RE: Re: lenny on x86
> From: news [mailto:news@ger.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Stefan Monnier
> Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 10:28 AM
> Subject: Re: lenny on x86
>
> > Does anybody nows if lenny installation on x86 machines
> > using floppy is (or will be) available?
>
> Why would you need that?
Short Answer:
Because there are still a lot of companies that use floppies for various
utilities. There are also a lot of hobbyists that use older hardware.
Many in my Linux user group still bring systems with floppies.
Long answer specifically for me:
I was given a bunch of Ricoh NP-50 laptops a few weeks ago. Nothing
special, but I have been having fun tinkering with them while I watch
Mythbusters / Dirty Jobs. They are Pentium 90mhz, 64MB ram, 4-6GB hard
drives. They have no onboard lan, one usb 1.1 port (can't boot off of
it), 2 PCMICA slots, no cdrom drive, and an external parallel-attached
floppy disc.
I have been using the etch floppy images to boot[1] and mess around
with. The problem I am having is that all of the PCMCIA cards I have are
either not recognized by these floppies, or in the case of one wireless
PCMCIA card, it is recognized but I can't get it to attach to a wireless
access point (no encryption). Yet, on another laptop (Debian Lenny is
already installed) just about all of the PCMCIA cards work just fine
straight away.
So it would be nice to get a floppy install but then again I am just
tinkering with it. I am not really in /need/ of it or anything. It just
gives me something to do during the 40 minutes of
coming-up-next/lets-recap of Mythbusters. Even if I get them running I
am not sure what I am going to do with them. These things don't pull a
lot of power so the only idea I have so far is a constant update screen
for my MythTV system (load, mem usage, what shows are
recording/upcoming, ect). If I can get internet working really well,
they would also make for a good "let me check the mailing list right
quick" devices too.
Someone just recommended to me installing to a USB thumbdrive and using
a floppy to load grub to boot off the USB thumbdrive. That would
certainly make installing easier but I have not had a chance to really
research that yet. If you know a good place to start, I would appreciate
tips.
Anyway, that is why I still use floppy installs.
Have fun!
~Stack~
[1]
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/main/installer-i386/current/i
mages/floppy/
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