I have an old laptop without any CD drive. (It used to have an external one, but it got broken.) It doesn't have any option to boot from USB, but it does have USB ports and a (external) floppy drive.
I had this problem a bit back ago, and the only way i found to do it is to just drop the cash to get a new drive. Sucked having to buy one but it worked.
1) There is a boot manager that allows booting from USB but you would have to install it to your hard drive (or floppy?). 2) there are cable connector adapters to use laptop drive in desktop system. Pull out the laptop drive, install to desktop and use that adapter, then install Haiku to laptop drive in desktop system, etc. 3) use cd-rom or dvd drive to install. You'll have to buy one.
4th option, remove laptop drive, put it in USB external enclosure, connect to a computer with cd/dvd drive and figure out way to install to it. (I'm not sure if Haiku installer works with USB devices). You can test installing to USB key first to be sure.
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Re: Install Haiku without CD or bootable USB?
I had this problem a bit back ago, and the only way i found to do it is to just drop the cash to get a new drive. Sucked having to buy one but it worked.
Re: Install Haiku without CD or bootable USB?
Well, 3 options I can see.
1) There is a boot manager that allows booting from USB but you would have to install it to your hard drive (or floppy?). 2) there are cable connector adapters to use laptop drive in desktop system. Pull out the laptop drive, install to desktop and use that adapter, then install Haiku to laptop drive in desktop system, etc. 3) use cd-rom or dvd drive to install. You'll have to buy one.
EDIT:
For #1 above, boot manager is called PLoP but there may be others. Here are some instructions for XP & Vista:
http://blog.brothersoft.com/2008/12/09/boot-computer-from-usb-or-cdrom-e...
Homepage with help, tips and install steps:
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html
Re: Install Haiku without CD or bootable USB?
4th option, remove laptop drive, put it in USB external enclosure, connect to a computer with cd/dvd drive and figure out way to install to it. (I'm not sure if Haiku installer works with USB devices). You can test installing to USB key first to be sure.