compact disc - Boot CD ROM via floppy?

07
2014-07
  • Questioner

    I have an older computer (1994) and it can't boot from CDROM. How can I install some sort of boot manager that lets me boot from any CD?

    • Answers
  • William Hilsum

    Take a look here - Bart's CD-Rom Boot Disk. When I had a similar issue, I used this. You can generate a floppy disk that will contain the drivers needed to boot off of a CD drive.

    In addition, unless this is for someone else, if it is a machine that you have an old application on, have you thought about virtualisation?

  • Journeyman Geek

    Smart boot manager might be of help


    • Related Question

    laptop - IBM Thinkpad 240 - Best way to boot from floppy to USB - Best Linux for 300 MHz 128 MB RAM 800x600 screen 6 GB HDD
  • Questioner

    Mostly I still have that old 'ultraportable' laptop that is mostly like a pre-netbook era laptop and a friend and programmer needs a computer because the one he was using just broke and he has to wait until the new one arrive in 4-6 weeks ...

    This laptop has no LAN connection and CD-ROM so be prepared for a real challenge!

    All hardware is well supported on Windows XP (included drivers on the Windows XP CD) and on Linux out-of-the-box (but the screen need a special configuration.)

    Mostly any Linux that will work well with Skype (USB or regular headset), any MSN client and a text writer for code will do.

    What I have tested so far: Slitaz 2 don't boot because the floppy of GRUB4DOS don't see the USB drive (fully working and tested on my regular laptop), Damn Small Linux was working but was needing a special screen configuration that I don't remember (in the boot options of the floppy) and now I'm thinking about Puppy Linux that is seen to work totally out of the box with it but I will need an old Puppy version (1 or 2 I think) and the Wakepup floppy ...

    • If you got some ideas to help or to try I'm open!

    • Related Answers
  • Seasoned Advice (cooking)

    Frankly, I think your best bet is Damn Small Linux. It's small and fast and has an active community. Suck it up and try to figure out that display mode you forgot. It will likely be vga=xxx, where xxx is some secret code. Check out the wiki. Alos, read into persisting your settings, so that you don't have to remember stuff all the time.