On Friday 15 March 2002 03:17 pm, you wrote: > "Jaye" == Jaye Inabnit ke6sls <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Greetings: > > Jaye> I just received this laptop for cheep. It has 40mb Ram(max) > Jaye> & 1.2gb hd. The only problem getting linux on it is that it > Jaye> has no floppy. I tried to boot using it's cdrom drive, but > Jaye> the prehistoric bios doesn't look for cdrom, only > fdd> hdd or hdd>fdd. > > Jaye> Looking around for a floppy, I found resale sites wanting > Jaye> over $100 for a silly floppy drive! That is more than I > Jaye> paid for the old laptop. On Ebay, I found several, and they > Jaye> have a small cord with an odd connector. These are going > Jaye> for $2 to $10 and I wonder if there is a way to learn which > Jaye> one would fit this laptop. Toshiba doesn't make it > Jaye> available which fits what. > > I hope you have some version of Windows on your machine. If you are > prepared to install Linux without a floppy look in the Debian > installation guide. It is possible to use LOADLIN to boot Linux from > Windows I believe. > > Be sure to look at Toshiba's web site for BIOS upgrades, though how > you can upgrade the BIOS without a floppy is an interesting question, > unless you have windows. A newer BIOS might allow you to boot from a > CD ROM (since it should just show up as a different IDE device). > > I got a Toshiba Tecra (48M/1.2G) for real cheap ($1) some time ago and > I had a bear of a time getting a PCMCIA and/or a D-Link ethernet card > working in the docking station. I found a lot of very, very useful > information on the Toshiba web site including a BIOS upgrade, and very > detailed user documentation, albeit in very odd formats that required > me to use MS Windows. This is even though the machine in question was > first released about 6 years ago. The Tecra now works (though I had to > patch the SCSI driver to work around a broken PCI bus, hey, it was > only $1 and another $8 for an old SCSI CD ROM drive :-) > > Cheers! > Shyamal
Thanks to Heather, Charlie, & Shyamal for the feedback. I wasn't as clear as I should have been. Currently, win95 runs fine, albeit slow. The pcmcia is working as well as all the other goodies on the laptop. Yes, Toshiba does have a BIOS update, but it does require the image to be copied then booted via a bootable floppy. I don't have floppy > I don't update BIOS :) That is the quandry. I realize I can use loadlin via DOS, but I have that nagging fear that something will go amiss, and here I have a useless laptop without recourse. That is why I wanted to learn more about the external/internal floppies. I can get a factory floppy drive, $139 plus ship & tax. That is not an option. I will only buy a working laptop for that price (yeah, I'm cheap). I really appreciate all your kind words. I might try to install the hd into another working Toshiba, and see if that would work. Then I would have an option if loadlin goes sour. Yet, I would still like to identify useable vs non-useable floppy drives :) thanks again, tatah -- Jaye Inabnit\ARS ke6sls\/A GNU-Debian linux user\/ http://www.qsl.net/ke6sls If it's stupid, but works, it ain't stupid. I SHOUT JUST FOR FUN. Free software, in a free world, for a free spirit. Please Support freedom!
