The Libretto is a very small PC, about the size of a VHS videocassette, and it presents a couple of challenges when it comes to installing Linux:
Fortunately Debian provides a standard method of booting an install environment on machines without floppies, and once that's installed and a network interface has been configured, the install can continue using FTP or HTTP.
I had a little trouble getting things going, however, so for the benefit of anyone else who wants a go, here's what I did. The 50CT is the most basic of the Librettos. I assume these instructions would also work on newer models. I also assume this process will be valid on many other laptop systems.
I am writing this from memory, so please don't assume everything is 100% correct, and please mail me to correct anything that's wrong.
I bought a PCMCIA network card from a local shop. I turned down a cardbus model, assuming it wouldn't work. It turned out they had a box full of loose 3COM Etherlink III PCMCIA cards, for £10 each. Just the trick.
The next step was to delete as much junk from the Windows filesystem as possible.
Because you're going to defrag this drive, and defrag can't move hidden files or read only files, you need to remove any such attributes. I'm no DOS guru, but I found the files with "dir c:\ /s /a:h" and "dir c: /s /a:r", and reset the attributes using the Windows GUI.
Before biting the bullet and shrinking the filesystem, we need to copy on the Debian install data. You need:
I copied the files from a CD, using a Backpack drive. If you don't have a Backpack, you could get your Network card working in Windows and copy the files using that.
Make a bootable floppy ("FORMAT A: /S"). Copy FIPS.EXE from the Debian tools directory onto the floppy.
First defragment the drive: find C: in "My Computer", right click, properties, tools, defragment.
Shut down and boot from your FIPS floppy. Run FIPS.EXE, and follow the prompts. You should now have some space to put Linux on.
Reboot into Windows, command prompt only mode.
Run "BOOT.BAT" from the boot directory. Select the "vanilla" kernel. This should load Linux and take you into the installer.
RTFM. I don't intend to document the whole install process. I'll just note a few things.
When partitioning, leave 40K or so free at the top end of the HDD. Apparently the Libretto uses this space for hibernation. I haven't dared try hibernating yet...
You need to mount the Windows partition before you try to load any drivers.
I found that starting the PCMCIA system didn't work, and this was the one major stumbling block for the install. In desperation I manually untarred drivers.tgz, which gives you an "install.sh" and a load more .tgz files. I ran install.sh, which returned silently. The next time I went to the "Configure PCMCIA Support" option, and selected i82365, it magically worked.
Once PCMCIA was working, the network card was detected automatically. All I needed to do was set up TCP/IP, and network install could proceed as normal.
If you find there are files missing from the Windows partition during the install, you can always reboot into Windows, put things right, then boot the Linux image again and pick up where you left off.
My install left me with the very bare bones of a system. I have no interest in running X on such a tiny screen. I installed Apache, and a few of the command line tools I can't live without, and it seems to be running like a champ.
My Windows partition is still there, and the only real reason to keep it is that it's the only way I can use the CD drive. If I need the disk space, I can wipe it.
I'd like to find a way to close the clamshell without making the system hibernate, so it can keep serving without the screen being on.
Why have I taken a highly portable toy like the Libretto and turned it into a server? Simply because it's unobtrusive and quiet: my main desktop PC is pretty load, with its CPU fans on both the graphics card and the Athlon 800. I don't want it switched on while I try and watch a DVD, for example.
Other than that, just hack value. I welcome suggestions as to what I could do with the server, beyond the two "hello world" pages that are up there. The basic constraint is that it mustn't take up a lot of bandwidth, because running a server from my home ADSL connection is against my provider's AUP, and although I don't think they would object greatly to a few Kb per day trickling out of port 8080, they wouldn't like to see a lot of hits.
I learned a lot from George Moody's Linux on Libretto page. He installed Red Hat 5, and he includes links to other pages, and strategies suggested by other people.