how-to install suse 9.2 dvd version without dvd drive??

alkali · 12-17-2004, 05:32 PM

Hi there!

I just received my version of suse 9.2 and wanted to install it on my laptop, unfortunatly the dvd drive doesn't want to read it ;( bad laptop!

Does anyone know how to create a boot cd for installation (using XP since my other pc doesn't recognize the burner under linux yet) and install suse from a partition then?

I have already created an image of the original dvd on my other pc and though about resizing it, removing some of the files from the original but I'm not quite sure which files I need in order to get this to work?!

please help a newbie who thinks he can

thanks

Caeda · 12-17-2004, 05:56 PM

You can't mess around with the dvd version in any manner or it wont boot.
Use the cd's to install.

Other than that... if the laptop is new enough... as I had this exact problem with a toshiba laptop... I decided it was time for creative tinkering and came up with a way that the dvd drive would be totally unresponsive, and got a new one put in which is now free of defects and reads the disks just fine...

alkali · 12-17-2004, 06:10 PM

just figured out that the dvd drive in my laptop only seems to have problems reading double layer dvds, so it should work with a single layer (worked at least with movies)

don't know exactly what you meant by 'can't mess around with the image', but I think it should work if I do it with UltraIso - extract the boot sector and leave only the most important things on the dvd

question is now only which files do I need on the dvd, to install kde and boot from hd?

Caeda · 12-17-2004, 09:53 PM

What I meant by "Can't mess around with the image".

Is that you "Cant" mess around with the image.
You can hit and miss try to guess every single package that suse might just possibly look at, check into or try to verify. But most likely its gonna find something somwhere along the way that it thinks is missing...

Double layer dvd? What kind of suse distro did you buy? Mines only got 1 layer on the disk...

The real point here is, suse goes through great measures to insure that you have a reason to actually pay for their distro, and not be able to copy it off cheaply or make your own custom install disks to eat into their profits. The disks are designed with file lists and other items to check that its all there and ready to go, or it doesnt.

Alternately, if you have ethernet...

Download knoppix, run it on another computer on a network that has a dvd drive that can read the sues disk. Use it to set up a nfs server with the dvd shared on it, then use the suse cdrom to boot up, and do a network install from the nfs shared dvd.

mykrob · 12-17-2004, 11:15 PM

9.2 comes on an 8.5GB single sided-dual layer dvd.

If you go to forums.suselinuxsupport.de, there are instructions on how to break it down into 2 single layer editions for 32-bit mode and 64-bit mode. Comes in handy for installation on older drives.

The cd's should install fine, as posted above. However, the CD's leave off over 1 GB worth of packages.

-myk

Caeda · 12-19-2004, 06:29 PM

"9.2 comes on an 8.5GB single sided-dual layer dvd."

/me gets out his 9.2 box.

Then why the heck am I holding onto a double sided, single layer dvd?
Are there 2 different packing styles here? Or is the label "Side A" and "Side B" there for the heck of it.

gd2shoe · 12-20-2004, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Caeda

....

Alternately, if you have ethernet...

Download knoppix, run it on another computer on a network that has a dvd drive that can read the sues disk. Use it to set up a nfs server with the dvd shared on it, then use the suse cdrom to boot up, and do a network install from the nfs shared dvd.

alkali: If you haven't figured out what to do yet, Caeda has the right idea. You will need to download and burn two CD's for this to work (one CD is a small one). You can get these at:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/9.2/iso/

and

www.knoppix.net
www.knoppix.com

By the way, the README at SuSE's website says that you can use ftp, nfs, or http. If it's at all like the boot.iso for 9.1, then I think you can also use smb (a standard windows share). This would allow you to just share your dvd drive from a remote windows machine, instead of using knoppix. My advice, download the first one first and see what protocols really are supported.

Greg Haynes · 01-05-2005, 07:05 AM

i heard mention earlier about being able to turn a dual layer dvd into two single layer (32 and 64 bit).

i need to do exactly this to get it down to one 64bit layer dvd and i couldnt find anything on this at forums.suselinuxsupport.de. Im sure im not looking in a blaintly obvious place so can anyone point me in the right direction?

thanks