Question

Hey guys,

i tried searching for info on this, if you know of a current thread please redirect.

Here is the thing:

I have a really old computer. It is from a school and running Windows NT. The plan is to remove windows and put a very lightweight Linux distro.

The problem is as follows: (I am using a Ubuntu live disk) I go to the boot manager and have the option to use Floppy, PXE, Hard drive. I put the hard drive last, the cd drive is not accessed since Ubuntu live cd isnt launched.

Further, the problem is that, when i get into Windows NT it has everything disabled, cannot use command prompt, cannot access cd drive etc... all permissions taken away.

I need some advice on what do to as far as getting around this. Further, i was wondering of a very small Linux distro that has little to no GUI. just terminal would be best.

Thanks.

Answer 1

One way to fix this is to use: SmartBootManager. You use a Windows utility that has been floating around ~~forever, called rawrite, to write a sbm.bin to the floppy. It can then handle booting the CD. Or, just use a random Linux system and dd(1) sbm to the floppy.

See the Ubuntu SmartBootManager page.

Alternatively, you could install a system like NetBSD that still has a floppy-based installer, but it isn't that much easier.

Answer 2

I've used PXE to boot the Debian installer before on machines which didn't seem able to boot from CD or USB. Details here. You'll need another LAN machine to host a tftp and DCHP server. Once you've got a few installs via PXE under your belt you'll start thinking it's actually easier than burning a CD, since it can be done entirely online (download images, untar to tftp server, config DHCP, power-up client...).

You don't necessarily need a special lightweight distro (unless you have a truly pitiful amount of memory or a fossil of a processor); Debian can be a good fit to old hardware if you don't select the installer's desktop profile (all of Gnome and KDE). Post-install, just manually install xorg and (say) fluxbox and whatever apps you think are lightweight enough.