Original Post
So I recently built this new system and now i want to put debian on the old one and use its tv-out card to have a tv as a monitor. So i downloaded the dvd set of install discs, because the cd version is something like 9 discs and the dvd version is only 2. That's two 4 gig iso files that i had to download over night. The machine that i am planning to install this on is my p4 1.8 ghz dell with 256 megs of ram and a geforce fx 5200. I got the appropriate debain distribution. The thing is, i cannibalized this one's old harddrive into the new one, and for the old one i found a 4 gig harddrive from an old p2. It has windows 98 on it, and although the bios complains about how the harddisk is not the same, it still boots up in a minimal mode of windows 98 (doesnt detect graphics card so its 16 bit, network card so there's no internet, usb stick since the driver needs updating, or cd rom drive so i can't transfer files to it that way). I tried booting to this computer directly off the dvd, and it does have a dvd rom drive. I made sure to check in bios, and have even tried setting the cdrom as the only boot option, and yet it won't boot from the dvd. I looked around and found that this can be fixed by booting from a floppy with bootable cd loader (this page was help) Great, my new system doesn't have the floppy drive hooked up (cable wouldn't reach) I remember my old computer can't get files from cd, usb stick, or internet, so i can't put the bootloader and fdimage on it to make the boot floppy. Then I remember that i have a knoppix cd! So i boot up knoppix on the old computer, and download the 2 programs i need to use (wow microsoft, an operating system that loads from a cd is vastly superior to one of yours...sorry, just pissed about the $300 i spent on xp) Then i try to fdimage the file onto the floppy. It won't work, but the disc makes sounds like it's working. I copy the two files (fdimage.exe and the floppy image file) directly to the disc, then reboot in windows 98. Windows 98 has an error trying to move the files off of the floppy. I boot back into knoppix, format the disc for DOS, then try to access it. Now it is inaccesible. It is inaccesible in windows 98 too. I break that little plastic pest into about 6 pieces by winging it at the wall. Next, I run out to the local comp store and get a cable to connect my new computers floppy drive. I hook it up, boot up, and insert a new disc, which it promptly tells me it cannot access. This is a brand new pack of floppies, btw. SO THEN I get extremely frustrated. The old comp won't boot off of the dvd, yet it will boot off the knoppix cd. I can't get a floppy disc made to make it boot from the debian disc. What the hell should i do?!?!
