laptop install without flopy disk

[Emiliano Brunetti]

On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 19:04, Peter Teuben wrote:

> 
> On 2 Jan 2004, Emiliano Brunettti wrote:
> 
> > Hi everybody,
> > 
> > after testing FC1 on my desktop, i would like to install it also on my
> > laptop. However, there is a problem (not strictly related to FC1, but i
> > hope somebody can help).
> > 
> > I cannot boot from floppy disk, since i probably lost my external floppy
> > disk :(
> > 
> > Can't boot from pcmcia cd-rom, and bios doesn't allow boot from usb
> > device.
> > 
> > Is there a way to boot from hard drive and perform a normal fc1 install?
> > I think there should be a way, perhaps create a boot kernel image with
> > pcmcia support and boot normally from hard drive, but i need some hints
> > to do it.
> > 
> > Can somebody help, please? And, please, forgive me if this is a trivial
> > question.
> > 
> > Thanks a lot
> > 
>
> If you really have *no* other boot device left, but the hard drive,
> there is nothing left but using the hard drive!
> 
> It would not be impossible to think of a procedure with virtual hardware
> (like bochs) to start off a linux, modify the bootsector to boot to an
> install partition, which then starts reading media from the hard drive. But
> that presumes an older version of linux already on it (perhaps bochs runs on
> windows too...). Certainly not something for the faint of heart.

Well, this is not a problem. I already have a linux system up and
running on that laptop - sorry about that, i forgot to write this in my
previous email. What i want to do is a fresh new install, but i realized
i have no other boot devices but my hdd.

> So, i'm afraid your only solution left after that is to take the drive out,
> and hook it up via an external HD adaptor to another laptop or deskstop.
> Perform the install on it, and make sure it will write a lilo or grub that
> will be consistent with the configuration in the laptop. I've actually done
> this on occasion, so it does work. THe 3.5<->5.25 IDE adapters can be
> mailordered for well under $10, i think i found mine for $3.50 or so. A
> google search should get you there. Otherwise, if you have the hardware, some
> firewire or usb2 housings may work, but they are more expensive ($50-100).

Well, i don't know whether this could work. I mean, my only boot device
is a legacy floppy disk (that i lost!) and that laptop can't boot either
from PCMCIA or USB. I also tried to get a bios upgrade in order to boot
from usb device, but couldn't find. So i thought of a new entry in grub
with some sort of specific 'install' kernel image to be able to boot and
fire up PCMCIA cd-rom or hdd and the installer program. 
But i don't know if this can be done. Any ideas?

Thanks a lot for your answer.

E.