Slackware or Zipslack
 

I'm going to install either slackware 9.1 or zipslack onto a IMB laptop (150 pentium, 2gig HD, 80mb ram), but the laptop doesn't have a CD drive. I'm going to partition the drive with 300mb for DOS and the rest for linux.

Is it possiable to install slackware without a CD drive or would I be better off installing zipslack then installing other packages seperatly?

If I connect the laptop to a desktop computer with CD drive via a parallel cable could I create the boot disks from the FTP site, then copy the rest of the files onto a CD, copy then onto the desktops harddrive and transfer then via the cable on the laptop?

Whats the difference between slackware and zipslack?

or is there another distrobution I should use?

Zipslack would probably be easier to install in your case. YOu might want to read my Minimal Install HOWTO which is most easily built on Zipslack.
Download ZipSlack onto your desktop machine and unzip it onto a FAT partition. You will probably also want to download a couple of other packages as well, such as XFree86-4.3.x and XFree86-fonts-misc. Also grab Opera 7.22 and you should be able to make a good start. I have a 'distro' built this way, but still don't have a host for it for downloading.
The main difference between ZipSlack and regular Slack is that ZipSlack runs from a FAT partition instead of a Linux partition with ext2 or other Linux file system, and in the way you install. With Zipslack you just unzip it using your DOS or Windows OS, then go in and edit linux.bat and you'll be able to boot from within DOS or Windows.
If you have 2GB HD you'll have plenty of room. I have a laptop with a 1.3GB HD and I make a 300-500 MB partition for Win98 and then use the rest for ZipSlack. Having the WIn98 there makes it easy to download the initial ZipSlack files.
In my HOWTO you'll also find directions for booting Linux by clicking an icon on the WIN98 desktop ( I call it the KILL BILL feature). Very cool! The other great advantage of running this way ( alongside Win98) is that I can do a full backup of the ZipSlack by creating a ZIP file of the whole thing! No more lost config files or favorites or anything. Just unzip anywhere, configure linux.bat and you're running again. This is also a good way to duplicate a particular install. You can also install ZipSlack and then copy the installation over to a Linux partition.
Just follow the steps in the HOWTO. You'll need about 200MB for the ZipSlack. You might make your DOS about 500MB and just put ZipSlack on the same partition with that. Then using the file tools in ZipSlack you can create and format a couple of linux partitions and copy the install over to them.
ZipSlack contains all you'll need to go on-line except for a GUI browser and those two X packages I mentioned. Oh, if you are installing 9.1 you'll also need the utempter package from the /l series so that xterm will work. After that you can go on-line and add any thing you need.Link to HOWTO:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gnashley/...ix8_1howto.htm
e-Mail me or post back if you need help.

Is there a website/link which shows exactly which packages are in ZipSlack ?
(that is, BEFORE downloading the 41MB zipslack.zip and unzipping into FAT16 partition) ??

FYI, http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/ does not list the zipslack package list, only the instructions and some of the links.

nycace36

There is a list of all the packages included in ZipSlack in the README.1st file in the zipslack directory of any of the download mirrors.

Enjoy!
--- Cerbere

Found README.1st here : :)
ftp://ftp.cerias.purdue.edu/pub/os/s...ware/zipslack/

But not here (?!!) :(
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/...ware/zipslack/

TY!