Please help

[dragos240]

Hi, i really need some help, i have a really old 4gb dell laptop and it doesnt have a cd drive, i want to know a stable non-gui, linux that will work good here, or some way to install ubuntu via floppy, what can you guys reccomend.

[utnubuuser]

Hi -- have you tried "Damn Small Linux", or "Puppy Linux"? I think they are both Debian based, and small enough to run from floppy.

[dragos240]

Hi -- have you tried "Damn Small Linux", or "Puppy Linux"? I think they are both Debian based, and small enough to run from floppy.

DSL yes, you can boot that, puppy linux on the other hand is about 90 mb where a floppy is nearly 2 mb.

[C!oud]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575456 it's a sticky for a reason ;)

[creek23]

I say try, SliTaz GNU/Linux (http://www.slitaz.org/en/). It's just 27MB. ;)

[Old_Gray_Wolf]

Hi, i really need some help, i have a really old 4gb dell laptop and it doesnt have a cd drive, i want to know a stable non-gui, linux that will work good here, or some way to install ubuntu via floppy, what can you guys reccomend.

What are the other specifications for the laptop, such as, memory, cpu speed, and network support? Although I doubt it, can it boot from a UBS stick? What OS is on the laptop if any?

Edit: I found this http://blueflops.sourceforge.net/ looks interesting.

[I-75]

If you have another laptop, do a "surrogate" install. Swap out hard drives, take the 4 GB hard drive put it in another laptop and install your favorite Linux distro. It can work and unlike Windows, Linux has no issues with swapping out hard drives among different computers.

But....most modern distros require at least 256 MB of ram. If you have only 128 MB ram or less, then try DSL linux or Puppy Linux. Xubuntu is a good choice with 256 MB Ram computers...just use the alternate install version.

[smartboyathome]

If you have another laptop, do a "surrogate" install. Swap out hard drives, take the 4 GB hard drive put it in another laptop and install your favorite Linux distro. It can work and unlike Windows, Linux has no issues with swapping out hard drives among different computers.

But....most modern distros require at least 256 MB of ram. If you have only 128 MB ram or less, then try DSL linux or Puppy Linux. Xubuntu is a good choice with 256 MB Ram computers...just use the alternate install version.

That might not work. I have an 8 year old laptop, and the connection changed somewhat between now and then. I tried doing that once (when I had a spare laptop harddrive for my couple year old laptop), but it didn't work.

[Old_Gray_Wolf]

The OP is getting on the Internet so maybe a network install is possible; however, we will need to know if the old lappy has network capability, and such. Waiting for the OP to respond. :)

[init1]

Hi -- have you tried "Damn Small Linux", or "Puppy Linux"? I think they are both Debian based, and small enough to run from floppy.
DSL won't fit on a floppy

I say try, SliTaz GNU/Linux (http://www.slitaz.org/en/). It's just 27MB. ;)
But there's no CD drive.

I'd install FreeDOS and play games on it.