Booting a laptop off a Knoppix CD without a harddrive.

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12-13-2005, 12:53 AM
ncsuapex

Booting a laptop off a Knoppix CD without a harddrive.

Ok,

I have a project in mind that I think Knoppix would be great for. Hopefully this is in the right forum. But here is my plan and requirements. I have a basic understanding of Linux as I've been running various forms of *nix for a few years.

Requirements:
Boot a laptop off a knoppix CD
Laptop does not have a harddrive.
I want to have a wireless network card which will be connected to my home network
Once the laptop boots I want it to automatically run a script which is on my home network.
Laptop must be able to boot with a keyboard and mouse or without a keyboard and mouse.
Optional: If laptop boots without a keyboard and mouse I want to be able to plug them in and use them, if I have to reboot to use keyboard and mouse that's acceptable.
Optional: Use of USB.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
12-13-2005, 01:13 AM
Harry Kuhman

Re: Booting a laptop off a Knoppix CD without a harddrive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncsuapex

I want to have a wireless network card which will be connected to my home network
Once the laptop boots I want it to automatically run a script which is on my home network.

Just a few thoughts: Do you have a wireless card or will you be buying one? Be aware that there are many wireless cards that Knoppix does now support (and a few that it does). Read the wireless networking section in the wiki and scan the Networking forum for a lot more discussion on this.

To have a script run from your home network in the way you describe, I expect that you'll have to remaster the disc to make this happen. There are several things that you would have to add to the original CD before you could run a script from the network, particularly when using a wireless interface.
12-13-2005, 01:34 AM
ncsuapex

^

Thanks for responding. I do have a wireless card that I use for my other laptop. I was going to use it to test the new project and then buy one if my project was successful. I'll have to check to see if my current wireless card is compatible and will also check to see which ones will work so that'll be the one I buy.
12-13-2005, 04:31 AM
rwcitek

Re: Booting a laptop off a Knoppix CD without a harddrive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncsuapex

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not quite clear on what your question is.

FWIW, if your laptop supports it, Knoppix will boot just fine from the CD without an HDD. In fact, I've booted a laptop into Knoppix that had no HDD, no battery, no floppy, no USB, and no CD-ROM using PXE and Knoppix's Terminal Server.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org
12-13-2005, 07:02 PM
ncsuapex

Sorry if I didn't make it clear. Here are my questions.

Is it possible to boot Knoppix on a laptop without a HD, but with a CDROM and have access to a wireless card that would then start a script that is located on my network? Harry kind of answered it, I just need to find out how to get the script to run.

Is it possible to boot without a mouse/keyboard attached? But it would still need mouse/keyboard support incase I needed to connect them and use them at some point

Also It would need to have USB, which I'm assuming Knoppix has good USB support..

I had problems with my router last night so I didn't get a chance to do any other research on my wireless card. But I will buy one that is supported if mine is not.

Quote:

In fact, I've booted a laptop into Knoppix that had no HDD, no battery, no floppy, no USB, and no CD-ROM using PXE and Knoppix's Terminal Server.

I would like to hear more about this, this could be useful in my project.

My "laptop" will not have HDD, no battery, no floppy. It does have USB and I had planned on using a CD-ROM, but If I could do it without a CD-ROM that might be better for me.
12-13-2005, 07:46 PM
rwcitek

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncsuapex

Is it possible to boot Knoppix on a laptop ...

The simple answer is, maybe. If the laptop will boot Knoppix with a HDD and a CD-ROM and can use your wireless card, then it will probably boot without all those things. I would recommend booting Knoppix on the laptop you have in mind for this project and then start removing parts, starting with the HDD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncsuapex

Quote:

In fact, I've booted a laptop into Knoppix that had no HDD, no battery, no floppy, no USB, and no CD-ROM using PXE and Knoppix's Terminal Server.

I would like to hear more about this, this could be useful in my project.

My "laptop" will not have HDD, no battery, no floppy. It does have USB and I had planned on using a CD-ROM, but If I could do it without a CD-ROM that might be better for me.

In my case I had two machines: one machine was the terminal service server, the other was the terminal service client. I configured the server to have all the requisite parts: dhcp service, a bootable image, and a few other things that escape me now. IIRC, the terminal service "wizard" in Knoppix walked me through this, but I may be mistaken. The client only had PXE, the Pre-eXecution Environment. IIUC, PXE sends out a request for an IP address and a kernel image. Once the client had an IP address and a kernel, it booted.

This sounds like an interesting project. I recommend that you create a wiki page (just create an account and you'll get your own page) and put your notes there. By having a wiki page others can see what you're doing and can help out.

Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org
12-13-2005, 09:19 PM
ncsuapex

I started a Wiki page as you advised. Here is the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Wulfpack74

The laptop should boot Knoppix as it meets the basic hardware requirements (Memory, etc..)

As I said before I am having issues with my DSL/router at home so the wireless portion on this project may have to go on hold, but I will still work on the rest, as you said, starting with the basic boot of knoppix and basic configuration just to see how far I can go with this project before I start removing components. One other requirement I have that I failed to mention is:

I need to be able to save my knoppix settings so if I have to reboot I don't have to manually go through all the knoppix options to start the device. I'm assuming I can map a location to my networked harddrive to save my settings..