Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Need a small, floppy bootable distro

  • 17-07-2002 10:29pm
    #1
    Robbo
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,581 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I have a P75 lying idle here which I decided today to make into a print server for the house. The problem is that the BIOS won't allow me to boot from a CD.

    What I'm looking for is a small distro (only a 1 gig HD) which can be initially booted from a floppy. RPM based preferred.

    Anyone got any suggestions?


Comments

  • #2
    flamegrill
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,862 ✭✭✭flamegrill


    Any distro can be run off a 1 gig partition and booted from a floppy Rob.

    Try mandrake or redhat if you are new to linux or try debian or slackware if you are already into it.


  • #3
    SkepticOne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,718 ✭✭✭SkepticOne


    Originally posted by Robbo
    I have a P75 lying idle here which I decided today to make into a print server for the house. The problem is that the BIOS won't allow me to boot from a CD.
    To install linux you don't need a bootable CD drive. Most (all?) standard distributions come with a DOS utility that allows you to create an install floppy. You then boot from this and follow the rest of the instructions. Boxed distros normally come with the boot floppy already made but also have the utility on the CD.

    A minimal install of linux should easily fit into 1 gig.


  • #4
    Robbo
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,581 Mod ✭✭✭✭Robbo


    Problem solved.

    Found Rawwrite on a Mandrake CD and am installing a stripped down version of that.


  • #5
    Robbo
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,581 Mod ✭✭✭✭Robbo


    Jesus, I'll be taking MDK 8.2 off that. Imagine the blistering pace of Christmas and slow it down.

    Might as well learn to install BSD or something for a laugh. All I want it for is a web server to test scripts with SSH acccess.


  • #6
    Gerry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,487 ✭✭✭Gerry


    Install freebsd. Its not terribly difficult to install, and will run perfectly on your machine. I've it running on a 486 in college as a firewall, no bother to it.


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    po0k
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,817 ✭✭✭✭po0k


    I haven't a clue as to what is the altest kernel revision or anything.
    URL to a freeBSD iso suitable for a P100?

    Looking to do similar to rob


  • #8
    quozl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,308 ✭✭✭quozl


    they're all the same. just get the official release. it's the same for a 386 or a p4.

    In case ppl got the impression that BSD is inherently better for older spec pcs than linux...
    Something like Debian is a superb server OS, or Slackware. If you want a linux distro for an old pc I'd recommend them.
    Robbo's mistake was using mandrake, which is entirely tailored to being a desktop OS. As such its expected to run on a decent spec pc, and run X. You can of course turn this all off, but thats kind of begging the question, why not start with something like debian?
    quozl
    PS Please dont take this is a call to a distro flame war, it's accepted fact that Mandrake is an end-user/desktop os. It was not designed for old servers.


  • #9
    Difficult
    Closed Accounts Posts: 49 ✭Difficult


    http://people.freebsd.org/~picobsd/


  • #10
    Robbo
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 10,581 Mod ✭✭✭✭Robbo


    I went for Debian (Woody) in the end. Got pissed off with the non-floppy bootable board so I did the install in another machine and fired the drive across then.


Advertisement