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Topic: Questions about DSL and a REALLY Old Laptop

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Goober

Group: Members
Posts: 21
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 20 2005,23:54

Just to update, i phoned the only computer store in town that I will go to (had bad experiences at non-local Computer Stores), and, well, they say I have to bring it it, so me and the 100CS will go downtown, and see what we can find out about getting a PCMCIA Ethernet Card, maybe, for this thing.

Anyway, next question - if I get Ethernet working, would I just DL DSL onto the Laptop and install it? Also, if I downloaded it to my Windows system, how would I install it?

(The techie I talked to said that Ethernet sounds like the easiest solution for this little project.)

sarah

Group: Members
Posts: 73
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 21 2005,05:05

Yeah, I would guess that's the case, but I like the challenge of trying to do it from floppy and zip. Of course, there's always the other option of pulling the hard drive out of the 100CS and plugging it into a better-specced laptop to get it onto the 100CS HDD, or even using an IDE adapter (they're not expensive) and plugging it into your desktop machine, but that seemed like cheating to me.

You could do a poor man's install - as far as I understand, it's something like this: (I'm going to assume that you have a desktop machine you'll be transferring from)
- Boot into Windows on the latop
- Over the network find your desktop machine and then the DSL CD or DSL image that you will be using - I think it would be better still to copy the file listed below from the CD to the desktop's HDD, and check the md5sums and then transfer that file from there.
- Copy the \KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX file from the CD to c:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX
(This is case sensitive - it must be in caps on your HDD) That's probably going to take a while, unless you know tricks I don't.
- I would take the time to check the md5sums of the files before going any further, since if you still have trouble booting the image, it would be better to be able to eliminate the possibility that something broke during the transfer from the outset.
- Create your boot floppy on your desktop system (I also used a new floppy for that)
- Shutdown the laptop and put the floppy in, and boot it up. You will most likely find that the laptop will pause (or stall!?) for a looooooong time after POST (mine does), before it nabs the floppy and boots from there. You'll need to use the DSL boot options / cheat codes to make it work too.

The instructions found at:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki....tall%29
might also help you.

As a side note, Toms Root 'n' boot is a really great little disk you can use to partition your hard drive if you're prepared to risk your windows install. I've partitioned mine using the fdisk utility found on the tomsrbt disk, but I'm lucky enough to have a HDD which was spare and is sort of recognised by the 100CS, and it's still only ~500MB ;o)
See http://www.toms.net/rb/ and the faq there for instructions. :o)

I'm at lunch, and just typed all that out because for some strange reason thought that would be easier than STFW and linking ;o) I'm probably wrong.

If you need help with the md5sums, you'll have to search for it sorry because I'm out of time ;o)

--------------
I've been told the best way to learn is to explain it to someone else in front of "experts". People who are knowledgable (and sometimes even if they're not!) on a topic will soon tell you if you're wrong, and love you for the opportunity to either show their prowess or make jokes at your expense!

sarah

Group: Members
Posts: 73
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 21 2005,05:11

On creating Boot floppies: (You're going to need one to start out with)
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Boot_Floppies

The DSL Wiki and these boards are your/our friends ;o)

--------------
I've been told the best way to learn is to explain it to someone else in front of "experts". People who are knowledgable (and sometimes even if they're not!) on a topic will soon tell you if you're wrong, and love you for the opportunity to either show their prowess or make jokes at your expense!

Goober

Group: Members
Posts: 21
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 21 2005,16:56

Ok, lots of information all at once, lol. I still need to get a PCMCIA Card to put anything on the Laptop. I will probably get 2 Type II cards, one Ethernet so I can DL stuff onto it, and one with more Memory. Too bad that the HD wasn't bigger, for if I got more Memory, I could almost run Ubuntu off that . . .

Erm, ya, those instructions will probably be useful once I get a PCMCIA Card, and once my HW loads clears up to give me time to do that. Bloody School . . .

Goober

Group: Members
Posts: 21
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 22 2005,04:38

Ok, i see what you are saying sarah, having arrived home from school, and actually read your post and links. Ya, that will work, I think, but I'm, frankly, not understanding the bit about the Network Card. Like, would I actually network to my computer, and then fine the image through my Laptop? Or could I get an Ethernet Card, download the DSL Image to the HD directly from the 'net to the Laptop, bybassing my Desktop completely, and then use the Boot Floppy, which I need to find time to make, to boot into the Laptop? Or do I have no idea what I am talking about, lol"?

I do have one thing that is bothering me, though, how do I enter the BIOS for the Toshiba? I press DEL on my Desktop to Enter BIOS, but it doesn't seem to work for the Laptop. Probably because Win98 starts loading so fast . . . but is it DEL for the Laptop, or something else?

30 replies since Sep. 16 2005,22:43

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