience.

Copy the Debian packages onto formatted floppy disks. Either a DOS, the native Linux "ext2", or the "minix" format will do; one just has to use a mount command appropriate to the floppy being used.

Using floppy disks has these complications:

*Short MS-DOS file names: If you are trying to place Debian package files onto MS-DOS formatted disks, you will find that their names are generally too long, and do not conform to the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limitation. To overcome this, you would have to use VFAT formatted disks, since VFAT supports longer file names.

*Large file sizes: Some packages are larger than 1.44 MBytes, and will not fit onto a single floppy disk. To solve this problem, use the dpkg-split tool (see dpkg-split, Section 8.1.6.2), available in the tools directory on Debian mirrors.

You must have support in the kernel for floppy disks in order to read and write to floppy disk; most kernels come with floppy drive support included in them.

To mount a floppy disk under the mount point /floppy (a directory which should have been created during installation), use:

*mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy/

if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an MS-DOS file system,

*mount -t msdos /dev/fd1 /floppy/

if the floppy disk is in drive B: and has an MS-DOS file system,

*mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy/

if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an ext2 (i.e., a normal Linux) file system.

saturndude · 01-10-2008, 12:23 PM

Sorry I don't have much experience with laptops, but I do have some.

Does the laptop have four screws and a plastic cover like modern laptops? Can you remove the hard disk this way?

Many shops sell an adapter for US $10 that lets you attach a 2.5-inch laptop HD to the ribbon cable used by 3.5-inch drives. Putting it in a desktop machine would let you "rescue" documents and spreadsheets and control partitioning to prepare it for linux.

You could then copy the files from a linux CD to a separate partition on the HD. Make sure you've got all the files you need for networking (wired or wireless).

Sometimes "rawrite" (to make floppies that will boot into linux) is not included in distros anymore. But you should be able to find one that has rawrite. Create a boot floppy.

If you can get the installer on the floppy to see the partition on the HD where the files are stored, you should be able to install from there.

Sounds difficult, but sometimes Windows (98FE --> 98SE with low RAM, or Windows 2000, which had no ElTorito AFAIK) isn't exactly easy either. Maybe a network install of linux would go smoother (don't know, I've never done one).

Anyway, good luck.