Hi there -

I recently bought a set of Debian CDs (official press, non-US version) and attempted 
to get Debian up and running on my old laptop, 
a Dell Latitude LT.

I was wary of the install, as the CD drive connects through the PCMCIA slot, which 
seems to be a notoriously difficult method of 
installation.  However, the CD drive appears to be bootable, and (seeing as I'm not 
too concerned about the laptop) I decided to 
try anyway.  The CD drive booted into the Debian install system just as the manual 
said it would so I had high hopes.  Especially as 
the floppy drive for this thing is knackered, so I was glad to read a full CD install 
wouldn't require a floppy.

However, after partitioning the HD and initialising the root and swap partitions the 
time came to start transferring stuff across 
from the CDs.  I was presented with a choice of installation media, both floppy 
drives, or some network options.  'Install from CD' 
didn't appear on the list.  The manual stated that a full CD install would auto-detect 
the CDs and skip this stage anyway.

Somewhat confused I tried skipping a few stages and getting PCMCIA support up and 
running to try and solve the problem, but as soon 
as I've answered all the questions it throws up (by accepting all defaults) it gives 
an error message ("encountered a problem 
initialising PCMCIA" I think) and drops back to the main menu.

Now that the new partition table is written to disk the laptop will no longer boot to 
windows, so I'm committed.  I don't mind but 
I'm wondering if there is any way to get Debian to recognise the CD drive.  I'm 
slightly puzzled as the CD drive is bootable, so 
why can't Debian find it?

Can anyone out there help?

Many, many thanks,

Henry.

-- 

Henry Todd

Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]


--  
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Reply via email to