Re: Libretto and Debian

[Heather <star@betelgeuse.starshine.org>]

> On 07-Sep-2000 Terence Gorender wrote:
> > Hey has anyone put Debian on a Toshiba Libretto 100ct?
> > 
> > Is there a archive of this list I could search?
> 
> installing on the libretto is possible, but difficult due to everything being
> pcmcia.  Best approach is to use the OS curently on it to download the
> installation, then install from the hard drive.

The last two installs I did on librettos (admitted, different models, but
they acted much the same) were rather cramped for space.  On the newer one
booting from floppy and using PCMCIA driven stuff wasn't reasonable because
the floppy is USB-attached.

So, I ended up doing this:
	took drive out of libretto (keep track of lots of ittybitty screws)
	used IDE/PCMCIA card to hook drive onto larger laptop
	partitioned and otherwise force-fed it a working debian system
	cooked a syslinux floppy usin the same kernel the drive does
	put the drive back in the libretto
	booted it off the syslinux (*this* works because it's sucked into
		memory efore being used) pointed at the correct root=
	now that I'm in the system *and* it's in its correct geometry/BIOS
		environment, safe to set up the bootloader.

For the earlier model (a 50?), LILO worked when invoked there, but LILO 
installed via chrooting in while IDE-attached had not.  For the newer model
(1100v), hibernation *insisted* on a FAT filesystem, and I ended up using 
syslinux as local loader too.  

I avoided messing with MS, at the cost of some hardware care and a specialty
PCMCIA card.  You can get an IDE attachment bay from Carry Computers in 
Fremont, CA (www.carry.com.tw).  The much lighter plain-card-with-cable I
also have appears to not be available anymore :(

* Heather * star@ many places...