booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Hi,

I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.

I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
for the cavalry.

Thanks,
Chuck

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)

                  My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                      See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
                                --------
Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Tyler Littlefield]

USB tricks would be cool, if someone wouldn't mind throwing them in.
I have a laptop that isn't exactly screenless, but the screen dangles by a 
couple wires. I've left it on so the keyboard doesn't fall off.
IN short, it's a great laptop (processor, ram, hd), but it would be better 
with linux. :)
I'd like to get software speech with speakup on it, so I can play around and 
learn the system beyond what I can do with ssh.
I'd really like to make linux my stable platform that I do all, if not most 
of my work on.


Thanks,
Tyler Littlefield
Web: tysdomain.com
email: tyler@tysdomain.com
My programs don't have bugs, they're called randomly added features.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chuck Hallenbeck" <chuckh@ftml.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 1:03 PM
Subject: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?


> Hi,
>
> I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
> laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.
>
> I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
> and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
> sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
> the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
> problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
> might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
> would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
> for the cavalry.
>
> Thanks,
> Chuck
>
> -- 
> The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)
>
>                  My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
>                      See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
>                                --------
> Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup 

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Alastair Irving]

Hi

The only way I could possibly suggest would be to try and boot from cd 
using your bootloader.  However, this will probably involve installing a 
new bootloader with the capability to boot from cd and configuring it 
appropriately.  This should in principle all be possible from within 
windows, but I expect it would be difficult.  Also, if you mess it up 
you could end up not able to boot.  You're probably best waiting for 
someone sighted with access to a screen.

Alastair
Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
> laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.
> 
> I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
> and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
> sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
> the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
> problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
> might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
> would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
> for the cavalry.
> 
> Thanks,
> Chuck
> 

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Thanks, Alastair,

I forgot to mention: and this in in the nature of a confession: 
I don't know how to use Windows, and am not much motivated to learn it
just to replace it. So maybe you are right, getting sighted help.

Chuck


On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 07:15:30PM +0000, Alastair Irving wrote:
> Hi
>
> The only way I could possibly suggest would be to try and boot from cd  
> using your bootloader.  However, this will probably involve installing a  
> new bootloader with the capability to boot from cd and configuring it  
> appropriately.  This should in principle all be possible from within  
> windows, but I expect it would be difficult.  Also, if you mess it up  
> you could end up not able to boot.  You're probably best waiting for  
> someone sighted with access to a screen.
>
> Alastair
> Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
>> laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.
>>
>> I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
>> and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
>> sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
>> the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
>> problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
>> might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
>> would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
>> for the cavalry.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chuck
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)

                  My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                      See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
                                --------
Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Tony Baechler]

What about grub4dos?  I haven't used it, but presumably it runs under 
DOS.  Also, you can install grub to a boot floppy and you could try to 
boot a CD via the floppy with grub.  Finally, I don't know how 
accessible it is and there might be cost involved, but you could look at 
http://www.bootitng.com/ which is also a boot loader.  This is all 
assuming that you can somehow access DOS or a command prompt in Windows, 
or somehow you can at least boot a live CD once to make the boot floppy.

Alastair Irving wrote:
> The only way I could possibly suggest would be to try and boot from cd 
> using your bootloader.  However, this will probably involve installing 
> a new bootloader with the capability to boot from cd and configuring 
> it appropriately.  This should in principle all be possible from 
> within windows, but I expect it would be difficult.  Also, if you mess 
> it up you could end up not able to boot.  You're probably best waiting 
> for someone sighted with access to a screen.

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Gregory Nowak]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Check out sbm, smart boot manager, it should do what you want,
assuming you can hook up a usb floppy drive to the machine, and boot
from it.
I don't see mention of a home page in the package description, but
apt-get install sbm should drag it in for you on a debian system. It
does say in the package description that it can boot from multiple
kinds of media, so maybe you can use a thumb drive, I've only tried it
from a floppy though.

As for the laptop you're describing, I'd guess it's probably the
smalltalk ultra, and they come with xp home installed as far as I
know. Hth.

Greg


On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 03:03:21PM -0400, Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
> laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.
> 
> I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
> and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
> sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
> the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
> problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
> might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
> would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
> for the cavalry.
> 
> Thanks,
> Chuck
> 
> -- 
> The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)
> 
>                   My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
>                       See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
>                                 --------
> Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

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Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAknCno4ACgkQ7s9z/XlyUyABrgCgyGqm+DfOBwlgcaHjg2xwPOfD
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Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Greg,

The sbm package is available in Debian, but I gather it needs to be installed on
the laptop's HD to use it. I must be missing something here.  I'm not
understanding how it can help me, since to put it on the laptop's HD,
I'd need to have Linux running on it already, in which case I wouldn't
need it.

But thanks for the info about the machine.

Chuck
On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 12:35:43PM -0700, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Check out sbm, smart boot manager, it should do what you want,
> assuming you can hook up a usb floppy drive to the machine, and boot
> from it.
> I don't see mention of a home page in the package description, but
> apt-get install sbm should drag it in for you on a debian system. It
> does say in the package description that it can boot from multiple
> kinds of media, so maybe you can use a thumb drive, I've only tried it
> from a floppy though.
> 
> As for the laptop you're describing, I'd guess it's probably the
> smalltalk ultra, and they come with xp home installed as far as I
> know. Hth.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 03:03:21PM -0400, Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I'm hoping somebody might know some real cool tricks for booting a
> > laptop from a CD when the BIOS is not set properly.
> > 
> > I have a screenless laptop from GW-Micro with Windows installed on it,
> > and want to replace the OS with Linux. It's not convenient to get
> > sighted help here to reset the BIOS to allow the CD to take access over
> > the HD, and I bet I am not the first blind guy to have to face this
> > problem. I don't know the Windows version, and don't know which keys
> > might interrupt the boot sequence. Any magic tricks someone might share
> > would be greatly appreciated.  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to wait
> > for the cavalry.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Chuck
> > 
> > -- 
> > The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)
> > 
> >                   My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
> >                       See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
> >                                 --------
> > Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > 
> 
> - -- 
> web site: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org
> gpg public key: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org/pubkey.asc
> skype: gregn1
> (authorization required, add me to your contacts list first)
> 
> - --
> Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
> 
> iEYEARECAAYFAknCno4ACgkQ7s9z/XlyUyABrgCgyGqm+DfOBwlgcaHjg2xwPOfD
> nNkAnjhQ+9jQQuWAMaP29M5U+2iVUctP
> =vCkA
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
The Moon is Waning Crescent (40% of Full)

                  My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                      See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
                                --------
Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.

Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Gregory Nowak]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Chuck and all,

no, sbm doesn't need to be installed on the laptop's hd. You'd install
it on your debian system, and use it to generate bootable media. The
documentation that comes with sbm will explain this in more
detail. I'd suggest installing it, and you can always purge it if you
find for some reason it won't do what you need it to do.

Greg


On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 03:52:15PM -0400, Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> Greg,
> 
> The sbm package is available in Debian, but I gather it needs to be installed on
> the laptop's HD to use it. I must be missing something here.  I'm not
> understanding how it can help me, since to put it on the laptop's HD,
> I'd need to have Linux running on it already, in which case I wouldn't
> need it.
> 
> But thanks for the info about the machine.
> 
> Chuck


- -- 
web site: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org
gpg public key: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org/pubkey.asc
skype: gregn1
(authorization required, add me to your contacts list first)

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Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAknCstgACgkQ7s9z/XlyUyArrwCgnlMnGhBvGMRqsGFOjs/HBmi/
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Re: booting from CD, shortcuts anyone?

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Greg,

It worked just great, once I read the info material. Amazing how
reading the funny manual seems to make software work so much better.

So now I have an archlinux installation started on the laptop with
software speech, very very slick indeed.

My biggest problem was finding a suitable floppy to use. It turns I
have only two in the house. One is defective, and the other is
permanently write protected. So dymo tape came to the rescue,
unprotecting the protected floppy, and the rest was all downhill.

Many thanks for that suggestion. It's a keeper.

Chuck



On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 02:02:16PM -0700, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> Chuck and all,
> 
> no, sbm doesn't need to be installed on the laptop's hd. You'd install
> it on your debian system, and use it to generate bootable media. The
> documentation that comes with sbm will explain this in more
> detail. I'd suggest installing it, and you can always purge it if you
> find for some reason it won't do what you need it to do.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 03:52:15PM -0400, Chuck Hallenbeck wrote:
> > Greg,
> > 
> > The sbm package is available in Debian, but I gather it needs to be installed on
> > the laptop's HD to use it. I must be missing something here.  I'm not
> > understanding how it can help me, since to put it on the laptop's HD,
> > I'd need to have Linux running on it already, in which case I wouldn't
> > need it.
> > 
> > But thanks for the info about the machine.
> > 
> > Chuck
> 
> 
> - -- 
> web site: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org
> gpg public key: http://www.romuald.net.eu.org/pubkey.asc
> skype: gregn1
> (authorization required, add me to your contacts list first)
> 
> - --
> Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
> 
> iEYEARECAAYFAknCstgACgkQ7s9z/XlyUyArrwCgnlMnGhBvGMRqsGFOjs/HBmi/
> ZTwAoMUwfqOh0pkvCjaau1p81T/JXcXo
> =8OmP
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

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                  My web site: www.hallenbeck.ftml.net
                      See also: www.wedit2.ml1.net
                                --------
Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it.