Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 12 Feb 2001 18:02:18 -0500
From:      "David M. Heller" <dheller1@rochester.rr.com>
To:        Odhiambo Washington <wash@iconnect.co.ke>
Cc:        "questions@FreeBSD.ORG" <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Installing FreeBSD without floppies & without CD-ROM
Message-ID:  <3A886B7A.D0537619@rochester.rr.com>
References:  <20010212220447.A41439@poeza.iconnect.co.ke>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Odhiambo Washington wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> I am not a newbie but please lemme ask a newbie-type question.
> A friend of mine wants to cross the floor from M$ to FreeBSD. She has a
> laptop (God knows where this thing came from) called @Book. Yes, that is
> the brand name on it.
> It was given her by a friend without a floppy drive. I do not have a
> CD-ROM with FreeBSD. For one this laptop's BIOS does not allow a setting
> where one can boot from a CD-ROM - I looked at it throroughly but it did
> not have, I swear.
> Now in the absence of a floppy drive I am in a dilemna on HOWTO install
> FreeBSD on this thing.
> I can borrow an PCMCIA Ethernet card from a friend but still I am not sure
> how that will help me. The laptop has Win 98 running.
> Is there a way I can connect it to the LAN, copy the FreeBSD files into
> it, mangle the boot loader then kill Win98 and have it boot FreeBSD
> exclusively? Or will I be committing suicide?
> And just in case she gets bored with FreeBSD and wants to return to M$
> Windows, is there a way to ensure that all this is taken into account, so
> that it will be a painless process??
> 
> TIA
> 
> -Wash
> 
> --
> Odhiambo Washington  Inter-Connect Ltd.,
> wash@iconnect.co.ke  5th Flr Furaha Plaza
> Tel: 254 11 222604   Nkrumah Rd.,
> Fax: 254 11 222636   PO Box 83613 MOMBASA, KE.
> 
> It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago... -Dan Quayle, US
> Vice President
> 
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    Part 1.2Type: application/pgp-signature

I think you will have to actually pull the hard drive out of the laptop
attach a 2.5 to 3.5 ide cable adapter to it and attach to a computer
with an ide controller on it. And install FreeBSD as you normally would.
I had to do this recently with a NoteStar Laptop computer. If you need
to add software later you can setup a FreeBSD PPP server(I assume the
laptop has a serial port?) And go from there. You might actually be able
to install from the PPP server. I know you can do that w/Linux with a
dos program called loadln.exe that will boot up linux, but I don't know
if loadln.exe can boot up FreeBSD. You can download loadln.exe from
Redhat.com or about any other linux site.

-- 
David Heller                                        
dheller1@rochester.rr.com
http://www.mbcrep.com/?47353  
http://teraformahealth.com/tfh/57601.html


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3A886B7A.D0537619>