Linux install (No CD-Rom, no USB key)

The_B_Man

Hey guys,
I'm doing a bit of travelling at the moment, and figured I may as well get back into linux and install a distro for a bit of practice, and possibly something for my CV. I've used fedora, ubuntu, red hat and mandrake before, but only for very short periods, so I'd definately still class myself as a beginner.

Now, I never had any problems installing above mentioned distros, however, I always had a CD. Now, I have nothing. Like I said, I'm travelling so can't exactly go next door to a mates and borrow and external CD Drive, and I also do not have a USB or pen drive.

My question is, can I still install Linux (dual boot) without the above equipment?

Also, any recommendations for distros? When I used Ubuntu, I liked it, but thought it had way too much extra apps that I didn't need/use. My understanding is that its built on fedora but auto installs every app available on the disc, as opposed to the fedora install that lets you tick whatever you want.

I've already actually got my hands on the latest Ubuntu ISO so may just stick with that, unless advised otherwise, so really, all I need help with is the install itself.

Any ideas?

stereo_steve

Download ubuntu.

Get a windows program to mount .iso files and then install from within windows using wubi. Wubi is very straight forward and you will see it when you mount the iso.

Installing via will give you a slight performance drop but you don't have to do any partitioning etc

Good luck, any questions just pop them up here

The_B_Man

Well I kinda wanted to have a separate partition for the install. AFAIK theres issues with NTFS and stuff, and I havent got a decent enough laptop for VMware.

also, i just realised I have a Nintendo DS with a TopToy DS....which has a 8gb memory card in it!! I also have a USB cardreader that I can PROBABLY use to boot off the card.

If I mount the Ubuntu iso, will it let me create a separate partition? Or will it only let me install in the Windows partition? (ps is that method the one that just uses the huge single file, that your boot.ini points to?)

/off topic:
pps, i just heard snoring from up in a TREE beside me. I shined a torch at it and it stopped snoring.....rustling ensues and a big huge bat the size of an eagle comes flyin at me!! Ah, I love travelling Oz in a camper van!! Lol

niallb

You won't even need to mount the ubuntu iso. (It must be the "Desktop ISO")
If you put it in the same directory as wubi.exe and run it, it'll do everything else.
It really is your best bet, and if you have the space, offers far less chance of
hosing your windows install under the circumstances.

Sure, it'll be in a couple of big files on your windows partition, but if you can't
think of a way of installing linux on a no CD, no USB laptop using only your
swiss army knife while hanging upside down from the tree with your other hand,
you'll hardly notice that for now.

The NTFS issues were largely very specific, and when installed this way,
linux is NOT writing files to an NTFS partition, it's using a single file of fixed size
as a seperate filesystem. This sidesteps the problems that used to exist.
In addition, linux ntfs support has come on vastly in the last few years.

You should also be able to copy the contents of the ISO file to the cardreader with the DS card in it.
Search for unetbootin for a tool which will help with that, and also allows installation to disk.
Have fun.

GreenHell

I'd go with VMware to be honest. Ubuntu should run fine with 512 meg of ram. Won't be the fastest thing in the world, but certainly the easiest to setup.

niallb

GreenHell wrote: »

I'd go with VMware to be honest. Ubuntu should run fine with 512 meg of ram. Won't be the fastest thing in the world, but certainly the easiest to setup.

I'm guessing here you haven't seen wubi recently!

karlr42

niallb wrote: »

The NTFS issues were largely very specific, and when installed this way,
linux is NOT writing files to an NTFS partition, it's using a single file of fixed size
as a seperate filesystem. This sidesteps the problems that used to exist.
In addition, linux ntfs support has come on vastly in the last few years.

I dual boot Ubuntu with XP, and used to have a Wubi installation, and I have to agree that NTFS support is great nowadays. Never have any trouble reading/writing to my NTFS partition from Ubuntu, as long as XP was properly shut down last time it was used.

If you choose Wubi, bear in mind you can't hard-shutdown Windows or Ubuntu, it can screw up the installation, and you can't use hibernation in Ubuntu either. Those were the two most annoying issues I had with my Wubi installation, so just a heads-up