So I'm in a bit of a pickle ... I have a machine that needs to be repurposed from WinXP to CentOS. I downloaded the CentOS DVD and all then realized ... I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine. It only has USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I can plug in. Bit of a problem. Usually what I do is install via VNC anyway, but that is contingent on me already having something on the machine that allows me to connect to it so that when it boots up, I can edit the boot parameters and enable VNC. I don't have that this time. So, the question is: can I make a DVD image that starts the installer with VNC options set and if so, how do I go about that?
Ashley M. Kirchner wrote:> So I'm in a bit of a pickle ... I have a machine that needs to be > repurposed from WinXP to CentOS. I downloaded the CentOS DVD and all then > realized ... I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine. It only has > USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I > can plug in. Bit of a problem. >Suggestion: check the closets, and people's desks. Certainly, we have a *lot* of crap (i.e., IDE drives, old, OLD SCSI drives) laying around. And eBay's got 'em for $6,99. (No, you can't have mine that I have at home, not until I get a USB one....)> Usually what I do is install via VNC anyway, but that is contingent on me > already having something on the machine that allows me to connect to it so > that when it boots up, I can edit the boot parameters and enable VNC. I > don't have that this time. > > So, the question is: can I make a DVD image that starts the installer with > VNC options set and if so, how do I go about that?Kickstart. I'd say pxeboot, but without a keyboard to tell it to boot off the net, that's a problem. mark
On 12/17/2013 9:52 AM, Ashley M. Kirchner wrote:> I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine. It only has > USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I > can plug in.you can't even borrow a USB key/mouse off another system for the 5 minutes it would take to get things going? -- john r pierce 37N 122W somewhere on the middle of the left coast
Have a look at this: http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/VncHeadlessInstall Chris On Tue, Dec 17, 2013 at 10:52 AM, Ashley M. Kirchner <ashley at pcraft.com>wrote:> So I'm in a bit of a pickle ... I have a machine that needs to be > repurposed from WinXP to CentOS. I downloaded the CentOS DVD and all then > realized ... I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine. It only has > USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I > can plug in. Bit of a problem. > > Usually what I do is install via VNC anyway, but that is contingent on me > already having something on the machine that allows me to connect to it so > that when it boots up, I can edit the boot parameters and enable VNC. I > don't have that this time. > > So, the question is: can I make a DVD image that starts the installer with > VNC options set and if so, how do I go about that? > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >-- Chris Stone AxisInternet, Inc. www.axint.net
Ashley M. Kirchner <ashley at ...> writes:> > So I'm in a bit of a pickle ... I have a machine that needs to be > repurposed from WinXP to CentOS. I downloaded the CentOS DVD and all then > realized ... I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine. It only has > USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I > can plug in. Bit of a problem. > > Usually what I do is install via VNC anyway, but that is contingent on me > already having something on the machine that allows me to connect to it so > that when it boots up, I can edit the boot parameters and enable VNC. I > don't have that this time. > > So, the question is: can I make a DVD image that starts the installer with > VNC options set and if so, how do I go about that? >Kind of "don't raise the bridge, lower the river suggestion:" Pull the hard drive and put it in another system long enough to do the install. As long as the chip architecture is the same (32bit vs. 64 bit), it should work fine. It should work even if one system is Intel and the other AMD. Cheers, Dave