Hi,

First post, and a newbie to Linux ..God help you

I have a Dell C400 that I would like to install Linux onto, however this computer cannot boot from USB, and I don't have the manufacturers floppy or CD drives available.

I would like to go down the route of removing the laptop HD and host on a Windows XP box, with the view to prepping drive, then, the linux installation to be carried out back on the laptop.

Problem is, I dont know how..Can anyone advise on how to carry this out please?

Thanks

Well, I don't usually wimp out on such questions, but in this case, I refer you to the following article on methods to install Fedora.

You need to have a way to boot an install CD disk, floppy, or network installation, even if you "prep" the drive on another system.

You could install Fedora on another system usng a laptop hard drive convertor, then place the drive back in the Dell Laptop, but that is another story. Probably the "host" machine will have video graphics much different than the old Intel video graphics on your laptop, so you would have to overcome that obsticle.

Additionally, you would have to use the laptop hard drive as the primary master drive in the host system, to ensure that the Grub bootloader is set correctly. This way, the hard drive settings in grub will match the drive's designation when placed back in the laptop.

There are workarounds, but not for someone new to Linux.

These methods are not for the faint of heart.