[Cialug] got USB Floppy Drive?

[Tim Champion]

On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 2:21 PM, Tim Champion <timchampion at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Paul Gray <gray at cs.uni.edu> wrote:
>> Aaron Porter wrote:
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 6:41 PM, Tim Champion <timchampion at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> It also has PXE boot option, so if anybody has a PXE network boot
>>>> environment already set up, that might be nice too.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Setting up a PXE environment can be really easy and might be a really
>>> great time investment (most new hardware can PXE, VMware can pxe,
>>> etc). As an example, a Debian server/router on a "spare" subnet (host
>>> ip of 192.168.0.1) to handle Debian/i386 installs:
>>>
>>> apt-get install dhcp3-server tftpd-hpa
>>> cd /var/lib/tftpboot && rsync -av --progress
>>>
>>> ftp.nl.debian.org::debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/
>>> .
>>>
>>
>> Nice and succinct!
>>
>> But why reach all the way over to the netherlands?
>> http.us.debian.org and ftp.us.debian.org are both official rsync servers, as
>> are servers from MSU:
>> ftp.egr.msu.edu and ike.egr.msu.edu which would make a huge difference if
>> you're pulling over Internet2.
>>
>>
>> -PG
>>
>>
>>
>
> Since I didn't get any quick responses, I went ahead and set up a PXE
> "server" at home using a spare PC.  Hooked up the lifebook with a
> crossover cable, and got it to boot Puppy Linux over PXE.  It took a
> lot of trial and error, but I figured it out.  After it loaded the
> kernel, it had access to the USB flash drive, so I put puppy's SFS
> file on the flash drive.
>
> Since puppy linux boots into RAM, it doesn't need the boot medium
> after its initial boot, so set up the wifi, and unplugged it from the
> PXE server, and I'm good to go.  I just have to plug in the network
> cable to the PXE server if I want to boot it again.
>
> I woke my wife up at 11:00 last night when I got it working. She was a
> good sport.  :)  ... acted happy for me!
>
> Tim Champion
> timchampion at gmail.com
>

>>  "to handle Debian/i386 installs"

Ya, and I got Ubuntu's netboot/install to work (before I switched to
Puppy), but I can't install it anywhere since It has no hard drive,
and it couldn't boot from a USB device (except the afore mentioned USB
floppy drive)

That was one of my main problems.  All the PXE boot tutorials I saw
online would exclusivly start an installation process, and I don't
want to install it, I just want to run the OS, loaded over the
network.  ... which is what the puppy PXE boot did for me.


Tim Champion
timchampion at gmail.com