[ltp] X31 - Bootable from Adaptec SlimSCSI CDROM?

[Jim Harvey]

Kelvin KAN wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I am thinking of buying an X31.  But it comes standard WITHOUT the 
> docking station, hence w/o the CD drive.
> 
> I've got some Adaptec PCMCIA SlimSCSI cards (both 1460 & 1480 cardbus), 
> and an ext. SCSI CD drive. My questions are:
>    1.  Can the X31 boot from such ext. SCSI CD drive?
>     2.  If I buy an empty docking station (w/o CD drive), may I be able 
> to convert my spare notebook CD drives (many left from old notebooks) to 
> be the int. CD drive of the docking station?  Any add'l electronics 
> required?
> 
> As you know when you play around with Linux you have to re-install OS 
> quite often.
> 
> My previous experience with TP600E was that it could not boot from 
> PCMCIA, even if BIOS had such option.
> 

I doubt you can boot from PCMCIA SCSI.  What you could do is:
have a bootable DOS partition.
1. put a SCSI enabled install kernel and ramdisk file on the DOS partition.
2. use LOADLIN to kick it off.
I've done this on a couple of different laptops (Compaq 5000 series) 
that won't boot from cdrom, and have only one drive bay that's shared 
between CD and floppy, which leaves you the same dilemma.
-- 
     Jim Harvey, Naperville, Ill.   Linux person - WB8NBS/9
            He who dies with the most software wins.