The laptop is really old, its a 486DX4, and it has no USB, so the suggestions for that are no good. I cannot find anyone in melbourne that sells oldschool pcmcia network cards, but I do have a null modem sitting around that I use on serial console machines from time to time. I might look into building my own disk to do it. A faster option would be the parralel port, only I don't really have a cable. I think people here are right: I should see about getting an adaptor for the hard drive and using that.
John On 5/2/06, Stuart Henderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 2006/05/02 12:15, John Kintaro Tate wrote: > > I was wondering about installing OpenBSD on a very old laptop (no cdrom) > via > > serial line. I am aware it would take literally ages. > > Transferring the files over serial line shouldn't take /too/ long, > unless the laptop can't keep up with the serial port. Obviously you > need a null modem cable between the boxes. If at all possible use > a cable with rts/cts wired and enable hardware handshaking. > > Suggested manpages: slattach(8), release(8) (since the distributed > ramdisk kernels don't have SLIP, you'll need to build your own > release floppy with the sl device and a copy of slattach; you'll > probably need to trim some unused devices to fit it on a floppy). > > If this isn't your cup of tea, put the drive in a USB adapter or > on a 40-44pin cable, and install it on a standard PC (you'll need to > adjust /etc/fstab to change sdN into wd0 if you use USB; it's a > simple task to learn enough ed(1) to do this and USB adapters are > easier to come by than 40-44 cables). > > If you have the option of using USB or PC-card NIC, that's simpler. > > One last thing - before going to all this trouble, check it's got > enough RAM to be useful. > > -- "There is only one God who creates the universe. This God is my Brain. As the driver of this Brain I have created a universe in which there are innumerable other Gods of equal post-hive autonomy with whom I seek to interest. And my universe was, itself, created by a Higher Level of DivinityDNA, whose mysteries and wonders I seek to understand and harmonize with." - Dr. Timothy Leary, Beware Of Monotheism. http://deoxy.org/bom.htm
