Had a Debian file and print server running for like two years, serving a
handful of home Linux, MAC, and Windows clients. December I upgraded the OS
and apps all to the latest stable version. The only thing I can think I did
‘sub-optimally’ was run the entire process via ssh (the server is an older
laptop and was shoved in behind some printers on a shelf where it was very
uncomfortable to open it and balance it and type…) and one prompt for the
kernel or PCMCIA or NIC drivers asked if I wanted to skip restarting
something – I said not to restart it, as I wasn’t clear if I could
reestablish the ssh session to finish the upgrade. There was some message
about possibly corrupting something – but no back out options, so… Anyway it
now boots to “LI”. While I saw references here and there to rescue disks I
didn’t find any for the current Debian version, and the few homemade ones I
found didn’t work. Pulled the network card to see if that would bypass the
blockage. Though I think I booted off CD before, it won’t do it now. Nothing
in the BIOS on that either. Physically it can house either a CD or a
floppy – not both at once. I tried booting for repair / reinstall via
network floppies, but it won’t load the NIC floppy. Tried different media
and download sites to no avail. Now it’s been sitting for a new weeks, dead.
Figured I’d revisit this three day weekend. I can recreate the CUPS/SWAT
config, user names, etc.. All the files on there are also stored in at least
one other place.
Now I was thinking of pulling the hard drive and copying whatever onto it
and then returning it to the laptop and booting it, to then load a new OS. I
have the hard drive out and in an external USB hard drive thing.
Question: What do I copy onto it to do this?