Linux w/o HDD

[bork[e]]

Picked up a 2500 series Cisco router at the local goodwill a few hours ago, and if you saw my thread from a month or so ago you'll remember I friend of mine gave me a laptop with a borked HDD thinking the computer was "dead". I've yet to find a drive for that computer and I'm not going to spend ~150 bucks for one, so I'm thinking of throwing a simple version of Linux onto a cd and running straight from that.

The only requirement I have is that it supports some type of terminal software so I can manage the router, and I'm sure they all do but I know very little when it comes to this OS. I must admit I have done very little research and atm I'm downloading Knoppix as it was the first option after a google search.

I've seen a few peeps here that seem to be pretty knowledgeable when it comes to linux so I figured I'd give this a try before giving myself a headache trying to find the best one for what I'm trying to do.

(doesn't even have to be linux... just something I can boot from and play around with the router)

[obsidian]

Booting a more traditional distro of Linux from CD will probably be annoyingly slow, so you'll need a no-frills lightweight distro like Damn Small Linux. You can boot it off of a flash drive, at at 50MB, it should be relatively fast. Just don't expect all the fancy features of a normal full blown OS.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

[+JuggerNaut+]

i second damn small

[bork[e]]

Just don't expect all the fancy features of a normal full blown OS.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

That's exactly what I need, thanks to ya both.

[creep]

Slightly offtopic, but what's the issue with finding an HDD? 80gb 2.5 ATA-6 notebook drives are $60, barely more than a drive for your desktop.

[bork[e]]

well, I actually haven't done a great deal of looking around... checked newegg the day I got it and didn't like the prices. I go to the computer goodwill about once a week and pick up random stuff and haven't seen one that would fit this lappy yet... unless I'm a moron and don't understand what drives fit this particular computer (always a possibility with me)

[bork[e]]

On this page, step three it says, "Download "syslinux-3.63.zip" from....". Then it tells me to, "Go to a command prompt and run syslinux for your drive from \win32\syslinux.exe typing:SYSLINUX -ma F:"

I can't get it working, lappy is setup correctly to boot from flash, and this card does support what I'm trying to do. I'm sure I'm just putting the files in the wrong place, but I can't find an article that spells this step out very well. I've tried putting those files straight onto the drive, in a folder named syslinux, and a few other places... when I navigate to the correct folder and execute the file no errors come back, it just goes back to the original prompt where I use the -ma command.

I've never created a bootable flash drive, so maybe I'm not doing something that's very basic the guide doesn't say to do... sorry for the newbness, but I can't get this working.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Do "Method II" trust me, you will find that much easier..

[AmIdYfReAk]

Also remember, any Flashed based product has a limmited Write cycle lifetime.

i.e. if its used in a standard based install and treated like a regular harddrive, i dont see you getting anything more then a few months out of the drive before its dead and gone..

the same applies ( to a less extent ) with the embeded install, but buys you (alot) more time.

[bork[e]]

Haven't tried the 2nd meth. yet, about to wipe this drive again (went to best buy and acted like I was rich and bought some stuff ) so I'll try it again later tonight.

[§ìgñå]

also check out http://www.pendrivelinux.com

I installed the ubuntu 7.10 live cd onto a 1gig flash drive - worked great and was much faster than running from cd.
I got the directions from here, but there was so many edits it was hard to read so I wrote out an easy detailed list:

These directions are assuming you are running xp or vista:

1. Download the ubuntu 7.10 image (.iso) and save to your desktop.
2. Download the latest version of 'syslinux' and save to your desktop: http://syslinux.zytor.com/download.php
3. Insert your (minimum 1 gig) flash drive into your computer. Click on 'my computer' and find your flash drive.
. Note which drive letter your flash drive is: (E,F ?)
. Right click on the flash drive and choose 'format'. (NOTE: THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR FLASH DRIVE).
. Choose FAT filesystem. and hit format.
4. Unzip the syslinux zip to a folder on your desktop.
. open a command window (start > run) then enter CMD and hit enter.
. manually change the directory to \win32\ in the syslinux folder on the desktop: cd desktop\syslinux-3.62\win32
. run syslinux to make the flash drive bootable. type: syslinux -s F: and hit enter. (assuming your flash drive is F: drive).
5. Copy all the files in the ubuntu .ISO file to the flash drive. (DONT COPY THE .ISO FILE, YOU NEED TO OPEN IT AND COPY THE FILES). I used 7-zip to open the iso and extract the files (http://www.7-zip.org), I tried winrar first, but it seemed to hang so i switched to 7zip. Be sure to copy all hidden files and directories. You may have to check 'show hidden files and folders' in your windows folder options.
6. Copy all the files in the flash drive's \install\ directory to the root directory of the flash drive.
7. Rename the isolinux directory to syslinux and the two files in that directory: isolinux.bin and isolinux.cfg to syslinux.bin and syslinux.cfg respectively.
8. Copy the files vmlinuz and initrd.gz from the \casper\ directory to the root directory. (this may not be needed, but do it anyway).
9. Edit syslinux.cfg and change the line: kernel /install/mt86plus to: kernel /mt86plus

The new 8.04 ubuntu is out, but should work the same.