On Thu, 2003-11-20 at 11:44, Clive Menzies wrote: > On (20/11/03 10:42), Knut Willy wrote: > > I am a novice at Linux. Never used it, but want to teach myself. > > > > 1. Have a Windows-98 PC, which has internet connection. > > Do not intend to use Linux on this one. > > Afraid of having two operating systems on same machine. > If you have a broadband connection and a enough disk space, installing a > dual boot system will be much easier than trying to install the whole > system via floppies. FWIW, I am relatively new to Linux and Debian (my > first distro) and have installed dual booting systems on both Intel and > Mac PC's. It is a steep learning curve but v satisfying. > > > > > 2. Have a portable Compaq PC, (Windows-95) on which I intend to install Linux. > > This Compaq has no internet connection, no CD station. Only a A: station for > > 1,44 mb diskettes. > I guess this is a fairly low spec machine; if you really want to use > this one, installing an ethernet connection (if possible) would be a > better way forward.
Exactly. It's probably not worth the pain to copy the whole Debian stuff manually to your laptop.I'd try it the Debian way, which for me means trying to let the system do the work for me ... :) I'd firstly try to have an open Internet connection for the laptop. And then try to do the install via this Internet connection. Here is a Debian page telling about the floppies you might need: <http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-install-methods.en.html#s-where-files> Not being sure on that: I'd try it with the .../current/images-1.44/bf2.4/rescue.bin and .../current/images-1.44/bf2.4/root.bin You probably have to copy each of these files to a floppy, and IIRC: you boot the machine with the "rescue.bin" floppy (and later insert the "root.bin" one ...) You might need to read the docs on http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst This will give you, AFAICS, an excellent introduction to what will be waiting for you if you decide to install Debian. I tell you very clearly: I don't like the docs on the pages I saw there, although in the end they might be able to help installing a Linux system: I don't think they're straight forward, and sometimes I think they're frustrating: For example, on this page: <http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-rescue-boot.en.html#s-install-from-dos> I read: "Please note, there is currently a loadlin problem (#142421) which precludes install.bat from being used with the bf2.4 flavor. The symptom of the problem is an `invalid compressed format' error." with no explanation that I saw, on how to fix the problem (besides mentioning "#142421" which seems to be related to a bug; but how can a Debian newbie know about this? ...). The basic Debian system was relatively easy to install for me on a powerpc ... the problems came later, when I tried to fine-tune the system .... I know a guy who's writing software for Linux: IIRC it took him about 6 months to fine-tune his latest Debian installation. Debian is a great system. The docs are sometimes not. HTH Best Regards, Wolfgang [ ... ] -- Profile, Links: http://profiles.yahoo.com/wolfgangpfeiffer -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
