laptop.cdrom == busted. Linux Floppy-distro?

ginipigginipig OH, NOES
edited May 2004 in Science & Tech
It's an older dell inspiron (p3 500.) It's been sitting in the attic for a few months now. I've decided to revive this aging warrior with the power that is Linux. There seems to be a plethora of dists offered on the web, but I'd like it to support wireless pc-cards (it's only means of connectivity,) and/or cat.cable -> usb detection (provided with isp cable modem) to serve as a firewall/router. It'd be nice if it ran on 1 or 2 floppies; no more.

L.R.P (R.I.P) would've been perfect for this kind of application. :(

Any suggestions guys?

Comments

  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited April 2004
    Do you have a HD to store stuff on? My recommendation would be to pull out the HD, dump the install files for a larger distro onto and install off the hd. Another option might be to do a network install or even just boot up with minimal network support and transfer the install files over. If your NIC supports it you could also do a network boot and load the router files into ramdisk only and then you'd only need a nic / ram/cpu in your laptop :D.

    Other than LRP (which can be configured to support wireless cards no problem and still works great in its current version) I can't suggest anything in that sort of size that's developed to a good point.
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited April 2004
    Trouble is, it's a laptop. I can't find any laptop.hd -> ide converters, and the old p.o.s (dear lord) doesn't have network bootup. Sisela linux (1.68M + Winimage) finds my wireless card + network settings. Trouble is, there isn't much else it can do besides what's indicated on the website. I can't mount any of the hd partitions, and even if I could, I doubt that I can do anything with it (no dev tools.)

    If you have any other suggestions, let me know.
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited April 2004
    http://www.buy.com/retail/computers/product.asp?sku=10344935&loc=421

    That was the first result on google, you can probably find the same thing using that title on sites like newegg. Its a bit of a pain but it gives you the most versatility. Those converters are great to have around for those unexpected problem times. (Great for fixing laptops of female friends and earning lots of points :P).
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    you don't have to have a networkbootable computer to boot to a network. you just have to put a bootrom for you nic onto a floppy
    http://rom-o-matic.net/
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited April 2004
    linksys wpc11 isn't supported (wlan driver, i think) :(
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited April 2004
    you don't have a wired built in port? doh this is getting hard :P.
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited April 2004
    qparadox wrote:
    you don't have a wired built in port? doh this is getting hard :P.

    Very!

    Short of purchasing the ide-converter, and craftily positioning the source tarballs for the o/s, I'm stuck.

    I'm keeping my head up, though. Linux never ceases to amaze me, and I'm sure that there's a way to get it working. I've run into a multitude of *nix based problems in the past, but none that were impossible to figure out. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I could've skewed off into a tangent that would've complicated matters, but it seems that Short-media community-support prevailed once again.
  • Glorious-CommandantGlorious-Commandant
    edited May 2004
    dude slack can be installed fully from flopp. takes 13 of em and a bit of time but i've done it before.
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