Dilema

Forum: Laptops
Topic: Dilema
started by: VScM

Posted by VScM on Oct. 16 2005,22:07

Alright DSL brainiacs, try this one on for size.

My spare machine is a Dell Latitude LS 400 with a broken HDD. However, there is a CD-ROM that will boot the DSL LiveCD. I also have a 512MB USB key and a floppy drive.

The BIOS does NOT have a USB boot option.

I have already created a USB-HDD install of DSL on the USB drive but the BIOS wouldn't use it to boot with the settings for either HDD or Peripheral
as the initial boot option.

Is there anyway it could be possibe to run DSL on the USB key WITHOUT needing either the CD drive or floppy drive?

Thank you for your time with this query.

Posted by cbagger01 on Oct. 17 2005,02:17

1) Try upgrading your bios. Visit dell.com support page

2)

no, but you can boot from livecd in order to run from USBHDD.

dsl fromhd=/dev/sda1

Also, you can buy a compact flash to laptop IDE adapter and then boot DSL from a CF card instead of a hard drive. Because the compact flash card will appear as a "hard drive", it will boot fine using the existing BIOS.

Posted by AwPhuch on Oct. 18 2005,16:54

Or find you a cheapo 40 gig laptop drive..they are getting dirt cheap these day!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by VScM on Oct. 20 2005,16:22

Great stuff!! Thank you very much for the information. I may look at the compact flash and adapter as it is likely much cheaper than a hard drive and allows for more portability.

In the mean time I'll use the CD and USBHDD so I can back up any data.

Thanks for the help to both of you.

Posted by AwPhuch on Oct. 20 2005,17:48

Welcome to the Revolution!!!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by iakudi on Oct. 23 2005,22:54

How does the CF card and adapter work? Am I correct in assuming that , for e.g. I fit a 1Gb CF card and the adapter into the laptop then it "appears" to have a 1Gb HDD?

Compared to a normal HDD in a laptop (I have a 1.4Gb) is it any "quicker"?

I also have a second laptop that is really old, it has a CD rom but cannot boot from it, I cannot trace any compatible floppys either, althouhgh I believe it has Win 98 on it (and probably v low in memory)...any way I can replace Win 98 with DSL? I would use the poormans frugal but I do not have a floppy...

Posted by cbagger01 on Oct. 24 2005,03:18

Yes

Yes

Yes. Try searching the forums to learn about the loadlin install method

Posted by iakudi on Oct. 25 2005,11:58

My apologies, I did try searching through the threads but did not understand, hence my questions.

As for the old laptop, I managed to take out the HDD, unscrew the caddy etc and was able to stick it into another laptop to install. Once I returned it to the old laptop, I have ot say the X setup displays some fantastic colour on this 24MB laptop...I was genuinely suprised. All I need now is to get my PCMCIA wifi card (as oer previous threads) started and off I go...

The DSL experience is a lot of fun !