Fuzzymath Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 This is going to sound silly, but I have a machine with no optical drives what so ever. How would I go about installing Linux on this machine? The machine has network access and Windows XP already installed, and I plan on setting it up as a dual boot. Is there a i386 file equivalent in the Linux .iso that I could copy to this machine in Windows, and run via that route? I'm currently downloading a distro now, and I'm not yet able to get into all the files just yet. I'm just a little impatient, and wanting to get this question cleared up while I wait for the download to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsupersonic Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 You could try wubi, which is an ubuntu installer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzymath Posted August 16, 2008 Author Share Posted August 16, 2008 I've seen Wubi suggested before, and it looks interesting. However, I'd rather just have Linux on it's own drive (I've got a second one set aside) and use it's own boot loader to choose between Windows and Linux. I should be able to do this, right? Couldn't be much different than installing Windows from the copied over CD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted August 16, 2008 Veteran Share Posted August 16, 2008 You can do a network install. I know that Red Hat & Fedora support installing from a hard drive file, but you would still have to boot from network, floppy or such. Alternatively, if you can pull the hard drive out, and put it in another computer temporarily, you can perform the install that way, then move the drive back to the original PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esquiso Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 How about an USB install? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Blue01 Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 openSUSE supports a network install Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boktai1000 Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 How about an USB install? +1 I would read up on this if you have a 1 or more gb flash drive handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted August 26, 2008 Administrators Share Posted August 26, 2008 openSUSE supports a network install as does Debian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadaaron Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 $5-20$ optical drive and your done, save that mucking around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR.T Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 $5-20$ optical drive and your done, save that mucking around. Or just yank one out of a different computer temporarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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