is it possible to install any linux-dist from only floppys?
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There is probably some minimalistic router linux version that takes a floppy.. in fact I think I downloaded one once. But you can't expect anything on a floppy.. it's only 1.44 mb so can't hold much at all..
Booting from floppy is one thing. Installing a whole system from floppy is another very different.
to boot from floppy you only have to build a boot floppy, most distros have such a thing. To install a system from floppy, man... I don't have a clue how to do it.
The only "one-floppy" linux I know is coyote linux, meant to be a router. But it is not a user-guided system, you see? It is just a router, for a machine that will not interact with humans. No X, no desktop manager, no fancy stuff.
Debian can be installed from floppies (but you need 6). Fedora Core 1 can be installed from 1, but 2 doesn't have a floppy installer. I think Slack has a floppy install. Mandrake used to. FreeBSD and NetBSD can be (but they're not Linux). All of these options require a network connection, as the only thing that will fit on a floppy is a kernel and a few lightweight utilities. Even Windows 3.1 required 4 disks!
The last floppy OS was DOS 6, as far as I know.
If your concern is a lack of CD burning equipment or no broadband connection to get the stuff and no real cash to lay out for a real boxed set, you might wanna consider one of the many online services that will burn the distro of your choice for the cost of the disks and the mailing. I used to use The Computer Helper Guy when I was on dialup.
Dunno if either of them are any good - been awhile since I played with floppy distros like floppix and mu and so on. Basic is pretty minimal. Search around on google or freshmeat directly or whatever. A single floppy can be superformatted to 2.88 and bzipped to hold something like 10-12 megs I think. So it's not like it's literally 1.44 megs. With chopped busybox stuff you can wedge on quite a bit. An X Window System seems like pushing things, though.
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Search around on google or freshmeat directly or whatever. A single floppy can be superformatted to 2.88 and bzipped to hold something like 10-12 megs I think. So it's not like it's literally 1.44 megs. With chopped busybox stuff you can wedge on quite a bit. An X Window System seems like pushing things, though.
