Re: Creating a Network Boot Disk
On Thu, May 09, 2002 at 04:19:52AM -0700, Justin News wrote:
> Thank you to everyone for their helpful advice. Since I have no CD ROM
> drive
> for my laptop, I was wondering if someone could help me make a network boot
> disk so I can mount the CD ROM of my windows box onto my laptop. That way i
> can i can install linux as if i had a CD ROM on my laptop. It seems that to
> do a network installation of debian using floppy disks is more trouble than
> it's worth.
Given the type of card you say you have, it would be easier to burn the two
or three required floppies (you can even use a Windows box to do it, using
an app called RAWRITE.EXE) than it would be to get a very customized single
floppy made.
Otherwise, yes, burning 15 floppies or so is a real pain in the toot.
Alternate options summarized:
* assuming it already has Windows on it, seeing the debian bits
you will need onto the hard disk by way of normal MSwin
networking, before starting. For best safety, you also need
to resize C: so it is *not* using the whole drive. If the final
intent is no windows, put the debian bits on D:. Much later
when evrything works alright you can empty "D:" and mount it at
/usr/local/toys or something.
* using a parallel cable (aka "laplink") to make the network
connection (but I dunno if this saves a floppy or not). There
is a HOWTO for this.
* getting or borrowing a pcmcia-based CD bay (this is my favorite,
I own one and use it quite a bit - but, if you don't have one,
maybe you don't live near a computer superstore to get one :( )
* physically removing the hard disk, mounting it inside a friendly
desktop machine, and then just installing on it from there. You
do need to be careful not to ruin the host, but it solves the
networking thing. Of course you need to be willing to use a
screwdriver too - and DO save all the parts, you need to put them
back together too. (I do this quite often too)
* setting up a seperate laptop hard disk for it, hope you have it
set up right, then ask your authorized service center to install
it for you. (I have prepped drives for this sort of thing
but they sometimes need their bootloader fixed once installed.)
* bring the machine to your local Linux User Group installfest and
beg the locals for help. They're usually interested in seeing
someone come up to speed, that's the point at an installfest.
Expect a longer than usual time while people figure out dealing
with the lack of a cd-bay. But at least you'll have company.
* paying a consultant to setup your system for you, so it is a happy
debian box when it gets back to you. Requires explaining to
someone else what you'd like the finished install to contain,
which can be hard to do. And often, but not always, requires
letting them work on your machine while you're not there.
[cheap plug for my own consulting biz, inserted here. Send private
mail if you want that. I'm in the Silicon Valley region.]
* do manufacturers offer linux-install services for old boxes?
mostly not, but maybe you could look.
* buy a linux loaded similar model on eBay, sell off the current
one... disadvantage, it might not be a debian setup :>
I'm not sure if that was helpful but I hope it was informative anyway.
> My laptop is an IBM 560E... no CD ROM. My network card is a 3COM Megahertz
> (model 3CCFEM556B). I've downloaded the drivers from the 3Com website but i
> don't really how to use them to make a network boot disk. I just want my
> laptop to boot so I can access my windows machine running Windows ME (yes i
> know... ME Sucks!)
In linux, "drivers" are usually modules to load into a running kernel, so
they come in two types:
3ccfen556b.o (or some other cryptic name like 3com-mhz.o ;P )
these, are built for a particular major kernel revision
(say, 2.2.14) and may work with its near kin (2.2.16 perhaps
as long as the module isn't built to break on wrong minor
numbers).
insmod 3com-mhz.o
(or whatever it's called)
would try to load it and give you a techie-cryptic complaint
if it cannot.
a tar.gz file containing source code.
these, you'd need to compile against a kernel whil you are
building it, or patch the kernel before telling the whole
kernel to build.
However, it's quite common that your Linux already has drivers for big name
manufacturers like 3com in its kernel packages, so you might not need that
driver disk. (Sorry. I know you fussed a bit to get it.)
"Just access my windows box" is tougher - Linux uses a program called Samba
to do that, or you could run an FTP daemon ("service" I think NT likes to
call these) on your Windows box. Samba doesn't usually fit on a floppy,
much like DOS boot floppies don't usually contain Windows-for-workgroup
networking tools, and they might not fit...
There are multiple-floppy based usable setups that do things like that,
but they're not debian, and you were trying to avoid multiple floppies :)
In fact I'd assume that's why you want to install debian on it, rather
than purely use a floppy based distro, anyway.
> Thank you for any help!
> -Allan
Best of luck
* Heather Stern * star@ many places...
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