an odd request

[bobman500]

hi guys, fun one for you!

my laptop has a totally shattered screen, and so i use it plugged into my TV as a media player. I really want to do a total wipe of it, clean it out, start fresh, but with the cracked screen, i cant see anything! i have my usb startup all ready, i moved all my files onto an external hard drive, but obviously the TV doesnt display the screen's image until it's fully loaded, not during black-and-white startup. Is there any way I can display the startup screen so I can install Ubntu fresh, or is there a way to do it while the system is fully loaded up, OR, if all else fails, could someone literally send me "up, up, enter. Down, left, enter." etc so I can do it blind?

I'm on a Dell Inspiron 1440, only Ubuntu on there, and dont want to save anything.

[iponeverything]

use a serial console.

[snowpine]

Is it your only computer? If not, you can swap the hard drive from computer A to computer B, install Ubuntu, then swap the drive back. You can even purchase a USB drive enclosure/caddy if your 2 computers have different types of hard drive connectors. :)

[bobman500]

Serial console...hard drive swaps...

I'm a very basic user, I just want to be able to either see the screen, or not have to. I have no special consoles or knowledge of computer internals.

[Hakunka-Matata]

She's working with a laptop, we don't really want to disassemble the thing to yank the hard drive I'm thinking.
Borrow a LCD or LED monitor from someone and use it for the install? Edit: If it has an external vga port on it?

[bobman500]

She's working with a laptop, we don't really want to disassemble the thing to yank the hard drive I'm thinking.
Borrow a LCD or LED monitor from someone and use it for the install?

That's probably what I'll end up doing. I just really wanted to get it done tonight so wanted to see if there was a way.
EDIT: And yeah, there's a VGA port that I use to run it through the TV