I'm trying to do a kick start so I can load linux (Suse 9.2) onto my laptop from my desktop. I am using a router (linksys) without the firewall enabled to communicated. The laptop's kinda old (compaq pressario 1200) and the dvd drive died. I'd like to be able to kick start it without having to buy a new dvd rom to install the O.S. I just want to make it into a small server. The issue I'm having is that I've loaded up all five boot disks into the laptop and started a manual install. I tried to configure Suse to run NFS and have the laptop grab the install from the desktop. I have a directory with the linux root directory in it on the desktop system. When I tell the laptop what IP to go to, it asks for the directory. On the desktop system I have the root of the install in /home/suse92/. I have it shared with nfs with the "All User" defaults.

The directory that the laptop is looking for, is it like Windows shared directories where it just sees "suse92" or do you have to put in the whole path on the desktop system? I'm asking cause I tell the laptop to try both and it waits for a long time (after grabbing a IP by DHCP) and then says it can't mount. Do I need to put the actual .ISO there instead of the directory?

I have a second partition on my laptop, so I loaded the directory there also on an ntfs partition. The boot disks load the ntfs file system, so it sees it there, but when I tell it to boot off the hard drive and it says it can't mount again. Again, should it be the .ISO rather than the directory? What kind of directory format should I use to load off a hard drive? I've tried /hda5/stuff/suse92/ (originally d:\stuff\suse92\) , /dev/hda5/stuff/suse92/ , /dev/hda5/ \stuff\suse92. Any other suggestions? I also tried to even put the dir on my USB HDD. The boot disks saw the drive, but again, I'm not sure of the format it wants to access the drive. .ISO maybe. Thanks for you time and support.