Dropping an install on a fujitsu b142

[Azeitonense]

I have a fujitsu b142 in not so bad shape, except for the fact it doesn't come with any drives. no floppy. no cd. it does have USB, but I can't boot from that.
Old BIOS...

I'd like to know if it's possible to "drop" an install plugging the HDD from the lappy directly to a USB on my desktop. and how to do it...

It's above my knowledge league... I haven't even installed OpenBSD yet...

Last thing I could find installed on this laptop series is suse 9.2, but the guy had a usb cd drive. Since I don't fancy Suse I thought maybe OpenBSD could be a nice experience. :p

The thing only has 96MB so I wasn't really thinking of GUI, mostly command...
Just a few tools for reading and editing text files of various forms and maybe a music player...

PS: I might be able to get net unto the bugger, though it might be tricky...
It doesn't boot from net either.. :(

I don't know what to call this kind of install, so i'm a little limited as to what I search for. Flame on! :D

[robbak]

You should be able to do an install with the hdd installed on another machine. The drive should be connected to the IDE connectors for ease, as, if you can install it to a usb device, you will have to alter the config (fstab file, specifically) when you move the drive.

One method that should work is network booting (PXE). I am yet to see a notebook that does not support it. IIRC, the good folks at OpenBSD have got PXE booting licked. You set up a dhcp server to hand out details, a (usually) tftp server to serve the kernel, and a NFS server to provide the filesystem (the guts of an install cd, for instance.) Hmm. It really is less work than it sounds, trust me!

Edit: You had to add the "doesn't net boot" thing, didn't you!

How does using dd (or ghost for unix) to dump an install from another machine to the usb-connected hdd?

[jggimi]

Let me see if I understand this: You have a laptop that can only boot from its hard drive? No other method is possible?

If so, the hard drive has to be moved to another computer. But laptop drives do not use standard connectors; adapters must be used to connect a laptop drive to another computer. There are adapters for IDE/ATA bus connection, and adapters for USB connection.

It might be cheaper/easier to acquire a diskette drive or CD drive... or another laptop.

[ocicat]

I have a fujitsu b142 in not so bad shape, except for the fact it doesn't come with any drives. no floppy. no cd. it does have USB, but I can't boot from that.
Old BIOS...

I'd like to know if it's possible to "drop" an install plugging the HDD from the lappy directly to a USB on my desktop. and how to do it...
As jggimi has already mentioned, you will need to attach whatever hard drive which will end up in the laptop to another machine, & install OpenBSD to the drive there.

Assuming you already have some other operating system installed on another computer's primary hard drive(s), OpenBSD's installation can target whatever hard drive is attached. For more information, you should study very carefully Section 4 of the FAQ found at the following:

http://openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html

[BSDfan666]

It might be possible, if no other method is available, to "dd" copy a disk image to the drive containing the initial MBR bootloader and a bsd.rd kernel. (And preforming a normal install, preparing the disk... configuring network.. etc).

The problem with this is, "reliability", if the installation fails.. or BSD doesn't like the laptop, you won't be able to restore Windows.

If you do decide it's worth it, (and don't care about risking it's current Windows installation.) then prepare a raw disk image via QEMU or something.

[Azeitonense]

The standart method would be to use the usb drives that should've come with the laptop originally... Only I got it second hand, with a broken touchscreen and an hdd that just refused to cooperate.

Since I got it like that, i have no other option other than just use my usb adapter (IDE 3.5 & 2.5, SATA) to drop the install.

I was thinking of dual-booting my Ubuntu install (current) and a OpenBSD install to soon be installed in some free space I have on another drive.
Just to get the hang of things... :D

Since I never had windows to start it's not a problem loosing it...:p

My desktop should turn all OpenBSD if I get it up and running nicelly. By the way... It's an AMD 64 (Venice Core) 3800+ X2, but i'll do a 386 install just to allow the laptop to use it... When I finally get the hdd, someday... :o

[ocicat]

Seeing (what I assume was) your original post on BSDForums:

http://www.freebsdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=298788#post298788

You are certainly welcomed to stay here, but be aware that there is also a Portuguese mailing list for OpenBSD which can be found at the following:

http://www.openbsd-pt.com/

...if you have a preference for communicating in Portuguese. Unfortunately, we only converse in English here.