Install from floppies

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Install from floppies
started by: trader

Posted by trader on May 06 2006,02:22

Hello folks!
Yes, you guessed it right: I'd like to install DSL on the HD using floppies only. Being the scavenger that I am, I put together a computer with spare parts that more often than not refuse to work. Here are the specs:
P 166 Mhz
32 M of ram
12 G hard drive
ethernet card
USB card
CD-rom
floppy (duh!)
and other unrelated items....
I was able to install Winzozz 98, which so far is running fine (ain't that a joke?) and I even tried to install FreeBSD. Then I discovered by chance DSL and I said to myself that I absolutely must have it on my HD. Why using floppies? For the simple reason that I don't have a USB drive and also because the cd-rom decided to take a (probably permanent) vacation. Starting a week ago, it simply refused to open. Messing around with the FreeBSD install, I noticed that there's an option to do the install from a DOS partition. Can I do it in this case as well or am I dreaming? Please, keep in mind that I've never used Linux before, so this will be the perfect opportunity to do some major screw-up.
Thank you for the attention!

Posted by piccolo on May 06 2006,10:41

If you can connect to internet using Windows then you need only one floppy disk

1. Download using Windows the file dsl-x.x.iso (x.x is the DSL version, 2.3 is the last) and the bootfloppy.img file.

2. Extract from the dsl-x.x.iso image file the folder KNOPPIX to the hard disk. Then you will have the C:\KNOPPIX folder.

3. Create the DSL boot floppy from bootfloppy.img file: < Boot Floppies >

4. Reboot the computer using the DSL boot floppy.

That launch DSL from files onto hard disk as well as DSL boot from CDROM. Therefore still DSL was not installed to hard disk and it is running "live mode" from RAM memory.
Then if you want you can do the installation to hard disk. Note there are two methods: Full Installation and Frugal Installation. I recommend you the Frugal Installation:
< Frugal Howto >

Posted by trader on May 07 2006,06:13

Hi piccolo,
thank you for the directions, they were very helpful. It all went well until I had to reboot. I rebooted from the floppy, and I followed the instructions, but then it said that it cannot find the KNOPPIX filesystem. I tried to place the KNOPPIX file in different directories, but nothing. It just can't find it. Any suggestions?
Thanks again!

Posted by pr0f3550r on May 07 2006,12:12

I suppose he should save the iso directly into C:\ and then boot with the option:
dsl fromhd=/dev/hda1

Posted by piccolo on May 07 2006,12:29

Hi trader
Try as pr0f3550r says.

If still DSL not boot then you can try a method to boot DSL from DOS: < Loadlin Install >
Note that you need only download the loadlin.exe program and do from 3 to 5 step. Then you boot your computer in DOS mode and execute the loadlin.exe program and the DSL boot process will begin.

Posted by trader on May 07 2006,17:05

Hello guys,
I tried both methods, but still nothing. In both cases, I get the same message: "Can't find the knoppix filesystem, sorry. Dropping down to a (very) limited shell". I tried to move around both the .iso image and the big knoppix file, but to no avail. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you for your patience!

Posted by piccolo on May 07 2006,18:26

How many partitions have the hard disk? On which partition is installed Windows? How many hard disks have the computer?
The first hard disk is labeled by DSL as hda. If there are other is labeled hdb and so on.
Each partition on first hard disk is hda1, hda2,...hdaN and each partition on second hard disk is hdb1, hdb2..hdbN
The option "dsl fromhd=/dev/hda1" specify explicitly the Knoppix folder is onto hda1, you can change it for other hda. But anyway the boot program search automatically on all drives and partitions if you specify nothing.
I have used the method from boot floppy disk with success before. If you can't solve the problem I will try again that on my computer.

Posted by trader on May 08 2006,03:52

Hello again,
there are 2 partitions. I think win98 is installed on the first one, I don't know the name of it. There's only 1 hard drive on the computer, and it is about 11-12G. The win98 partition takes about 2G. I tried to install FreeBSD (which I don't know how to use), and it took the rest of the free space. I think it installed some bootloader, since at startup I have the option to boot DOS or FreeBSD. I can see that the dsl boot is scanning (and it scans real fast!), but for some reasons it doesn't find the knoppix file. I'll keep trying moving it around, let's see if it works.
Thank you!

Posted by cbagger01 on May 08 2006,04:54

If the \KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX file is saved on your Win98 partition, make sure that you use UPPERCASE letters for both the directory name and the file name.

Posted by trader on May 08 2006,05:00

Thank you!
I'll check that.

Posted by Reidy- on May 08 2006,08:49

I found out that you carnt actually make a folder / file in uppercase it instantly puts KNOPPIX back to Knoppix (in win 98/95/se) but you can do it in DOS get ure pc to make an ms-dos boot disk (on the format disk menu)

boot to dos

then (type this into the console)

CD C:\knoppix
rename knoppix knoppix123
rename knoppix123 KNOPPIX

then to rename the directory

rename C:\knoppix knoppix1234
rename C:\knoppix1234 KNOPPIX

you must change it to sopmething differnt first otherwise you will get an error changing it from Knoppix to KNOPPIX

hope this helps

Posted by anaconda on May 08 2006,10:19

What boot loader is already installed to your system?

I suggest that you add DSL to the existing bootloader and forget about the boot-floppy. OR that you install grub and add all 3 os:s to that.

Posted by piccolo on May 08 2006,11:41

Very good the tip, Reidy.
When I did the installation, I copied the KNOPPIX folder to a Linux partition then I have not problem with the folder name.

Posted by trader on May 08 2006,14:28

SUCCESS!!!!!
(Drumrolls, please.....)
This morning, at 7:08 pst my old dog is officially running DSL!!
I have to say that renaming the dir and knoppix file to caps made the difference. The install process saw the file right away, and the installation was flawless. I noticed also that win98 "fools "you, not letting you see the real dos filename. However, you can use winrar (as I did) to rename the file and the directory correctly. Thank you all for the help and support, especially cbagger01 for the tip. As you can see, sometimes the smallest details are the ones that count...

Posted by muskrat on May 25 2006,00:34

Ok folks;

I've done aal the above, and it boots up into dsl fine. In this poorman install how do we make a presistant home and save all our settings?

Posted by piccolo on May 25 2006,21:11

< How do I save my settings? >