MrMongoose Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 I've found several guides for this and downloads of specific distributions which all seem to very simply tell me how to put Linux onto my pc using a cd. The computer I'm trying to install on doesn't have the luxury of a cd drive. Does anyone know any good distributions that I can install with just one 3.5" floppy. The computer is old so I don't want anything other than a simple efficient version- no GUI, I don't even want to be able to connect it to my network. My requirements are that it should boot up, have directories, be able to run VI (text editor), be able to run scripts, tansfer data to/from a floppy, be able to compile and run programs in fortran77, and optionally fortran 90 as quickly and efficiently (both in terms of RAM and HD space) as possible. There just seems to be too much choice, and very little of it seems to fit my needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 You might want to try Damn Small Linux. --- I might ask, why do you want to bring such suffering on yourself? No GUI and no network, and you want to use floppies??? And you want to use fortran??? I'm not sure whether Damn Small Linux fits on a floppy. If your computer can boot from a USB, you may be able to just copy an install CD iso image to a USB stick. You could always borrow a CD drive from another computer. If your computer can boot from the network (that you don't want to use), you can do that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMongoose Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Thanks, I'll look that up and see if it'll do the job! As for my odd requirements.. Well... The only network socket it has is the old version of pcmia which is incompatible with modern cards, and the old cards cost more than the computer is worth, so network isn't and option really (thus no point filling my HD with the network files) AND it doesn't even have a usb port. So basically, floppy is my only option unless I could transfer a larger version over on several files, install it from the HD and finally delete windows. GUI- as im only going to be editting code having anything other than the simplest text editor seems like a waste of my 50mb of ram and 800mb of HD. Basically I do a lot of work with old fortran code in linux with no gui, so I'd like to set up a similar setup on my really old laptop to have an educational play around when I'm nowhere near a PC which can connect to the server it's all on. Seems even that is too big. This could be more difficult than I thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1veedo Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Damn small Linux is way too large to boot from a floppy Mr Skeptic. Lol I had to laugh you said, " I'm not sure whether Damn Small Linux fits on a floppy." Of course it doesn't 50MB or something is what they advertise and a floppy holds 1.44MB. There are distros of Linux that fit on floppies but you can network boot and it'd probably be a lot easier for you, depending on your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Since you are in need of pain, here is how to install it from floppies: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/install_from_floppy.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMongoose Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 That might help! Though before that, I think I've found an easier one to install, so I'd like to try that... Do you know anything about partitioning? From what I've read I have to delete my primary dos partition then create a new partition before running my boot disk. The only problem is that fdisk (which windows 95 insists i use) wont let me delete my primary partition because its unlocked, but then when I use the "lock c:" command in dos, i get an error message- "locking operation failed" Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 You should be able to partition your hard drive if you run fdisk from a floppy. BTW what is the distro that you found? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMongoose Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 It's called fd (I think thats an acronym for floppy disk) linux. It seems pretty badly documented and out of date, but it pretty much fits my requirements exactly. What do you mean by running it from a floppy? Just copy the exe onto the floppy and run it from there? What difference should that make? This would be so much easier if had more than one floppy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 What do you mean by running it from a floppy? Just copy the exe onto the floppy and run it from there? What difference should that make? If you make a bootable floppy with a copy of fdisk, and boot from the floppy. Windows might have some protection to prevent users from powning themselves, and if that is your problem, booting from a floppy will solve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMongoose Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 I managed to do it in DOS, but thanks for the tip anyway! FDlinux was giving me errors. I'll try a few more then run back crying to you when it fails! I already had a few heart stopping moments when my computer refused to start up, eek! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 do you own a CD drive(internal) cause if you do you could just open it up and put that in till you install linux then remove it again. it would make things so much easier as you could get a more modern distro that is maintained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMongoose Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 Is it that easy to put standard desktop type cd drives into laptops? Especially with this thing being so old... did they even use the same buses back in 1996? This is more difficult than I thought it would be.. I'm not against using the same disk 5 times in a row. It seems that there are tons of distributions that will run off the floppy but not let you set it up on the hd itself. And getting fortran on is looking like a problem too. I'm angry now... no more laptop for a day or so :@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 oh its a laptop... well. that complicates matters. it has a ethernet connection maybe? do a net install of a distro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dak Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 couldn't you put the hdd in a newer laptop with a cdrom, install a light-weight distro, then swap back? It seems that there are tons of distributions that will run off the floppy but not let you set it up on the hd itself. just partition a small area of the hdd, plonk the contents of the floppy(s) on there, and set it as the first bootable, maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 yep, do what dak says, that works in most cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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