Bios cannot boot from cd

[champ_rock]

Bios cannot boot from cd... hey guys my motherboard is an oldie and an antique pece which cant boot from cd..... what should i do to install ubuntu..........

also whether dos boot disk will be sufficient

[eskaypey]

netbootinstall? or even install debian via floppy and upgrade to ubuntu.

[champ_rock]

sorry i was not able to understand what u meant by "netbootinstall?"....also i am using LINUX for the first time so it would be really kind of u to please tell me the steps so that i can proceed further......

[somuchfortheafter]

not to offend but what are the specs on this machine, i mean if it doenst support booting from a cdrom drive chances are that it will not support all the features of ubuntu either...

[UbuWu]

The easiest way is to use a smartbootmanager floppy. For instructions look here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SmartBootManagerHowto

[jdong]

not to offend but what are the specs on this machine, i mean if it doenst support booting from a cdrom drive chances are that it will not support all the features of ubuntu either...

That doesn't mean you should give up on installing Ubuntu...

I have a 75MHz system running Ubuntu, and that still does well if you know what software to install.

[Brunellus]

That doesn't mean you should give up on installing Ubuntu...

I have a 75MHz system running Ubuntu, and that still does well if you know what software to install.

OK, I'm *very* interested. How did you get Ubuntu running happily on what must be a 486DX?

[jdong]

I had a PCMCIA NIC. Installed Ubuntu on my desktop (ubuntu-base only, like the 'server' install), booted the laptop with a floppy distro, then scp'd over the base system :)

It amazingly runs X.org with fluxbox, abiword, dillo as web browser, and many other goodies, too. It runs as a competent X terminal to my desktop, too, which is what I use it for the most.

[sonny]

Bios cannot boot from cd... hey guys my motherboard is an oldie and an antique pece which cant boot from cd..... what should i do to install ubuntu..........

also whether dos boot disk will be sufficient
With a windows 98 boot floppy... First put the ubuntu cd inside, then put the win98 floppy in; rebbot and make a floppy boot, when the floppy ask you about cd-rom support then say yes, and that should be all... the specifics I can't tell cuz I'ven't done it for a long time, but I maganed to get Win2000 to some old pc's with that technique... :grin: Hope you manage to figured out the specifics of the process.

[jdong]

With a windows 98 boot floppy... First put the ubuntu cd inside, then put the win98 floppy in; rebbot and make a floppy boot, when the floppy ask you about cd-rom support then say yes, and that should be all... the specifics I can't tell cuz I'ven't done it for a long time, but I maganed to get Win2000 to some old pc's with that technique... :grin: Hope you manage to figured out the specifics of the process.
This will NOT work, because the Ubuntu installer requires a LINUX kernel to be loaded.

[sonny]

This will NOT work, because the Ubuntu installer requires a LINUX kernel to be loaded.
Then he has to look for a Bios-update, or buy a new mobo... cuz it's his/her first time with linux and network boot is not for a linux newbie...

[UbuWu]

Then he has to look for a Bios-update, or buy a new mobo... cuz it's his/her first time with linux and network boot is not for a linux newbie...

No he doesn't, just follow the instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SmartBootManagerHowto

This will give you a floppy from which you can boot and this boots the cd-rom, even if that is not supported by the bios.

[benplaut]

That doesn't mean you should give up on installing Ubuntu...

I have a 75MHz system running Ubuntu, and that still does well if you know what software to install.

specs... give me specs...

i need something to do with my 75MHz 701C ](*,)

[sonny]

No he doesn't, just follow the instructions on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SmartBootManagerHowto

This will give you a floppy from which you can boot and this boots the cd-rom, even if that is not supported by the bios.
Nice... I had never heard of it... why?... it's super cool... just added to my boot floppy collection... does it make every Linux installation to work, or just Ubuntu?.. I want ot presume that ALL distros... right??

[jdong]

It's an El Torito bootable CD-ROM stub... Works well for BIOS-recognized IDE CD-ROMS, not awesome for the retarded laptop CD-ROMs.

[champ_rock]

thnaks for the smart boot manager tip ....... but i tried rawrite to write the smartboot manager on a floppy....problem is that rawrite writes only .img files whereas the smartbootmanager is a .dsk file....what should i do

[UbuWu]

On linux it is as easy as typing:
dd if=image of=/dev/fd0 (where image is the image filename)

On windows... I think renaming it to .img would do? Otherwise try one of the programs from this page: http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/#windows

[CospeFogo]

Try this:

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/rawwrite.htm

EDIT: Oops... didn't notice you had already tried.

[champ_rock]

the thing is this rawrite writes only *.img files and this smart boot manager is a *.dsk file.......................................... if i change the name of smartboot manager to *.img then it writes but the floppy disk is empty ....nothing is in it????????????????? is it a normal thing....that maybe the files r hiden or something

[UbuWu]

is it a normal thing....that maybe the files r hiden or something

Don't know, never used it myself... have you tried if it works?

[andlinux21]

on rawwrite click the drop down arrow where it says *.img and select *.* or all files and then pick the smartboot image it should work i just used it.

[champ_rock]

thanks it runs just perfect..............

[andlinux21]

I used SBM and got the CD to load and install but when it asks to remove the CD and reboot it wont load Ubuntu anyone have this problem???? ](*,)

[andlinux21]

after a bit of googling I found out that the BIOS wont handle that 10G hard drive so I will have to try a smaller hard drive....