[SGVLUG] a pxe bootdisk that includes e2fsck?

[Emerson, Tom (*IC)]

> -----Original Message----- Of Sean O'Donnell
> 
> PXE is the only boot option I have for this laptop though, 
> unfortunately. The cd-rom is kaput, there's no floppy drive, 
> and the bios doesn't support usb booting.

By "PXE boot", I presume you mean booting from a network, which implies
you have access to another working machine capable of being a
boot-server, right?  Couldn't you make an NFS share available on the
boot-server which contains the program you're looking for?

> *rant* This is the 2nd optical drive I've seen die on this 
> laptop in 2 years, so I'm reluctant to purchase another from 
> the manufacturer (Pro Star), especially considering they 
> (conveniently) only have the more expensive ($120) DVD-R 
> drive available now, rather than the ($80) CD-R/DVD 'combo' 
> drive. I'd rather spend that money on the new Call of Duty 
> (4)! */rant*  =p

Hmmm... Two things come to mind:

   1) "2nd drive to die in two years", so this is a 2-year-old laptop?
(or did you buy it used?)  For the last 5-ish years, most [granted, not
"all"], laptops have easy access to the hard drive so that you (the
consumer) could pull and replace the drive without cracking open the
case; combined with the choice of /several/ external usb/firewire cases
that play host to a "laptop sized drive" (2.5"), you could pull the
drive out and check it via another system

   2) likewise, even though the /company/ only provides a single
[expensive] feature-starved drive, you'll find that [again, almost...]
all "optical" drives for laptops come in a standard form factor now
(there is a place in pasadena that specializes in selling these drives
at the computer swapmeet in pomona...)  However, some manufacturers will
"disguise" this fact by placing a proprietary connector in the "drive
bay", and encasing the drive in a carrier with the corresponding
connector -- you only need to replace the drive within the carrier with
what you want 

[they sell the drives in two configurations: a "bare" drive and encased
in an external USB carrier -- they even sell the carriers "empty"...]  I
picked up a nice slot-loading DVD-RW/CD-RW combo drive for about $100,
/several/ months ago...