Quoting Sunil Pandey ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > This may not be the correct place to ask but since it is related > to debian installation, I would ask it anyway. Thing is debian allows a > way to install through existing dos. Now, my comp already has Win-2000 > and that would not let me boot into dos. can someone suggest a way to do > this.
This is precisely the correct place. My answer might not be quite so precise... For linux, you're going to need (at least) two partitions, one for swap and one for linux. Create your swap-sized partition but make it a dos partition and copy the appropriate installation files to it. Make a dos boot floppy and boot from it. Find out what dos has called your dos partition, say X:, and where your files are, presumably X:\. Type X: <- the drive letter cd \ <- the directory loadlin linux root=/dev/ram initrd=disks-1.44/root.bin Do the installation, but choose "Do without a swap partition" when it offers to create one. At some time in the future, whenever you've got your base system installed, and the dos partition is now redundant, vvvv mkswap -c /dev/hdaX (-c checks for bad blocks, choose hdaX appropriately), edit /etc/fstab to add the single line, again appropriately, /dev/hdaX none swap sw 0 0 ^^^^ vvvv swapon -a /dev/hdaX (to make it use it) all as root. Double check the partition name before you mkswap it. (Perhaps mount -t msdos /dev/hdaX /mnt first and then umount /mnt as a check.) Cheers, -- Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: +44 1908 653 739 Fax: +44 1908 655 151 Snail: David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA Disclaimer: These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.