[CLUE-Tech] Serial Install to Laptop?

[Dave Price]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 08:49:06 -0700, Jesse William <jwilliam at gmail.com> wrote:
> hello,
> 
> i've been trying to install linux(suse) on an old laptop(IBM Thinkpad
> 365XD: P1, 16MB RAM, 1G HDD) and unfortunately this laptop has a CD
> drive, but no way to boot from it,  <snip>

Jesse,

In the past, I have had good success in similar situations by 
removing the hard drive from the laptop and hooking it into a desktop
system using a laptop/IDE adapter (these are pretty cheap and easy to
find;  local PC shop or about $2 on ebay).

Best is to plug the laptop drive in place of the primary ide, as
opposed to slaving it, so that drive assignments are the same when you
are done.

Do a very minimal 'base' install on the drive - Debian net install CD
works great for this, since PCMIA services will be put in (then would
be removed later if not needed), other distros may do this as well.

When you get to the point where you would reboot to finish up, power
down and drop the drive back into the laptop

Hope this helps.  Have a lot of fun.

aloha,
dave