Creating a boot disk

[Les Mikesell]

On Fri, 2005-03-18 at 07:44, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> > I am trying to install Linux on a computer that does not have a CD drive,
> > so how do I create a Linux boot disk from the ISO images?

> I don't know why the Fedora people don't include a small kernel 
> on a floppy image - it would be perfectly simple.
> In fact, if you compile your own kernel,
> and don't choose too many modules,
> the kernel and initrd _will_ fit on a floppy.

The easy way now for most machines is to get one of those USB flash
drives or a USB adapter for compact flash or SD cards.  I use the
latter with an old 8 MB card from a camera that is too small to
be good for much else. 

Download the iso images to a directory that is NFS exported.
Use 'mount -o loop ...' to mount the first disk image locally
so you can see the contents.  Copy the images/diskboot.img to
the flash device.  Then boot the target machine via USB  and
do an NFS install, filling in the details of your exported
directory.  As long as the machine will boot from USB, this
is much easier than the multiple floppies you need to get both
the kernel and network up.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
    les at futuresource.com