🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 21 Dec 2001 17:14:22 +1300, shadow-DAZ wrote:

> hi, all
> i have the following problem:
> i have an old comp (Pentium 90 MHz, about 40 Megs of RAM) i want to
> install Linux on that.. from the CD (which is bootable) the problem is
> it's an old comp, and the only devices this comp can boot up from are
> either hard drive or floppy...

You need to make a dbootable floppy. Use rawrite, in the utils dir on the
cd, I think.Rawrite is a MS-dos prgramme.

Boot from floppy and install.


OR better yet find a MS-windows machine, insert the CD and follow
instructions on the screen

shadow-DAZ wrote:

> hi, all
> i have the following problem:
> i have an old comp (Pentium 90 MHz, about 40 Megs of RAM)
> i want to install Linux on that.. from the CD (which is bootable)
> the problem is it's an old comp, and the only devices this comp can boot
> up from are either hard drive or floppy...
> as OS on the comp i have Linux Caldera Lite, but i wasn't able to mount
> CD-rom on there... have no idea why though.
> 
> any solutions? ideas? e-mail me or reply to newsgroup
> 
> thanx a lot in advance
> 
> shadow-DAZ

It would depend on the exact distro you are trying to install, but IIRC 
most will also have a boot disk you can download (or may have on the CDs) 
for if you don't have a bootable CD-ROM.

-- 
GCS/J d s+:-- a--- C++++ UL++++S+ P+ L+++(++)>+++++$ E---- W++ N+ o? K? 
w+>--- O !M-- V-- PS+(-) PE- Y-- PGP- t+>++ 5>+ X R>+ tv+ b++(+++) 
DI++++ D++ G e>+++ h! r-- y?

"Plasma" <iamplasma@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3c22c245$0$1400$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> shadow-DAZ wrote:
>
> > hi, all
> > i have the following problem:
> > i have an old comp (Pentium 90 MHz, about 40 Megs of RAM)
> > i want to install Linux on that.. from the CD (which is bootable)
> > the problem is it's an old comp, and the only devices this comp can boot
> > up from are either hard drive or floppy...
> > as OS on the comp i have Linux Caldera Lite, but i wasn't able to mount
> > CD-rom on there... have no idea why though.
> >
> > any solutions? ideas? e-mail me or reply to newsgroup
> >
> > thanx a lot in advance
> >
> > shadow-DAZ
>
> It would depend on the exact distro you are trying to install, but IIRC
> most will also have a boot disk you can download (or may have on the CDs)
> for if you don't have a bootable CD-ROM.
>
> --
> GCS/J d s+:-- a--- C++++ UL++++S+ P+ L+++(++)>+++++$ E---- W++ N+ o? K?
> w+>--- O !M-- V-- PS+(-) PE- Y-- PGP- t+>++ 5>+ X R>+ tv+ b++(+++)
> DI++++ D++ G e>+++ h! r-- y?

I just installed Best Linux distributive... on a sifferent comp though...
but at the end of the installation it gave an option to create a boot
floppy, which i certainly did use, so now i have boot floppy and i hope it's
gonna work, i haven't tried it yet.

by the way did anyone try Best Linux distibutive? i used Caldera before..
but this Best Linux rocks... GUI almost as easy as Windows... it's pretty
cool!

i'm building a home network... already ordered Linksys router...

ok, later, thanks to everyone..

shadow-DAZ

<followups to alt.os.linux>

shadow-DAZ wrote:

> I just installed Best Linux distributive... on a sifferent comp though...
> but at the end of the installation it gave an option to create a boot
> floppy, which i certainly did use, so now i have boot floppy and i hope it's
> gonna work, i haven't tried it yet.


It's not going to help you install the other computer. What you should 
do is locate the installation floppy images that are most certainly on 
your cd and write them to floppies using

#dd if=<image file> of=/dev/fd0

on your installed linux box.

(You will probably have to be root to do this.)

I have no experience whatsoever of this "best linux" distro, but the 
standard recommendation seems to be mandrake if you're new to linux. I 
use red hat and like it, but others don't. Other well-known options are 
debian (semi-hard but very nice when you know it) and slackware 
(apparently for the linux veteran who wants more taste and less filling).

hth,

      /Johan

-- 
Time flies like the wind, fruit flies like bananas.          Perth --> *

We search for the truth / We could die upon the tooth
But the thrill of just the chase / Is worth the pain

In <yGyU7.287193$ez.40013554@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com>, shadow-DAZ wrote:

> hi, all
> i have the following problem:
> i have an old comp (Pentium 90 MHz, about 40 Megs of RAM) i want to
> install Linux on that.. from the CD (which is bootable) the problem is
> it's an old comp, and the only devices this comp can boot up from are
> either hard drive or floppy... as OS on the comp i have Linux Caldera
> Lite, but i wasn't able to mount CD-rom on there... have no idea why
> though.
> 
> any solutions? ideas? e-mail me or reply to newsgroup
> 
> thanx a lot in advance
> 
> shadow-DAZ

The CDROM is bootable, but it won't boot? I don't get it. Are you saying
the DRIVE isn't capable of booting, but the MEDIA is? Or that the DRIVE is
a bootable drive but it isn't booting?

The CDROM won't mount. What errors do you get when you try? Does it show
up in the logs as being seen? What kind of drive is it (might help explain
any errors you're getting)? What command(s) have you tried?

Older versions of RH would work just fine. Newer versions might possibly
work (though I have this "thing" against 7.2 since it fails almost every
test [other than install] for me: stability, reliability, etc). If you
can't boot from the bootable CD, if you have harddrive space you can
download the ISOs and put them on the drive. You can make bootdisks to
allow the install to start and continue with the CD. If there's another
machine available and you have NICs, you can install over a network. If
your connection is fast enough, you can do an ftp install.

Similar for other distros, though Debian has failed on 3 releases, and
over 10 attempts on said releases, to install anything on any of the
machines I've tried. I can vouch for several others that worked (though I
didn't like them for varying reasons). Even Debian is probably fine, but I
couldn't get it to install.

Possible limiting factors will be harddrive space and video capabilities.
If you're on the low end with those, I wouldn't expect too awful much on
the performance end. Some of the desktops will really eat up resources
and make you think you have locked-up, even though it may be doing the
best it can do. Unfortunately, the most problematic desktops are the
default in many distributions.

So, a P90 is OK (some still use 486s and even a smattering of 386s) and
40MB memory should work with almost all of them as long as you don't
expect it to run memory hogs like KDE or Gnome, and if you don't try
doing too many things at once on the desktop.

-- 
Therapy is expensive, popping bubble wrap is cheap. You choose.

In article <yGyU7.287193$ez.40013554@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com>, "shadow-DAZ"
<kavoon@netzero.net> wrote:

> it's an old comp, and the only devices this comp can boot up from are
> either hard drive or floppy

You'll need a boot floppy made from the images on the CD

> but i wasn't able to mount CD-rom on there... have no idea why
> though.

You'll need to make the images using a windows machine with Rawrite
(which is on the RH cd) or on a linux machine with dd.
Something you might want to try before messing around much more is to see
whether the CDs work in another computer, because it could be the CD's
fault that it won't mount with caldera.

I know a lot of this has already been suggested, but hey, that's exactly
what I would do.  Good luck.

-- 
"Software piracy harms everyone, including you.  Why should you care"
 --Microsoft on software piracy