install linux without cd or floppy

[yull]

Hi all

I'd like some expertise here

I have a laptop (old dell PII thing) and I want to install linux on it BUT I don't have the cd rom player neither the floppy disk.

All I could use is a 265 Mg usb key, and a network connection.

I'd like to install debian or red hat, but it looks like in any case a reboot is necessary, and then I'll be facing the eternal question, where do I get the installation working from.

thanks to all for your help top my first quetion on linuxformums.org.

[Roxoff]

Do you know anyone who has a USB CD or DVD ROM drive you could borrow?

[bidi]

I guess if you can boot from USB, you can get a copy of DSL, boot it, partition your drive, copy the basic and necessary files to the hard drive. Will probably be a lot more work that just getting a USB CD drive like suggested.

[xxqq]

See:

http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en..._USB_key_HOWTO

You can download Fedora ISO to hard disk and install it from hard disk. See the installation FAQ / guide.