[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Installing onto an old laptop



AG wrote:
> I have an old generic laptop which has Slackware 10.1 installed.  It has
> access to the Internet as well as to a small LAN.  The machine it is
> connected via a hub to is my main desktop/ workstation which runs Debian
> testing.  The CD-ROM drive in the laptop does not work.  This is a
> hardware issue, so installation via CD is not feasible.
> 
> The laptop does have a couple of USB drive sockets, but I don't think
> that the BIOS is sufficiently modern to boot from a USB drive (the
> laptop was bought circa 2002 from a company that has since gone belly up).
> 
> What is the best method for getting this laptop up and running in the
> 21st Century with Debian testing?
> 
> Thanks for any ideas/ suggestions.
> 
> AG


This sounds like a fun way to meet debootstrap. [1] Hopefully you have a
partition around you can play with. I've read about destroying swap to
get things going. Then once you have a very basic Debian system up and
running, reclaim the rest of the disk.

[1] http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apds03.html.en




Reply to: