i need some help from computer gurus

[primal1]

i just aquired a used laptop that has a cluttered up version of windows me. i want to start over and wipe out the harddrive and install another os. either linux 9because its free) or i have a 98 laying around. do i need a program to do this. i thought there was a way by rebooting in dos mode and typing "f/" or something like that. its an old toshiba 2100. 400 mghtz. 128mb ram. how hard will it be and how much can i update this.

 

[Methyl1]

i just aquired a used laptop that has a cluttered up version of windows me. i want to start over and wipe out the harddrive and install another os. either linux 9because its free) or i have a 98 laying around. do i need a program to do this. i thought there was a way by rebooting in dos mode and typing "f/" or something like that. its an old toshiba 2100. 400 mghtz. 128mb ram. how hard will it be and how much can i update this.

You need to create a Windows ME startup disk from within the control panel under add remove programs, make sure that the disk has format.exe on thier, if not, you can do a search on your hard drive and locate the file and copy it over to the floppy, then you pop in the floppy and boot off of it and choose the option that has Start windows with command prompt. You get to the command prompt and it will be A:\ and type in C:\ and it will move you to the C: root. At the C:\ type in Format c: and then hit enter, it will ask "Are you sure you want to format" and type in Yes or hit Y and it will start, it might take a while. But once its done reboot and start up off the floppy again and choose the option to "start dos with CD rom support" then you get to the a:\ drive, do a switch to E:\ or D:\ whichever it designated as your cd rom drive and type Setup at the prompt and go from there.

 

[rwill2001]

To convert to linux ust get the install cd's and at the start of the installation you'll get the option to repartition your drives. As long as your not worried about keeping the windows stuff, there is no need to create a boot floppy or anything like that. The install for fedora core 3 is extremely easy.

 

[goldylight]

just get a windows or linux cd and boot off it.

 

[LakeMountD]

400 mhz?!?! whoa, there are cracker jack toys nowaydays with faster frequencies than that j/k hehe

 

[EEmain]

If the 98 is an OEM copy it should boot from the cdrom.. If not get a startup disk here

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

 

[primal1]

i'm not interested in keeping anything on the hard drive. in fact i would prefer it clean. i know 400 mghtz is slow, but a) it was free b) i just need it to make a diognostic reader for my truck. i was looking on ebay and was finding motherboards w/ processors pretty cheap around the 1000mghrtz but i'm not sure if laptops have a generic motherboard format (like a desktops atx) or if each motherboard is built specificly for that model of laptop.

 

[EEmain]

There are bare bones laptops. But you really don`t want to mess with putting these together unless you know what you are doing.


98 will run fine on a 400mhz just make sure there is enough memory..

 

[hoSSo]

The best way to install a clean O/S , is by deleting the partition first, and creating a new one with fdisk. This is not mandatory, but I have found that it causes less problems in the long run if you don't plan on formating and reinstalling windows frequently. Use the same WinMe startup disk that Methyl1 suggested (or you can use a win98 boot disk, which loads much faster, it can be found from the site EEmain posted). Newer operating systems have an option to partition during installation like win2k and winxp, but the older ones you need to do manualy. Its not too complicated, this link pretty much summs everything up:

http://jswe.com/OSinstall.htm

 

[Matthew D]

Like someone said.. I would do the linux on that one.. especially since it has such a slow processor, linux will work great with it