[CLUE-Tech] Serial Install to Laptop?

[Michael Riversong]

RAM is a critical factor here.  You're not saying which version of SuSe
here, but i've noticed it tends to need more resources than some other
distros.

Probably you'd need to go with Debian Potato, Gentoo, or Slackware,
which are more configurable.  Actually the only distro i've managed to
get working on such a sparse machine is Corel, but you don't want to
mess with that, since it's impossible to install any packages that
didn't come with it, and not much is included.

With Slackware, i found the process of making an install boot floppy to
be fairly straightforward.

In my experience, many of these older machines come up with unexpected
problems during and after installation.  This is due to a combination of
a lack of resources and varying standards concerning what's included in
machine BIOS.

On Fri, 2004-11-05 at 08:49, Jesse William 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, and a way to boot from floppy, but
> no floppy drive. my question is, can i install linux from my desktop
> over serial connection? or should i get a networking card first and
> install over ethernet? there is currently no OS installed and i'm just
> looking for the basics so i can take notes in class and maybe use the
> network in lab, would there be a better choice than suse for this? all
> i really need is lynx(no X), pine, vi, bash, networking, bash, etc.
> just the basic stuff.
> 
> thanks!
> -Jesse
-- 
-- Michael Riversong
Teacher, Musician, Bard
Cheyenne, Wyoming
http://home.earthlink.net/~mriversong