Okay I'm hoping someone can help me!
I have two older laptops that are both kinda dead in the water software wise, though the hardware is okay on one and the other one just needs a new CD-ROM. Windows was corrupted on the one and completely wiped by a virus on the other.
So, I've been trying to get Linux installed. I've been wanting to try it anyway, I thought this would be a good way to try it without messing with my Dell.
Problem is I can't get the laptop with a functioning CD ROM to boot from the Kubuntu disc I got (I tried both the 7.04 live CD and the 7.04 for a 64 bit PC disc). The other laptop doesn't have a functional CD ROM drive.
I talked to a guy at a big electronics store here in Chicagoland that does repairs, he suggested getting this adapter to take out the internal hard drive and turn it into an external USB drive that I could read/write from my Dell. So I looked at both drives, cleared them off and formatted them. The one still won't boot from the CD, just shows me the loading screens and stops at the point where it used to say "loading Windows 95"
I'm still kinda confused by a lot of this Linux stuff, but is there a way to set up Linux (or at least set up a bootable installation) on the hard drive while it's a USB external connected to my Dell?
Here's the specs of what I'm working with:
Laptop 1 is a Fujitsu PC dating back to 1997 that originally ran Windows 95. It's got a 4 GB hard drive (I think that was the size), and I believe it's a 133 MHz Pentium processor. It has a functional CD-ROM drive, and there's a floppy drive too but I don't recall where I put it (that's external).
Laptop 2 is a HP Pavilion dating back to late 2001 that originally ran Windows XP. It's got a 20 GB hard drive and an AMD Athlon processor but I forget the speed (I wanna say like 1.4 GHz but I'm not positive). The CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive is dead as a doornail but there is a functional floppy drive. Only problem is I do not have a floppy on my Dell, so I'd need someone to make me a bootable floppy.
Neither laptop has an option to boot from USB, just CD-ROM, floppy (for the HP) and hard drive.
My desktop is a Dell Dimension that's about two years old now, running Windows XP. No floppy drive but a functional CD burner.
I'm pretty good with computers, but I've never used Linux and my head hurts from trying to understand all these different builds and stuff. I've used MS-DOS before, but it's been a while (my first desktop had Windows 3.11 and DOS and I played a lot of DOS-based games...man I miss those!), so working the command prompt doesn't scare me.
So can anyone help me? I really want to get something running on one of these laptops FAST because I want to be able to work on my NaNoWriMo effort somewhere other than my bedroom this month
Right now, until December hits, I'd be happy with a command prompt and some functional word processor (I'm using Q10 for my novel on my Dell, but I also am used to OpenOffice.org).
Thanks in advance!!!!
~MJ~
I have two older laptops that are both kinda dead in the water software wise, though the hardware is okay on one and the other one just needs a new CD-ROM. Windows was corrupted on the one and completely wiped by a virus on the other.
So, I've been trying to get Linux installed. I've been wanting to try it anyway, I thought this would be a good way to try it without messing with my Dell.
Problem is I can't get the laptop with a functioning CD ROM to boot from the Kubuntu disc I got (I tried both the 7.04 live CD and the 7.04 for a 64 bit PC disc). The other laptop doesn't have a functional CD ROM drive.
I talked to a guy at a big electronics store here in Chicagoland that does repairs, he suggested getting this adapter to take out the internal hard drive and turn it into an external USB drive that I could read/write from my Dell. So I looked at both drives, cleared them off and formatted them. The one still won't boot from the CD, just shows me the loading screens and stops at the point where it used to say "loading Windows 95"
I'm still kinda confused by a lot of this Linux stuff, but is there a way to set up Linux (or at least set up a bootable installation) on the hard drive while it's a USB external connected to my Dell?
Here's the specs of what I'm working with:
Laptop 1 is a Fujitsu PC dating back to 1997 that originally ran Windows 95. It's got a 4 GB hard drive (I think that was the size), and I believe it's a 133 MHz Pentium processor. It has a functional CD-ROM drive, and there's a floppy drive too but I don't recall where I put it (that's external).
Laptop 2 is a HP Pavilion dating back to late 2001 that originally ran Windows XP. It's got a 20 GB hard drive and an AMD Athlon processor but I forget the speed (I wanna say like 1.4 GHz but I'm not positive). The CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive is dead as a doornail but there is a functional floppy drive. Only problem is I do not have a floppy on my Dell, so I'd need someone to make me a bootable floppy.
Neither laptop has an option to boot from USB, just CD-ROM, floppy (for the HP) and hard drive.
My desktop is a Dell Dimension that's about two years old now, running Windows XP. No floppy drive but a functional CD burner.
I'm pretty good with computers, but I've never used Linux and my head hurts from trying to understand all these different builds and stuff. I've used MS-DOS before, but it's been a while (my first desktop had Windows 3.11 and DOS and I played a lot of DOS-based games...man I miss those!), so working the command prompt doesn't scare me.
So can anyone help me? I really want to get something running on one of these laptops FAST because I want to be able to work on my NaNoWriMo effort somewhere other than my bedroom this month
Right now, until December hits, I'd be happy with a command prompt and some functional word processor (I'm using Q10 for my novel on my Dell, but I also am used to OpenOffice.org). Thanks in advance!!!!
~MJ~
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