zlim Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Someone is looking for Can anyone recommend a Linux distro that can be installed from floppies?Minimum requirements would be browser, email and support for a PCMCIA modem and/or PCMCIA wireless network adapter.I told him the killer would be to get the PCMCIA modem/wireless working.Is there any way to break a CD down into floppies?My thought was Vector might work, except for the PCMCIA.I wonder if it has a serial port? If so, an external modem might be the way to get connected.I don't know the speed and RAM but I asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 http://www.delilinux.de/Scroll down to 'Getting DeLi Linux' : there you'll see the installation floppy disks to download.I have no personal experience with DeliLinux, but it just came to mind. (IIRC raymac has or is using it on one of his machines)More info at:http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=deliInstalling using these disks and some info about pcmcia (at the bottom):http://www.delilinux.org/wiki/doku.php?id=devel:installdisks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 (edited) Thanks so much striker!Got the specsIBM ThinkPad 560 with 72MB RAM, 800MB HDD, Pentium 100MHz CPUHe got it dumpster diving and is not going to spend anything on it. It doesn't have CD nor USB but it does have serial and parallel ports. Edited March 15, 2008 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Delilinux looks indeed like a good candidate . . . . there is a pretty recent release.The problems with floppy based distros is that most of them are very old and wireless was not really an option at the time those distros were released. Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphaomega Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Delilinux looks indeed like a good candidate . . . . there is a pretty recent release.The problems with floppy based distros is that most of them are very old and wireless was not really an option at the time those distros were released. BrunoI would recommend slackware...look at my specs and see what kind of old equipment I'm running it on.Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 Can you point me to a site where he can download floppies.I've looked around here http://www.slackware.com/ which mentions the latest versions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphaomega Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 (edited) Can you point me to a site where he can download floppies.I've looked around here http://www.slackware.com/ which mentions the latest versions.I downloaded the ones for slackware 9 from:ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/sla.../slackware-9.0/edit:sorry hadn't noticed you wanted to install completely from floppy...not sure...(don't use wireless here) but check to see if tomsrtbt comes with something you could use.it's on a single floppy disk and maybe if you could get online ...you could just download what ever other distribution you wanted to install...and then install from the hard drive??? Edited March 16, 2008 by alphaomega Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 If the pc has a spare IDE connection you could connect an old cdrom drive to install to the hd. you'd have to open the box to connect of course (and install it if there's a cd slot). I always keep one around for just such an emergency. A base install of Debian with fluxbox or IceWM would probably be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to take the notebook apart. He just wnts to see if it is possible to install linux from floppies.I'm not having much luck finding complete distros on more than 1 floppy.Vector uses two but then looks to a CD drive.Peanut was tiny and I have a CD here. I just don't know if it was ever ofered on floppies.This might seem like a real bizzare idea but here goes: if I get an install distro (not a live bootable one), can I take the CD, break it down into floppy sized pieces, put them into the computer, put them back together and get this to install? I guess it wouldn't work from within windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to take the notebook apartSorry, missed that it was a notebook. My housemate actually found what was possibly the same model recently. We booted it once, saw how slow and ugly it was, and put it straight back out in the hard trash collection. Someone else picked it up shortly after. Reminded me of the old WB Singing Frog cartoon. Still sometimes I think I should have kept it for the collection - my slowest is 200Mhz Pentium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 He is making progress. He discovered that he can't use any PCMCIA cards he has around because his are 32 and this one uses 16 (not sure what it is measured in) but he discovered an old Backpack CD that connects via parallel port and the notebook has a parallel port so if he gets the proper boot floppy, he is going to see if he an use a CD to install.I think he might want to play with linux. I'm not sure how familiar he is with it and figured a trashed and would be a safe playground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 It doesn't have any USB ports. I read the specs again; it has an eternal floppy drive. How would an external floppy attach? If it's through the parallel port also, I'd be curious if he can boot from the external floppy, maybe attached via parallel port, then switch the floppy for the CD.I go way back with computers - pre windows but I've never dealt with early notebooks that don't have any drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 (edited) Thanks so much striker!Got the specsIBM ThinkPad 560 with 72MB RAM, 800MB HDD, Pentium 100MHz CPUHe got it dumpster diving and is not going to spend anything on it. It doesn't have CD nor USB but it does have serial and parallel ports.Deli Linux is the way to go. But that is a brutal old system he's got. I have Deli Linux on a P133MMX with 80 MB of RAM.You need to install the basic system from floppies and then download the rest from the Deli Linux repos. Deliget is the command you need to use.It's not the friendliest distro in the world. And the help forum is really difficult to figure out.If you get a Pentium II 266 with say 160 MB of RAM you can put in Vector Linux or Slackware and have a much better ride.Slack 4.0 is available on 8 floppies but I found Deli Linux a better solution for really old crap like this.Here is another idea:http://www.members.shaw.ca/dan.mckay/TP560Slk.htmlInstall Slack 9.1 on a fast new computer and drop the hard drive into the T560. Edited March 17, 2008 by raymac46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 (edited) Another setback I tried 3 different sets of boot floppies -- Deli, Slackware and Red Hat. All claimed that they would support a parallel port Backpack CD drive. None of them did.I've asked him how the external floppy connects to the computer.You need to install the basic system from floppies and then download the rest from the Deli Linux repos. Deliget is the command you need to use.1. What is the "basic system".2. Can he download to another computer because all he has in that one is a dialup modem. Edited March 18, 2008 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Another setback1. What is the "basic system".2. Can he download to another computer because all he has in that one is a dialup modem.Basic system is a command line plus support for a large number of ethernet cards.If he doesn't have a PCMCIA card he can use I'd forget about Deli Linux. The download on dial-up will kill you. Also I am not sure if the Deli install floppies support PPP or not.If he can get a working CD-ROM from a boot floppy then Deli does have that install option.This machine does not really sound like a good candidate for Linux to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 (edited) This is the latest news One thing that I need to explore further is loading all the install files into a DOS partition. Seems that the boot/install floppies for many of these distros will allow you to mount a DOS partition and read linux installation files stored there.If this is the case then I can boot-up into DOS and use the Backpack CD drive to put the linux installation files into a DOS partition. Then I can re-boot using a linux boot floppy and do the installation.Looks like Deli might be a good candidate for this since its a small distro and would require a relatively small DOS partition to hold all its install files. I don't have a lot of extra hard disk space so I'd like to keep the DOS partition as small as possible.Since this is so far above my pay grade, I'll just pass messages back and forth! :hysterical:When I asked about the floppy drive connection he saidThe external floppy has its own special port (not serial or parallel.) It is recognized by the BIOS and no special driver is required. It is treated just the same as if it were an internal drive, like on any other computer. Again, I don't think I've ever seen that. Edited March 18, 2008 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Yep this looks like a HD to HD install with the installer triggered by a floppy. I have done this before and it works real well, you boot the floppy ( or CD ) and tell it where the downloaded files are located on the HD and what partition you want to install the distro.The install then is real fast because it reads/writes faster from HD to HD then from CD to HD ;)The last time I did this was with a DVD-ISO file copied over the network to a computer without DVD, then booted the computer with a boot.iso CD and did the install from the DVD-ISO on the HD ( HD to HD ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 This is the latest newsSince this is so far above my pay grade, I'll just pass messages back and forth! :hysterical:When I asked about the floppy drive connection he said Again, I don't think I've ever seen that.What he says might work OK. Pity he can't find a 16 bit PCMCIA card though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 What he says might work OK. Pity he can't find a 16 bit PCMCIA card though.From the FAQ at Dlink:Which D-Link network adapters are 16-bit (PCMCIA) and 32-bit (Cardbus)?16-Bit Adapters:DE-660CTDFE-650TXDFE-670TXD32-Bit (Cardbus) Adapters:DFE-660TXDFE-680TX/TXDDFE-690TXDAll wireless adapters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 YES!!!this from him Success.I booted up with a DOS floppy and used fdisk to create and format a small DOS partition. Then I rebooted with a DOS floppy that had the driver for the Backback CD drive on it. I used the Backback to copy all the Deli files to the DOS partition making sure to use the exact same folder structure that was on the CD. Then I rebooted with the Deli Linux boot floppy. I used cfdisk to create the Linux and Linux Swap partitions. Then I ran deliinstall. When it asked me where the installation files were located all I had to do was tell it to look in /dev/hda1 (that's the DOS partition.)Ray and Striker, he could probably find one BUT his stipulation was that he did not want to spend any money on this old trashed computer.I'll tell him what to look for and maybe in his dumpster diving he an pick up one.Anyway, I may be back one he gets to trying to get the modem working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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