So I have been using Linux a long time now. After Windows 95 no longer did what I wanted, I switched to Linux. Actually, I have now have a new (second hand) computer – a small laptop for moving around. But the thing is, Linux doesn’t boot very quickly for me. So I looked back at Haiku (back chronologically that is – I dabbled in it before and liked it a lot).
This laptop – I want Haiku on it. But it has no CD drive, so how can I install it? I’m on Gentoo Linux – which is always installed from another instance of a Unix-like operating system. Can it be done? Are there instructions somewhere?
For netbooks (laptops without CD/DVD drive) there is an easy way to install Haiku that I use frequently. Download raw Haiku image form http://haiku-files.org/raw/index.php?show=all, transfer it to USB memory stick:
dd if=haiku-nightly.image of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
IMPORTANT: run the command with root privileges. Use your real stick device name instead of /dev/sdb and without partition number (not /dev/sdb1).
After that boot your netbook, select boot menu or from BIOS select to boot from memory stick and proceed with installation as usual.
That would work if the laptop was relatively new, 1-4 years old. If it is any older, then my guess is it needs a BIOS upgrade. But be warned, BIOS upgrades can be dangerous, one bit missing and the thing will not boot.