Install Help for an Old Toshiba 510CDT Laptop

mowestusa · Post by **mowestusa** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:34 pm

I could use some install help for this laptop. The specs follow:

Hard drive: 2.1 gigs
Memory: 32megs
Processor: 133mhz
Boot Options: Floppy Drive or Hard drive, will not boot from CDROM which I have checked in the BIOS which is version 6.90.

What I would like is a minimal install of Linux. It does not have to have an xserver working, but it would be nice, so that I could run ion3. I would be happy if it was CLI only.

Now before everyone suggests DSL, I thought of that. First of all I don't know if that will work because I can't boot from the CDROM in the BIOS, so I might have to use an install method that boots a kernel off of a floppy. Also, although I like DSL, it does a lot of custom configuration that I'm not crazy about. I like Fluxbox okay, but prefer ion3. Also DSL has its own package management, but I would prefer either apt-get (which I believe DSL supports) or simply the Slackware way of doing things. So if you suggest DSL please enlighten me in the ways of turning DSL into more of a Debian system.

So I'm basically wondering if anyone has sources or documentation that you could point to which would explain installing either Debian or Slackware using a floppy and no internet connection. For example can I boot with a floppy, then have access to the CDROM to install packages? Can I boot with a floppy and use a Null Modem cable to connect to a desktop which has the packages I want to install? I know Slackware I could probably get a pretty nice system set up with one or two burned CD's, can one do something similar with Debian or do you need the 25+ CDROM to do a debian install basic install with a few CLI programs and maybe a basic X server (or is DSL the way to do this?)? Also I want to do an install that will be easy to maintain without being attached to the internet because I may not find an answer to the question below. I was even considering maybe I need to go with Netbsd which I know has floppy boot disks and install options for such old computers.

Final question. How do I find either a wireless or wired cards that will work with such an old laptop. There seems to be a lot of issues getting networking cards that work with this laptop when it has Win95 or Win98 on it, but I haven't found a lot of information about cards that would work. Are there differences in the PCMCIA cards that would keep one from working in older laptops?

Thanks for any help. I would love to have a mobile VIM+Aspell+PDF viewer for my work. I'm kind of tied to desktops right now if I want to use some of the Linux tools that I love.

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:40 pm

I would give the Debian Sarge floppy install with Linux 2.4 a try. I don't think Linux 2.6 fits on a floppy disk. You should be able to install a base system from floppy disks, and then install additional packages from CD-ROM. One of the nice things about Debian, is they include every single precompiled binary that they distribute, on CD-ROM.

http://www.us.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst
http://www.us.debian.org/releases/stabl ... 03.html.en
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/ ... nt/images/

mowestusa · Post by **mowestusa** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:40 pm

Wally Balljacker wrote:I would give the Debian Sarge floppy install with Linux 2.4 a try. I don't think Linux 2.6 fits on a floppy disk. You should be able to install a base system from floppy disks, and then install additional packages from CD-ROM. One of the nice things about Debian, is they include every single precompiled binary that they distribute, on CD-ROM.

Actually that is a good point. I believe the 2.4 kernel actually has better support for this old laptop. I was thinking that I would want a 2.4 kernal distro.

Have you ever done a floppy install?
Do you use the floppy and get a minimal install onto the hard disk and get a bootloader loaded into the MBR so that you can reboot and simply apt-get with a CDROM as the source of the deb packages?
Do you know if the Debian team lays out their CD's in such a way that I could get a rather good basic system with like CDs #1-#2 and then if I want some extra programs I could just download the debs, and burn them onto a CD instead of downloading all of the Debian CDs?

Thanks for your help.

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:10 pm

I've never actually done a floppy install, but I would assume the installation procedure is the same as the CD based netinstall, only you'll be booting from floppy, and then instead of choosing to install from a network, you would pick CD-ROM. It would also be possible to just burn packages you want to install onto a CD, and then install them with dpkg after you get a system up and running.

I believe you only need the first CD for an X-less install.

lizerazu · Post by **lizerazu** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:36 pm

but I would prefer either apt-get (which I believe DSL supports) or simply the Slackware way of doing things

Have you considered SLAX? I've only done some preliminary reading on it myself but it seems like a very interesting system. I haven't heard about booting it off a floppy but any project associated with slackware has the potential to be very flexible. I haven't really done the research though.

mowestusa · Post by **mowestusa** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:19 pm

lizerazu wrote:Have you considered SLAX? I've only done some preliminary reading on it myself but it seems like a very interesting system. I haven't heard about booting it off a floppy but any project associated with slackware has the potential to be very flexible. I haven't really done the research though.

SLAX, is an incredible live distro. I don't believe it solves the issue of a non bootable CDROM drive. Although, if I can get a working floppy drive, I might be able to use the "SmartBoot Manager" floppy which gives you the ability to boot from floppy then boot from CDROM. If I can do that then I will be able to boot any install CD, otherwise, I'm looking at a floppy install that gets me a bootable system that I can add to.

SLAX, would not be the best option for the install, for the author even says that it is meant to be run as a LiveCD. Also DSL is probably a lighter weight distro than the "stock" SLAX on this super low end machine.

Actually the real trouble I have right now is that is has Windows 95 installed on it, and it has not way to connect it to my network, and I have heard there are issues using newer PCMCIA cards with this supper old laptop. Also I don't even have a working floppy drive. I ordered one off of ebay that I thought would work, but then when it came the connector is the same type but just a slightly different size. I shouldn't have gone with the cheapest one listed that did not have any models listed with which it worked. So I might have to try again on ebay and see if I get the right one this next time.