completely headless installation?

[ab384]

Hi,

My setup is that I have an old P3 box lying around, and a modern laptop, and an internet connection via ethernet (to dhcp server).

I thought I would use the P3 box as a file server or "experimentation area".

There is only one issue: the laptop cannot display any video output that does not originate from it; therefore the installation has to be done entirely without a monitor, ie. via an ssh connection or similar.

The way I plan to do this:
1. Gentoo LiveCD into P3 box; boot (hope it decides to boot from the CD drive or am screwed)
2. Wait for live boot sequence to finish. Using attached keyboard, and gentoo manual, type in "typical" commands blindly to login and start ssh server.
3. Connect to P3 from laptop using ssh. Continue installation onto HD etc. as per normal.

Does anyone see an obvious problem with this plan, apart from the obvious caveat that since I am typing blindly I will be relying on noises and lights from the box to know what it is trying to do? I am not concerned with the data currently on it so accidental data loss is not an issue here. I guess my real question is, is the LiveCD boot-up and hardware detection reliable and robust enough to get it to start an ssh connection over a standard ethernet (8139too compatible controller I think) connection?

[The machine is a Dell optiplex, OPGX110, in case anyone has any data on its hardware compatibility.]

Many thanks in advance...

[nixnut]

[JeffBlair]

You shouldn't have a problem doing that. I belive that Dell uses a 3Com board. But, don't hold me too it. You can look up the hardware if you need to at [url]support.dell.com[/url]. I have an old GX1 that I have turned into a mail server, and I install it just that way. I hook up a keyboard from my KVM, and type in the commands, and then disconnect the keyboard. Just remember to put sshd in the default startup before you reboot. Not like I have ever done that.