I'm trying to install linux on an old IBM Thinkpad that has no CD Drive. We want to try and do a network install from it and have managed to view a cd share from a XP pc (it currently has Win95 on it). Is it possible to install linux on it with a 574mb hard drive, as that is the size of the hard drive?. How can we then get it to install linux from are XP cd drive, if this is possible?.

Or is there another way to install linux on it, it has a SCSII port, serial ports, and 1 floppy A drive.

Thanks,

Wow. Should be able to be done, but would be much easier ( relatively speaking ) to do a network install. Most distos have a floppy boot image in which you load installation base on 1 to 5 floppies, and then pick up the installation packages from either ftp or http directories.

In Mandriva, instructions for this is in the root of the cd directory called install.htm. Then look for Other installation methods.

In SUSE, this was the only way to get SUSE without paying for media. You can go to ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/README.FTP and read it's instructions for FTP install.

That isnt a lot of hard drive space, so I definately would avoid kde and gnome. May have to just use IceWM or Enlighten. It all depends on what you want to use the laptop for.

I have 3 or 4 linux distros on CD, Arch, Kubuntu, Xandros and Vector Linux. Do you know if there is a boot floppy for these distros, and when it has botted up to do a base instll - is it possible for me to then carry the install on from my XP CD drive?

Thanks,

vector is slackware based,and slack was originally a floppy distro.my solution for my 365x was to use a 2.5-->3.5 adaptor,install DSL on another machine,then do the first boot and config on the thinkpad after swapping the drive back.

I found loads of 2.4->2.5 converters on eBay going for 99p! - I was very tempted to buy one and then take the laptop hard drive out put the converter on it so that it will fit in my main XP machine. Then I was hopefully thinking it would pick up the hard drive from inside XP. Once it had done that, I should beable to install linux on it from my main PC. Then once install, put the hard drive back in.

Will that work?

just connect the lappy drive up solo and boot from the install cd.that way you avoid having xp listed as a boot option when it won't exist after the swap.the main thing to remember is to choose a distro that is flexable enough to recognize the hardware changes.i chose Damned Small Linux for this reason and the fact that the install size is ~500mb.before that i was running slackware 4.0 in text mode (installed from floppy).

my hard drive on the thinkpad is 517MB, will this be enough to install DSL, and how much romm will be left?

I've been tryign to find a new hard drive for it on ebay, but I have had no luck. I don't know much about laptop hard drives, and am unsure on what the max capacity the BIOS can take on this little thing. Do you have an idea on what hard drive and size will work?

i upgraded mine to a 7.8gb drive,but the 16mb of ram is the real killer when running any gui desktop.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

hehe mine has 24mb. Hum, im not to sure if this thing is worth keeping. Alot of the screws are rouned off so I can't actually get into the laptop and get the hard drive out.

on the 365x there are only 3 screws that need to be removed from inside,all you need to do is flip the keyboard up to gain access to them.
with 24mb,fluxbox will run just fine.

Oh, I see the two little hinge type things on the top of the keyboard, and the 3 screws on the underside of the laptop. Ok, i've just undone them and managed to lift the keyboard up. I see 4 main sections. Ok, I just got the hard drive out, quite small that lol. What is the main black block in the middle of the floppy and hard drive?

Also, my laptop attery isnt work at all, im not sure if there is even one in there. Where is the battery and how do I check if its working etc.

on mine the floppy is on the left,hdd in the center,battery on the right.if you're looking at a plastic block,it should be the battery.there is supposed to be a cloth strip attached to it to lift it out.it may be folded under,so a small screwdriver or something similar could be used to pry one side up (probably from the front-closest to the screen).
to check the battery,the easiest way is to unplug it and see if it stays on.it may not be making contact if the cloth strip is folded under,so just pulling it out should let it seat properly and re-charge while plugged in.

Yeh, the battery for mine is in the middle then. I saw the cloth tab and was affriad to pull it incase I broke it. So if I give it a tug it should come out? Now I can see what hard drive it is, what hard drive did you buy for it? just so that I dont buy the wrong one

Jyst taken battery out, and there is a little swith on the back, with

I

O

on it. The switch was poiting at I< which I assume is good as that normaly means on. I've just plugged the laptop in now. Does the actual laptop need to be on, or can I just have power going to it?

thanks,

should just need to be plugged in.mine has an led that is orange when plugged in and green when running from the battery.
the drive i'm using is actually a "bad" 12gb ibm.ibm's drive tools on a bootable floppy let me format the drive and tell it not to use the bad sectors,hence the 7.8gb drive size.
i've never really worried about drive size for linux since once the boot loader starts,bios has nothing to do with it.