Re: [tlug] NEC Trouble (Bootable from floppy?)

[Matt Gushee <matt@example.com>]

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon wrote:

> Can I set up SuSE 9.3 to boot from a floppy?

Sure, any Linux distro can be booted from a floppy. Making a
full-fledged rescue disk is a bit complex, but assuming your system is
intact on the HD you don't necessarily need that *right now*, and maybe
not at all (these days, I think most distros have installation CDs that
double as rescue CDs).

There are several possible approaches, but probably the simplest thing
is to install the GRUB boot loader on the boot sector of a floppy ...
the GRUB documentation isn't the greatest in the world, but you should
be able to figure it out.

Another possibility is to use the Smart Boot Manager floppy from

  <http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm>

(there's something else called Smart Boot Manager, but I don't think
it's related).

With SBM, you download a floppy disk image, put it on a floppy, and boot
with it, and it then lets you select a drive to boot from. This tool has
been around for a while and at one time was the recommended way to
install Debian if your CD-rom wasn't bootable, so I think it's pretty
reliable.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA