Linux -> Linux reinstall bootstrap ?

[Frank BENNETT <bennett@example.com>]

This may be a question with an obvious answer, but knowing me I could well
spend the better part of a day arriving at it so ...

I have a 486 machine (a Libretto 20) on which some distribution of Linux is
installed.  I want to upgrade this to Debian stable, to bring it into line
with our other Linux machines.

The original install was done by creating a DOS partition on the Libretto,
copying some initialization files there, bootstrapping with a DOS-based
loader, and then installing from archive files that had also been copied
onto this little partition under DOS.  I remember that this was quite a
pain, but since the external floppy is not accessible under Linux, there was
no other choice.

The floppy drive is no longer in my possession (I seem to remember selling
it to someone in London who needed it badly).  Last time I looked, the
Debian installer PCMCIA support was present as a menu item, but completely
broken underneath.

Is there a means, I wonder, of sneaking in a Debian base install, given a
running Linux?
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-x80
Frank G Bennett, Jr         @@
Faculty of Law, Nagoya Univ () email: bennett@example.com
Tel: +81[(0)52]789-2239     ()