How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS? Post: 302375590

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Operating Systems Linux How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS? Post 302375590 by highkftj on Saturday 28th of November 2009 11:24:42 AM

11-28-2009

Registered User

How to install linux in a system without cdrom, usb boot, floppy, other OS?

Hello to everyone,

I am new to linux and I want to move to this system after bad experiences with windows.
I have also a particular problem. An old laptop is probably able to handle just linux at this point of its life.

The cdrom is gone, the bios doesn't have usb boot support, there is no floppy or pxe network boot ability, so I was wondering what other way I can have to install linux on a barebone hd (nothing on it).

The only Idea I had was to copy some files on the hd via a ide cable adapter, connecting the laptop hd to the mobo of a desktop. I did the same in the past to install xp: I used msdos 7 to boot the machine and then launch the xp setup from withing the hd (copied before the installation files).

So my question is, can I do the same with linux? in such case, of course I will have a hd formatted with fat32 to boot in msdos, and what files should I copy on this partition to launch the installation?

If this is not the best path to follow and some guru here can advise me a better way I am looking for his helps. I look on the net but everywhere at least they require a previous operative system on it or some kind of boot support (usb, cdrom, floppy...)

Thanks again

highkftj

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LEARN ABOUT OPENDARWIN

installgrub

installgrub(1M) 														   installgrub(1M)

NAME

       installgrub - install GRUB in a disk partition or a floppy

SYNOPSIS

       /sbin/installgrub [-fm] stage1 stage2 raw-device

       The installgrub command is an -only program. GRUB stands for GRand Unified Bootloader.

       installgrub  installs  GRUB  stage  1  and  stage  2  files on the boot area of a disk partition. If you specify the -m option, installgrub
       installs the stage 1 file on the master boot sector of the disk.

       The installgrub command accepts the following options:

       -f

	   Suppresses interaction when overwriting the master boot sector.

       -m

	   Installs GRUB stage1 on the master boot sector interactively.

       The installgrub command accepts the following operands:

       stage1

	   The name of the GRUB stage 1 file.

       stage2

	   The name of the GRUB stage 2 file.

       raw-device

	   The name of the device onto which GRUB code is to be installed. It must be a character device that is readable and writable.  For  disk
	   devices,  specify  the  slice  where  the  GRUB  menu  file	is  located.  (For Solaris it is the root slice.) For a floppy disk, it is
	   /dev/rdiskette.

       Example 1: Installing GRUB on a Hard Disk Slice

       The following command installs GRUB on a system where the root slice is c0d0s0:

       example# /sbin/installgrub /boot/grub/stage1 
		/boot/grub/stage2 /dev/rdsk/c0d0s0

       Example 2: Installing GRUB on a Floppy

       The following command installs GRUB on a formatted floppy:

       example# mount -F pcfs /dev/diskette /mnt
       # mkdir -p /mnt/boot/grub
       # cp /boot/grub/* /mnt/boot/grub
       # umount /mnt
       # cd /boot/grub
       # /sbin/installgrub stage1 stage2 /dev/rdiskette

       /boot/grub

	   Directory where GRUB files reside.

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Evolving			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

       boot(1M), fdisk(1M), fmthard(1M), kernel(1M), attributes(5)

       Installing GRUB on the master boot sector (-m option) overrides any boot manager currently installed on the machine. The system will always
       boot the GRUB in the Solaris partition regardless of which fdisk partition is active.

								    24 May 2005 						   installgrub(1M)