Olivetti Echos P100D installation probs, CD nont bootable

[chris_andrew]

Hi,

I've just got a Olivetti Echos P100D. Unfortunately the CD drive does not appear to be bootable from the BIOS. The laptop does not have a floppy. Has anybody managed to install linux on one of these?

Just a thought. Could I copy some files to the harddrive, execute them from within the Windows95 partition, and somehow get that to work?

Maybe I could attach the laptop (via a PCMCIA NIC) to a hub, and do an install from another machine (how, I don't know?)

All ideas positively welcomed.

Thanks,

Chris.

[Harry Kuhman]

I don't know of any way to do this from within Windows. However, if the CD drive is on an interface recognized by Smart Boot Manager then you could use SBM to boot the CD even without BIOS support, You say you have no floppy. No problem. SBM can be installed to the MBR of the hard disk and run each time the computer is booted (I use it that way on a test system I have).

I don't see any downside to tryig this. If it works your problem is resolved. If not you could still leave it in as a boot loader, or could just run fdisk /mbr to replace the Master Boot Record with a Mivrosoft loader again.

There is also a nicer looking and more powerful boot loader called XOSL. It is a lttle more complex to set up though. Not much more complex, but it does need some space on the hard disk beyond the MBR (I suggest giving it its own small partition, but the XOSL site says you can install it to the Windows partition.) It uses the SBM code to boot the CD, so if SBM works this will work too, and if it doesn't XOSL will not help either. While I generally suggest XOSL over SBM, in this case I would try SBM first and if it solves you boot problem then suggest you consider if you want to stick with it or trust my advice that XOSL is a lot nicer.

I am curious how Olivetti expected you to be able to reinstall Windows when the need arose on a system with no floppy and no bootable CD. Anything else we should know about the system? What are the specs (cpu, memory, and so on)?

[chris_andrew]

Hi, Harry.

I guess Olivetti thought that the OS could be re-installed from floppies (it's an old laptop). Perhaps, it came loaded with Windoze, and you weren't meant to format the HDD. Anyway, I don't do Windoze through choice, so will have a look at Smart Boot Manager.

Just looked at SBM, it's GPL'd...cool.

Will let you know how I get on.

Cheers,

Chris.

[chris_andrew]

I don't have a fdd. Can I download the exe file, burn it to cd, copy it to the windows partition, and execute it? Will that work?

Thanks,

Chris.

[Harry Kuhman]

Can I download the exe file, burn it to cd, copy it to the windows partition, and execute it?

The thing that you download is a SBM installer. It can basically do one of two things (with some options like choice of language and making backups thrown in):

• 1 - It can install SBM to a floppy. This basically makes a SBM floppy. Doesn't help you.
  
  2 - It can install SBM to the hard disk's Master Boot Record. Given that this is the only other option, you don't have a floppy but do have a hard drive and it has a sector 0, this is your option.

Just download the installer. Go to a DOS command prompt (do not use the run command from Windows or you will never see the output). Go to the directory where the installer is saved and type in the name of the installer with no arguments. It will echo back a list of options. Look them over. In a nutshell you want to select a language you speak and tell it to install SBM to the MBR of the first hard drive (a different number than the floppy, just read the displayed info). You run that command, then you reboot your computer. You should then see the SBM box displayed (You're really screwed if you don't, would have to move the hard disk to a system where you could access it since you apparently don't have any way to recover on the Olivetti). It should include boot options including the hard drive first partition (which will be Windows but SBM is too ugly to say that, XOSL can give you a cleaner human interface) and with any luck the CD drive. As long as the CD drive is there (or shows up after a "rescan"), you'll be able to boot any bootable CD on that system.

[Harry Kuhman]

I reread you question and maybe I was confused by what you were asking. I had expected you would just download the tiny SBM installer right on the Olivetti. If you can't for some reason, then yes, you could download the DOS installer (there are a lot of different versions for different OS available, be sure you get the DOS one) and put it on an optical media to move to the Olivetti. I would sure use a CDRW rather than a CDR. But if you have any way to download it to the Oliveti, including dial up, that would likely be simpler.

[Harry Kuhman]

Good News, your CD is IDE based, there is every reason to expect that SBM or XOSL would recognize it and make it bootable.

You still haven't said much about the other specs of the system, and there are enough different options associated with that model number that I don't want to guess what you have.

You might find this link interesting.

[chris_andrew]

Harry,

Thanks for your step-by-step guide. I will download the exe and burn to a CDRW. Hopefully I should just be able to copy it to the W95 partition.

My sys specs which should be challenging for Knoppix are 800MB HDD, 32MB RAM. I know that Knoppix will run like a dog on these specs, but I intend to make the most of Knoppix's hardware detection, and then remove anything that's not essential. A light window manager and a few basic apps will suffice. The laptop is just going to be used to while away my nights in a hotel room, by learning scripting. So will be mostly at CTL+ALT+F1 or using KATE to check my syntax in X.

Thanks,

Chris.

[Harry Kuhman]

Thanks for your step-by-step guide. I will download the exe and burn to a CDRW. Hopefully I should just be able to copy it to the W95 partition.

Of you're talking about the sbm installer here, you could even run it right from the CDRW (again, fom a DOS ommand prompt under windows). It will be good to get the Olivetti to be able to boot from CD, which is what this will do, but ....

My sys specs which should be challenging for Knoppix are 800MB HDD, 32MB RAM.

I still don't know what the CPU is, but you're simply not going to get it to run at anything close to useable on that system. I guess you're going to have to see that for yourself.

I know that Knoppix will run like a dog on these specs, but I intend to make the most of Knoppix's hardware detection, and then remove anything that's not essential. A light window manager and a few basic apps will suffice.

KNOPPIX IS a LIVE CD. If you think that you are going to be able to somehow install it to the hard disk and then change it on that system, you're more crazy than the poor chumps who try to do it on more capable systems but have never bothered to look at a true Debian install. I have doubts that you could even get a Debian install going on that system, but it would be much more likely to work than running Knoppix. Your best bet is the article I gave you a link to on Linux on that Olivetti.

[chris_andrew]

Thanks,

The processor is a P100. I have got a very similar laptop and have got Debian Sarge running on it, with X, Windowmaker, bsdgames and Kate. It is powerful enough to learn scripting and run Kate to help with my syntax. This is all I want from the Olivetti.

I was going to install Knoppix to hdd, then run dselect and have a similar set-up, I just wanted to use Knoppix's great hardware detection.

Thanks,

Chris.