Laptops :: Rooster

A newbie here - I have an old laptop I would like to put a distribution of Linux on. No CD drive. Is there a distribution available that can be installed via floppy disc? Partitioned HD 200mb with Win 95 and 128mb formated Fat32. Processor is a 486 and 20mb Ram. I am not concerned about duing a dual boot. I want to be able to access the Internet and that is about it. Is it possible to install DSL via floppy? Will it work on this old duffer of a computer? I have a PCMCIA Network card that works with Win 95. Would it work with DSL?

Does it have a 486sx or 486dx processor? - DSL needs a math coprocessor (unless you want to fiddle a lot). I also guess that on a slow box like that, a hard disk install would be best and for that you need at least a 130 MB linux partition and a swap partition. The simplest way to install DSL may be to take out the disk, put it into another PC, install DSL and finally put it back.

original here.