Install without a monitor

[bryansmith]

Hey all,

I don't ask very many questions but I'm absolutely stuck here and was wondering if anyone had any solutions.

I have recently acquired an extra computer and want to convert it into a server. The only problem is that I don't have a monitor (both me and my roommate use laptops). With this said, is there any way to install a distro (I'm open to just about any distro if it makes this easier) without a monitor? I've thought about doing it through SSH but I'm not sure how to go about launching an installer. Is that even possible?

Any ideas or am I stuck tracking down a monitor for an afternoon? If you need any more info, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks!

[bigtomrodney]

First thing that comes to mind is a live disk. If you run a DHCP server on your laptop, pop a crossover cable between the server and your laptop and boot a live disk it should pull an IP address from you and you can then ssh into it. You could use Ubuntu or Knoppix disk I guess. I think ssh is enabled by default on the live disks.

Once in, you could enable X forwarding and run a full session remotely on the laptop and kick off the installer from there.

[bryansmith]

Thanks bigtomrodney for the idea .

AFAIK, ubuntu doesn't have an ssh server installed by default. Knoppix might though...

I did some research and found out that it is possible to install Suse over SSH. It states that the article is for 8.1 but it might be worth a shot.

If that doesn't work, I'll give your idea a try.