Thinkpads Forum

Hello all,
I'd like to install linux (kubuntu 7.10) on my recently acquired X61. I don't have an external cd/dvd drive or the media slice. I've read online about doing a PXE network based installation as an alternative to buying an external cd/dvd drive (which I will need to at least borrow to create a set of recovery disks anyway).

So, is this the best way to try and do the installation sans cd/dvd drive? I have a couple of 1 gig or larger USB keys laying around and I could use them to do the install if that would work as well.

Anyone have any suggestions or experiences to share? Thanks!

method 1:
run the installer from inside windows. this will allow a network install directly against the latest remote ubuntu repositories
http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html
see also:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... romWindows

method 2:
run a local boot server on windows and pxe boot the x61
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... verNetboot
(did not see gutsy netboot.tgz mentioned in that article tho, it's here:
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/ ... s/netboot/
)

in both cases, the network installer will need to download around 700mb of stuff.

!!important!!
also in both cases you'd first need to either use vista's built-in partition resizing to provide some room (not sure if the ubuntu netboot allows gparted/qtparted to work, but it might) or else pxe boot gparted.

personally I've been looking for a way to make a pxe boot server that serves .iso install cd images directly from local hd (sort of a virtual boot image jukebox) but it seems that due to varying iso formats it's ... complicated. and generally have to end up expanding the iso and customizing pxe boot sessions per iso. ugh.

another thing I and many others have been wanting is to be able to boot the livecd on a local machine and have an option to run a boot server that serves up all the local install files from the cd. doesn't exist yet, I think. bleh.

I've successfully made liveusb of slax before, but not ubuntu. no reason why it shouldn't work though.

Thanks for the quick reply! UNetBootin looks like a winner to me. I had been looking around on the web and found lots of pages with manual instructions that were long, however, this looks to be pretty painless and straight forward.

I think I'll give it a try as soon as I get my recovery CD set cut.

I tried unetbootin for Ubuntu 7.10 on my x61t. But after restart the boot choice menu does not show up to select and it directly boots into windows. Any suggestions?

Could fix the above by setting the delay for boot choices in Vista/System Management.

But device repartitoning did not work. Tried to delete the swap file and shadow copies and defragmented, still not able to do a repartitioning vie the Vista HDD manager. Any suggestion?

Another option is to install Linux on the same hard drive as Windows without messing around with the Windows installation. Take a look:

http://goodbye-microsoft.com/

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/install.exe

Although I haven't tried it myself to vouch for it. YMMV.