Is there a linux distro that fits on a 3.5 inch floppy that I could use to backup an entire harddrive of an old PC? (1997) It cannot boot from CD. It also has a network card, so it could theoretically download stuff from the internet (or run it from the CD once the floppy-based linux is booted).
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Initiate a CD-boot from the floppy, old Linux distros were able to do so... That brings up memories from a long time ago. You might be lucky googling that. – Hannu May 22 '21 at 08:20
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That would be absolutely ideal. Can you elaborate how to achieve that? It woulf be a very elegant solution to my problem. – Ondrej May 22 '21 at 08:22
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1If you can load but not boot off a cd - there's bootloaders like plop that you can boot off a floppy then use to boostrap a more 'full' OS – Journeyman Geek May 22 '21 at 08:22
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@JourneymanGeek, this was it! Super simple. I downloaded Plop Boot Manager 5 (which is the only one supporting floppy boot) and am already running clonezilla. Please add this as an answer and I will tick it as the solution. Many thanks! – Ondrej May 22 '21 at 08:32
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You'd want to bootstrap the install with a bootloader that'll boot of a floppy and use that to boot an ISO.
While there's other options - the 'older'/'stable' version of plop should let you bootstrap booting into a CD drive or other 'modern' media that the older PC doesn't support, and you can proceed from there.
Journeyman Geek
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