[sf-lug] how to install linux on laptop with no cd drive?

[Michael Shiloh]

On 07/09/2012 12:36 AM, Asheesh Laroia wrote:
> Excerpts from Michael Shiloh's message of Sun Jul 08 22:44:31 -0400 2012:
>>
>>>> * http://www.goodbye-windows.com/
>>
>>> http://goodbye-microsoft.com/
>>
>>
>> I tried installing the first and when it gave errors, tried installing
>> the second which also gave errors. On a whim I rebooted and was greeted
>> with success, but I can't tell you which one it was.
>>
>> Anyway, I proceeded to install Debian almost flawlessly but I think grub
>> was installed on my thumb drive by accident. I had the thumb drive
>> installed due to a missing network driver I had to bring over manually.
>> I left the thumb drive in and when the install process reached grub I
>> noticed lots of activity on my thumb drive - probably the procedure that
>> figured out which disk to load on just went for the first disk, which
>> for some reason was the thumb drive. (I noticed this during disk
>> partitioning.)
>>
>> So I have an almost perfect Debian installation which won't boot due to
>> missing grub.
>>
>> So now I have to revert to plan B  and take the drive out. While I'm at
>> it I may as well install the PLOP boot manager, as Akkana recommended. I
>> can see how that would be very handy.
>>
>> Thanks everyone for your help.
>
> Thanks for your detailed report! I sent it along to one of the maintainers of
> the second one.
>
> Sorry it didn't work out for you, and sad that the thumb drive thing became a
> big issue.

Well it's not like it's a BIG issue, but a great experiment and I 
learned a lot.

I'm pretty sure it was the standard text-based Debian installer that 
didn't ask me where to install grub, and nothing to do with your friend. 
Unless he is interested in verifying that.