Other Help Topics :: Install DSL on Compaq Prolinea 66 MT 4/66

Hey guys, I'm new to DSL and scsi devices. A friend gave me a Compaq Prolinea 66 MT 4/66 and I want to put DSL on it. Here is what I have: 66mhz, 64mRAM, 4g HD, floppy, internal CD ROM, internal Zip 100. The internal devices are SCSI but that should not be a problem, right? Now, can someone tell me how to install DSL on it? The bios won't let me boot from cd rom. How do I create a boot floppy and tell DSL to run and install on HD? Any help you can provide will be appreciated. Thanks!

dj

Q: My computer won't boot from CD. What should I do?

A: Look in your computer's BIOS (on many computers you need to push the "delete" or F1 key during the POST) to see whether it is set to boot from CD. If this is already set, your computer may not be able to read the CD (some notebooks have problems with black-coated CD's, for example). Some computers will only use the new BIOS settings after a hard reset.

A: If your computer doesn't support booting from CD, you can create a bootfloppy using the "rawrite" or better yet the mkfloppy.bat file program in the "KNOPPIX" directory on the CD.

A: Get the Smart Boot Manager, and install to floppy, this should let you boot from any bootable CD. http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/ . If you want to install from windows, download the sbminst.exe and run it from the Command Prompt like : sbminst.exe -d 0 to install to floppy drive.

http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/FaqDownloading

good luck

Quote (djinqueencity @ May 18 2004,22:00)

I have some older Compaqs - they all have a custom partition on the primary hdd - the custom partition has diagnostic and configuration software. To create the diagnostic/config partition I had to delete all other partition first!
I downloaded the relevant "rompaqs" (and the manuals for the model), then extracted/created the "config/diag/driver" floppy disks.
Boot the Compaq from the first floppy (with no partition on the hdd) - follow the prompts. And read the docs first :-)
BEFORE running the hdinstall script "fdisk -l" and note down the partition used by Compaq, then create the partition/s to be used by DSL (and others if required). (I use Toms Root Boot disk for this).
Install DSL to the hdd as normal EXCEPT do not boot from the Master Boot Record (it disables the diag/config partition) - boot from the DSL partition instead.
When the Compaq Diag/Config partition is set up you will see "Press F10 for Config" during the boot. You can select boot order and other settings there.
Check my memory on the web... :-D

original here.