[NBLUG/talk] Attempting an "ancient hardware" install...

[Lincoln Peters]

On my Debian box (i686), I can use the "fdformat" command on
/dev/fd0h720 or /dev/fd0u720, but after formatting the disk, it spews a
bunch of I/O errors back.  Of course, if this Mac needs an 800K disk,
that's not going to help anyway.

I found this SE at HSC Electronics for $5, so I doubt I can find another
one before the InstallFest.  I do have a PowerMac 6250/100 as well, but
it cannot seem to format a 1.4MB floppy as an 800K floppy.

I don't know why I didn't realize earlier that it was an 800K floppy
drive, since it says so on the back of the SE.  I've also discovered
that the only boot floppies for Debian/m68k are 1.44MB (I thought I'd
seen 720K images, but I might have been confusing them with the
Debian/i386 boot floppies).


As far as I tell, I am down to three possibilities:

1. Find an m68k distro that offers 800K images AND a way to burn them
*without* an old Macintosh.

2. Find a SCSI hard disk or CD-ROM drive that I can install from.  I'm
not sure if it's possible to boot an SE from a SCSI device, so this
might not work.  Is there anyone who is planning to go to the
InstallFest and who has an old SCSI CD-ROM drive (the connector
resembles a parallel port)?

3. There is a port on the back that looks like it would be used to
connect a 5.25" floppy drive to the SE.  I have a dual 5.25" disk drive
on an Apple IIe that looks like it would be compatible (but it's a
low-density drive).  If I could find an m68k distro that would install
from low-density, 360K 5.25" floppies, I might be able to install that. 
On the other hand, it's hard to do *anything* with only 360K these days
(even a kernel doesn't easily fit in 360K).


Any other ideas?  Is it hopeless?  Should I leave it at home when I come
to the InstallFest?

-- 
Lincoln Peters <sampln at sbcglobal.net>