USB Keyboard: I need to load USB at startup time.
 

Hi there,
I'm not quite sure where to put this question, but I think I'll start with Linux Newbie, considering that I have only been using Linux for about 9 months. Anyways, here's my question.
Recently, I purchased some Acer Aspires and a PC Warehouse tower from a flea market. They are fairly old (2 260 MHZ and 1 366 MHZ). Right now, I'm working on installing Peanut Linux 9.6 in the Acers. The Acers don't have PS/2 ports nor AT ports; they only have USB ports. I plugged in a USB keyboard and booted up the computer. I inserted the Peanut Linux install disk. Eventually, the boot screen came up and I pressed Enter to initialize the setup. Well, there was one problem: the keyboard didn't work because no USB drivers were loaded. I tried a few techniques including booting up to the College Linux boot screen and then taking out the College Linux CD and inserting the Peanut Linux one because the College Linux Booter automatically loads after a while, but that didn't work (it just hung).
I guess what I need to do is install something that loads USB after my computer starts up. I thought that the USB ports were directly installed in the motherboard because they were the only option for a keyboard, but I guess I was wrong. If someone could show me a way to get USB to load when my computer starts up, that would be really great. Thank you so much in advance.

be sure legacy usb support is enabled in your bios settings. This should allow a USB keyboard and mouse to work without USB drivers being loaded.

I can't go to my BIOS settings because the USB keyboard won't work until USB drivers are loaded. Is there some way to set BIOS options when using an operating system?

Im not sure about that. Why not plug in an old ps2 keyboard and change the setting in the bios like that ?

There is no PS/2 or AT port. Just the printer ports, serial, and USB.

Sorry, you mentioned that in the post. My bad. Windows xp automatically sets the legacy bios setting so that you can use the keyboard. How about installing windows, verify that legacy usb support is selected then format the drive and install linux. Or better still see if there is a linux distro that will allow you to do the same thing.

I'm sorry, I only have an upgrade version of Windows XP. I made a foolish mistake. The computer came with Windows 98, but I deleted it. I booted it up first, but the keyboard didn't work on it. I didn't expect it to because Windows 98 needs separate drivers. Is there another option?