I was trying to install Debian on a very old Toshiba Sattleite laptop from floppies. I got to the point where it does Driver Module configuration and I got this:

|------------------------------| Problem |------------------------------|
|No modules were found in /target/lib/modules/2.2.20-idepci
|that could be configured. Please install the kernel modules
|first, by running the "Configure Device Driver Modules" step
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Now, is it just me or am I running the "Configure Device Driver Modules Step" right now?
Please help.

try using linux kernel 2.4 instead of 2.2... it might have what you need...

to do that give the installer the bf24 option at startup...

of course if you're using 2.2 on purpose for some reason, ignore my post...

just my two cents...

zipslack, installs from iomega 100mb zipdrive
possible other distros allow this as well

i used it to install onto a machine that only had a floppy drive
the zipdrive uses the parallel printer port (scsi in some models) and i was able to buy my zipdrive for $8 at a thrift store

I have tried to install from an old parallel CD-RW drive, but the old bios doesn't allow you to boot to anything but the hdd or a floppy.

in the case of zipslack, it boots from a floppy, and the 'mini-linux' that boot from the floppy controls the parallel port i/o.

come to think of it...

http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/getzip.php

i wonder if a boot floppy with parallel support would be able to see your cd drive

other installation methods i have played with (to varying degress of success) over ethernet, pcmcia (using pcmcia to compact flash adapter), and

null modem cable connecting two machines through their serial d9 ports. I would suggest this as the most fool proof method.

1) use boot floppy to partition the laptop's hard drive
hda1) swap space
hda2) installation files
hda3) user space
2) use ppp connection with serial null modem cable to transfer installation files to partition hda2
3) install os onto hda3

sure you loose alot of space with those install files on hda2, but you can always delete them after installation and use the space for something else. Or keep them in case you want to reinstall at a later date.

Hal91 (ver 4.x) is a boot floppy with ppp / serial null modem support

I installed zipslack from windows.....it would be posible from dos too

I also have a ancient toshiba labtop (satelite pro 420cdt with a p100mhz).My bios,which is probally the same as yours, doesn't allow cd booting either.I just installed zipslack from windows 98, it's easy just copy it from a cd to "C:\" in windows an unzip there.

Then open up c:\linux and right click and edit linux.bat you should see this :

rem Here are some SCSI Zip examples:
\linux\loadlin \linux\vmlinuz root=/dev/xxxx rw

change root=/dev/xxxx to root=/dev/hda1

then restart in dos mode run c:\linux\linux or c:\linux\loadlin.That gets a linux kernal running I haven't gotten my x windows up yet,but that is at least one method to get linux on a computer with no cd booting.

oh yeah the \ key is really on the #~ key.That had me stumped for a while.