System too old to boot installation from CD?

[BZMew2]

I am trying to install redhat 7.1 on a REALLY old system (pentium 120 MHZ, 1.2 GB HD), and I'm not sure if it's "modern" enough to just boot to the installation program when you turn it on. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Do I have to do it manually?

[danrees]

Probably not - your BIOS probably doesn't support CD-booting (an old system of mine was the same).

Follow the install instructions on the CD for booting from floppy, and you'll be fine.

[Yvraine]

If it's got the word "pentium" in it, then it's not really old. Linux, IIRC, can run on computers as old as 386's.

I have a 133mHz Pentium that's perfectly happy running Debian.

If your machine isn't booting from the CD-ROM, you may need to go into the BIOS and tell it that it's supposed to boot from that drive. The order in which it checks for bootable media should be Floppy -> CD-ROM -> Hard drive.

[ColdPack]

Most computers from then won't have the option to boot from a CD. I have an old HP Multimedia pc that, imagine this, wouldn't boot from the cd. A multimedia computer that won't boot from the cd. Sheesh.
Anywho, go into windows (eew!) and put your RedHat 7.1 cd in the drive. Now browse the cd -- go into the "images" directory. You should see a bunch of files that end in .img. I believe the one you want is "boot.img".
Then leave that directory and go into the "dosutils" directory and double click "rawrite" (that's a program to create the boot floppy).
It will ask you what image to create.
Type in, I think, "D:\images\boot.img" (assuming your cdrom is drive D -- replace with the correct drive letter for your cdrom). You can also click on the "Browse" button and browse your way to the boot.img and double click it and it will fill that in the space provided.
It will then tell you to put in a formatted floppy -- do that, then click "Write". When it's done, just reboot the computer with that floppy in the drive.
If your computer doesn't boot up with the floppy, you need to change the boot sequence setting in your BIOS. (Let us know if you don't know how to get into the BIOS Setup -- usually you hit F2 or something just as your computer begins to boot up when you turn it on.) Instead of the sequence being "C:, then A:", change it to "A:, then C:" or something along those lines, then reboot again (with the floppy in the drive).
That should get you started.
Good luck!

Depending on how much RAM you have, the RedHat install may not use the graphical installer but default to a text-based install. It works just as well.

CP

[ 03 August 2001: Message edited by: ColdPack ]

[BZMew2]

The only ones it lets me do are Floppy, HD; CDROM, HD, Floppy; and HD, Floppy. Oh well, CDROM, C, A works fine ;). Thanks a whole bunch!

[danrees]

Don't do CDROM, C, A! If you're system gets corrupted (e.g. with a boot sector virus), you won't be able to boot from floppy disk!

CDROM: A: C is better if you can use it.

[SubPar]

Originally posted by danrees:
<STRONG>Don't do CDROM, C, A! If you're system gets corrupted (e.g. with a boot sector virus), you won't be able to boot from floppy disk!

CDROM: A: C is better if you can use it.</STRONG>
If his system gets a boot sector virus he can always just change the boot order. Besides, many systems with an Award BIOS (like my BH6) don't give the option of CDROM, A, C.

[danrees]

Fair enough. :)

[Thanatos]

Originally posted by ColdPack:
<STRONG>Most computers from then won't have the option to boot from a CD. I have an old HP Multimedia pc that, imagine this, wouldn't boot from the cd. A multimedia computer that won't boot from the cd. Sheesh.
Anywho, go into windows (eew!) and put your RedHat 7.1 cd in the drive. Now browse the cd -- go into the "images" directory. You should see a bunch of files that end in .img. I believe the one you want is "boot.img".
Then leave that directory and go into the "dosutils" directory and double click "rawrite" (that's a program to create the boot floppy).
It will ask you what image to create.
Type in, I think, "D:\images\boot.img" (assuming your cdrom is drive D -- replace with the correct drive letter for your cdrom). You can also click on the "Browse" button and browse your way to the boot.img and double click it and it will fill that in the space provided.
It will then tell you to put in a formatted floppy -- do that, then click "Write". When it's done, just reboot the computer with that floppy in the drive.
If your computer doesn't boot up with the floppy, you need to change the boot sequence setting in your BIOS. (Let us know if you don't know how to get into the BIOS Setup -- usually you hit F2 or something just as your computer begins to boot up when you turn it on.) Instead of the sequence being "C:, then A:", change it to "A:, then C:" or something along those lines, then reboot again (with the floppy in the drive).
That should get you started.
Good luck!
...s well.

CP

[ 03 August 2001: Message edited by: ColdPack ]</STRONG>

that's fantastic! wish I had read this two months ago when I was in the same fix. just wanted to give you a kudos for 'good advice'.

[Choozo]

Originally posted by Thanatos:
<STRONG>that's fantastic! wish I had read this two months ago when I was in the same fix. just wanted to give you a kudos for 'good advice'.</STRONG>

Come on Thanatos, this stuff is very well known for those who actually _read_ the README and INSTALL files in _any_ distro ..... which incidentally too few bother to do.

[VRay]

I'm thinking that maybe some cd roms can't boot from a boot up cd. I have an old p166 that I installed linux on, it would not boot from cd rom until I replaced its cd rom with one I bought recently. Then it booted no problem. The old cdrom was/is detected by the bios. I put the old cdrom back in after install, and am still trying to figure out how to access it from linux.

[bdg1983]

Originally posted by Choozo:
<STRONG>Come on Thanatos, this stuff is very well known for those who actually _read_ the README and INSTALL files in _any_ distro ..... which incidentally too few bother to do.</STRONG>

I couldn't agree more.

There must be around 20% of disk space taken up by Linux for documentation.

man pages
how-to's
application help files
kde/gnome etc. documentation
faq's

Most of the how-to's available at linuxdoc.org are usually installed by default.

Advise to any newbie. Look around your filesystem and you will be amazed with the amount of documentation there is available.