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ok i need help i have an old junky laptop and linux dosent require much so i thought i would put that on... on to the matter. it dosnet have a cdrom drive and i was wondering if there was a like a knoppix that runs from a floppy disk r a install kit that installs all from floppies and where to get them thanx
root
Dude,
Knoppix would need almost 1500 floppy disks! Use any minimal linux distribution. Find them at www.linux.org
try feather linux or other cutdown versions of knoppix
If you can find a way to put the CD image on the HD then you're OK.
"knoppix fromhd=/dev/hda1 Boot from previously copied CD-Image"
This is one of the boot options in the latest 3.3 update.
There are several ways of getting the CD copied, an external CD, via a network or put the HD in an other computer just for the copying.
Have a look below the update announcement on this page:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
no i havent looked yet been busy but thanx i think ill put loaf on their r something thanks lots
I've got no cdrom either and no floppy too.
Is there a way to copy the image or better to install knoppix on the notebook drive and boot later from it?
thanks in advance
karisu
You need to have some connection to anything where you can copy the knoppix cd to the laptop hdd. Some options are:
- External CD (connected by USB (ideal) or parallel (would take ages to copy one cd) or external ZIP drive (limit 100 Mb, so, you must use Feather Linux)
- USB pen drive (you laptop is old, so I think this is discarded)
- Network: Maybe this is the mos feasible option. One ethernet pcmcia card must be easy to copy. When you are connected to some net, must be easy copy the data.
Buy yourself a laptop drive adapter. You will plug the laptop drive into one and and a desktop IDE cable & power connector into the other end ... then you'll be able to boot that drive in a desktop with a cdrom drive.
Make sure you keep the laptop drive on its own cable, ex Primary IDE. Some laptop drives have funny jumper positions and its not worth the hassle for figure them out.
These little things are less than 10$US with shipping.
I have made many friends at my university with this tool. SO many students will have their windowsXP srew up beyon belief and it takes a long time to copy 20 - 30 gigs via network cable & knoppix so I just put the drive in my desktop and back it up and reimage their OS with restore cd's (if they rememberd to bring them). If they don't have their restore CD's I put knoppix on and when they get the restore cd's I put xp or what ever back on. I've had 2 students actually keep knoppix & bought a copy of cross over office (www.codeweavers.com) to be able to use MS Office.
but anyways ... get that drive adapter it'll make life easier if you want to put knoppix or any other distro on.
If your laptop doesn't have much power you can always put a minimum install on and then use VNC with a more powerfull computer to do major stuff.
~ryan
bigmoose,
When installing to a laptop's HD from a desktop using a laptop drive adapter, do you use knoppix-installer, knx-install, or "knoppix tohd=/dev/hd**"? If you use knoppix-installer, do you choose a knoppix-type install, or debian-type? And, how does X work with the laptop's hardware if going this route?
Sorry for all the questions, but I've ordered laptop drive adapter and am planning to do a knoppix install on my laptop's drive as soon as it arrives.
Here's what I had in mind. Will this work?
- Connect the laptop's drive to my desktop using the laptop drive adapter.
- Boot my desktop with Knoppix 3.2 2-16-04.
- Run fdisk and create 3 partitions on the laptop's HD. A 2.1 GB ext3 partition (assume /dev/hda1), a 800 MB ext3 partition (assume /dev/hda5), and a 256 MB linux swap partition.
- Reboot.
- At the knoppix prompt enter: knoppix tohd=/dev/hda5
- Shutdown. Reinstall HD in laptop.
- Boot laptop with a knoppix boot floppy.
- At knoppix prompt enter: knoppix fromhd=/dev/hda5
- If this successfully boots, run knoppix-installer and install debian-style to /dev/hda1.
Does this sound like it might work?
Thanks,
BamaRob
Quote:
Originally Posted by bamarob
BamaRob,
I use knx-hdinstall. The only time I had a problem was with an nvidia chipset.
You may have to reconfigure the xf86config file ... so get the specs for your laptop and you should be all set in that dept.
other than that you should be all set.
knx-hdinstall starts cfdisk and you partition and install and no need to reboot from my experience.
~ryan
Just looking for an update on how it went.
Good?
Bad :-(
Ugly :x
~ryan
I haven't received my laptop drive adapter yet. I'll keep you posted.
BR
I got the laptop drive adapter yesterday. When I got home last night, I pulled the HD out of the laptop and started to plug the adapter in. I had to bend one pin down to make it work. I opened my PC case up, unplugged the master drive and plugged the laptop drive in. I inserted an 11-19-2003 Knoppix CD and did a soft reset. Nothing happened. After several tries, I tried a hard reset and it recognized the new drive and booted to a knoppix: prompt. From there, I booted with "knoppix lang=us 2". I couldn't find 'knx-hdinstall', so I used 'knoppix-install'. I partitioned the drive w/ a 256 MB swap and 2.9 GB EXT3 partition and started the installation. The installation went fine and it wrote LILO to the MBR. I then rebooted the PC. X failed to start, but I got a login: prompt and logged in as root. Did a 'df -h' and it showed 2.1 GB used and 800 MB free.
I then shut the PC down and reinstalled the drive in the laptop. Fired it up. And,.......
NOTHING!
Apparently the drive controller in the laptop is bad. When I power it on, I hear it access the floppy and the CD, but it doesn't seem to access the HD at all. It was getting late, so I shut it down and went to bed. I think I have the boot order set to floppy-CD-HD. I may fiddle with that tonight to make it hit the HD first.
Does anyone know if I can replace the HD controller in this laptop (Compaq Presario 1245)? If it's part of the motherboard, I'm probably out of luck.
Thanks for all the help, bigmoose.
Later,
BR
Just an update...
When I boot the laptop, I get:
LILO 22.5.x (can't remember the exact version number)
Loading Linux..........................................
BIOS Data Check Successful
Then a blank screen and nothing else.
When I try booting with a Knoppix boot floppy, I get lots of:
hda lost interupt
Perhaps I've just got some IRQ problems????
Thinking that it may be a hardware problem with the IDE controller, I did some checking. Turns out, the IDE controller is integrated in the motherboard (not surprising for a laptop). I found a source for a replacement motherboard, but they wanted $700+ for it!!! Me thinks I may have to give up on this little project.
I found several working systems and parts boxes on eBay. I may bid on some of that stuff and see if I can come out with a working laptop.
BR
Hello I'm reading this thread with much interest. I recent got a Dell Latitude XP 4100CX from a friend to toy around with. It to lacks a cd drive and I have never had a laptop so this is my first. I downloaded and ran Blueflops Linux on my laptop so far. While I dont have a ethernet card in it as of yet to see if blueflops can get online. I have a modem card but I dont have dialup service :? From reading these other posts I assume I can get a HD adapter put the HD from my Laptop in my main computer then boot the Knoppix CD run the install program onto the laptops HD then after that's complete reinstall the HD to the laptop then boot it and configure it? I have done one other Knoppix install on a old gateway 133mhz desktop system and it runs fine though slow. This is very exciting for me so any info you can provide will be great.
Anyways on another note it has win95b and I am going to try and buy a ethernet card and get it online with win95 for now. I think I can make a image of the current OS onto my main computer so that if I mess anything up I can just copy the whole old OS back onto it.
I've never had to bend a pin at all. Sometimes it is very hard to figure out pin 1 on laptop drives, but usually it is on the outter edge away from the set of 4 pins. And remember to line up pin 1 of the ide cable. Also did you put it back in the laptop correctly? I'm not insulting you by asking these questions but I always ask myself when I do this stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by bamarob
your boot string should be
knoppix 2 dma .... that way it puts it in text mode and doesn't try to configure the x server. knx-hdinstall should be there.
If you still have an x-windows problem stay in text mode .... run apt-get update then apt-get upgrade ... then run xf86config and configure your xwindows components.
email me if you have any more probs. I got your last email but haven't had a chance to respond to it.
~ryan
bigmoose,
For some reason, this laptop HD had a single hole filled right in the center. I had to bend a pin down out of the way to get it to work. That wasn't a problem. The install went flawlessly on my desktop. When I re-installed the drive in my laptop, I get the results described above. It acts as if there's something wrong with the MBR, except it boots fine to a console from the MBR of that drive when it's in the desktop. You can see that it's hitting the MBR in the laptop, or I wouldn't be gettingIt's like when it starts to access the primary partition, it hangs with a blank screen.Code:LILO 22.5.x
Loading Linux............................
BIOS Data Check Successful
Thanks for all the help. I'm about ready to give up on it unless I can get a deal on a parts machine on ebay.
Later,
BamaRob