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View Full Version : Installing Linux on a PC using a Mac and Floppys?




pretentious
Jun 28, 2003, 09:26 AM
I know some of you guys use Linux, and so I'm hoping that someone could help.
Heres the deal, I'm currently using an older beige Macintosh running Mac OS 8.6, I just got an old PC (HP 200MHZ P1). The computer had Win98 installed but now Windows won't boot. I don't have a Windows disk to fix this, nor the money to buy one if I could even find a 98 disk for sale(XP isn't gonna work).
I'm thinking to format the disk, and to learn use Linux on this computer, however I don't have a CD burner, so I can't use CD iso files.

My Questions, if anyone can help me.
-Where can I find Linux floppy install disks to download? Any distro, but I would like to use KDE or Gnome, I'm not strong in CLIs and would like to use Moz or Konq eventually.
-How can I make these files on to the floppys to boot and install on my PC from my Mac, I doubt it would be just as easy to copy on to the disks and go.
-Is any of what I want to do even possible?

I don't know much about Linux, but would like to learn, so any information would help.



5300cs
Jun 28, 2003, 10:25 AM
Do you have any Linux CDs? For the more popular distros (RedHat & Mandrake) there's a directory called Images, which has floppy images in it. They're called pcmcia and cd and so on. You use a program called Raw Write (should be in the Dosutils dir) to write those images to floppy. Then you can boot off of them.
As for _installing_ from floppies, I don't know of any distro where you could do that; Linux is in excess of 600megs. If you have a fast internet connection you could do a network install...

pretentious
Jun 28, 2003, 11:33 AM
I do have a reasonably fast Cable modem, so whats a network install?

Silly me...I didn't even think of buying a Linux distro, Arn't they like $20-30 at CompUSA.

Gesh I feel stupid now, I guess too much coffee,and it being really late (or early for some) and trying to over think things.

Sorry guys I'm off to the store.