– Download

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/bf2.4/root.bin

– Download

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-i386/current/bf2.4/linux.bin

– Boot grub with the following commands:

  kernel (hd0,2)/root/root.bin ide0=ata66 initrd=/root/root.bin
  initrd (hd0,2)/root/root.bin

– Gleefully delete the other partitions except for the main XP one (we’ll leave one lying around just in case – it’s only 5G, anyway.)

– Create a 550 MB swap partition as /dev/hda2.

– Create a 5 GB partition for / – this is /dev/hda3.

– Allocate the remaining space for /mnt/data – this is /dev/hda4.

– Carelessly reboot.

– Start panicking.

What are my options?

– Find the hard disk, transplant it to the Vaio, install Linux over

the network, and proceed to have fun.

– Find one of those USB hard disk storage things, transplant the hard

disk into it, then do a debootstrapped install.

– Wait for someone to bring me a USB floppy drive.

– Panic.