Booting/Installing Linux from PCMCIA drive CF adapter on thinkpad 760xd

Seems like there are a lot of tutorials out there to boot linux from USB drives. pendrivelinux.com seems to be the best site to me. Strangely, I can't seem to find the answer to my question anywhere.

I have a Thinkpad 760XD (circa 1998) with a 3.2 GB HD and 96 MB of RAM. I'd like to install Darn Small Linux (DSL) on it to let the kids have their own in-house netbook. It has a CD drive but no floppy. this thinkpad does not let you boot from the CD, but there is an option in the BIOS to boot from the PCMCIA slot. If I installed DSL on a CF card as per the USB instructions on pendrivelinux, plugged the CF card into a PCMCIA CF card reader, and set the BIOS to boot from the PCMCIA slot, might this work?

I'm going to try this later...I'll update the post with the results. If anyone has any tips or opinions..fire away..

thanks

 

You may even be able to just boot from the CD and install directly to the PCMCIA/CF combo. It should just show up as another drive on the machine.

 

Pitabred

I think you might have missed the main point of my post...booting from the CD is not an option in the BIOS on this antiquated laptop.

Anyhow, I tried setting the boot to the PCMCIA/CF combo and it didn't work. Didn't even see the card. The error message instructed me to enter the BIOS and select the floppy drive!

 

You can chainload to a cd using a floppy.

These look like good starting spots:
http://www.****smalllinux.org/faq.html#floppy
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142409

 

You can chainload to a cd using a floppy.



interesting, but unfortunately, a bit over my head. I'll give a good read to all that material later, but essentially I don't know how I can make a CD drive appear to be a floppy drive AND then load a distro from the CD. Sorry I'm a newb.

 

It's a lot simpler than that.

You're not trying to make a CD look like a floppy. Here's how it goes: You install a bootloader into an actual floppy disk, and insert that along with the OS disk in the machine. When you run the machine, the BIOS will boot the floppy, and then the bootloader inside the floppy will boot the OS disk, thereby circumventing the limitations of your BIOS. (It's like a chain of loading mechanisms, get it? )

I've personally never done it before, but the idea seems straightforward enough. The second URL I posted has instructions for making a generic GRUB floppy loader that is designed to work with any distro. GRUB is pretty easy to manage once you get the hang of it. If you have any questions about the BASH commands in the instructions or GRUB itself, check back here.

 

thanks for the quick reply.

the problem is:

1. The old laptop that I have has no floppy drive. I could possibly find a surplus drive for ~$10-15, but....

2. The slot the floppy drive would go in is where the CD drive lies. In other words, this laptop can only use a floppy OR a CD drive at any one time.

I think I'm out of luck

 

I should have read your post all the way through before replying...

Anyways, a net install sounds like the best option for you. I take it you have other machines available on a LAN? A net install ranks among the most complex solutions, but it's doable. It'd be a valuable learning experience in any case.

 

You might look at Wubi. I think it might be able to boot Linux from a file on your hard drive. I scanned the information on the Wikipedia entry and couldn't really tell.

You might also check (unpostable URL) which states "Install GNU/Linux without any CD, floppy, USB-key, nor any other removable media" which seems to describe your situation to a "T". (I found that by googling "boot linux from windows" and there were other hits that might be useful.)

Sorry, as a noob here I cannot post the URLs but you can do the search yourself.

HTH and good luck!

-hank

(I should look and see if I still have a floppy drive for an old no longer working 760X )