Installing Oddworld via Floppy?

[RoryF]

I really hope it's possible, since I have an old Mini-Netbook PC that meets the requirements of AO and AE but the only way to get them on there is by Floppy Disk since I only have a external floppy disk to connect with it. The only other option would be to find a CD drive for it that connects via PCMIA which the floppy does.
In case anyone is wondering, it's a Toshiba Libretto 70CT...

Soon to install it on my friends Palmax PD-1000 Plus, since that actually has USB.

[Nate]

I think you're probably out of luck. Your best bet is to simply buy it again via digital distribution; they only cost a dollar or two.

[Phylum]

The assets are too big to fit on a floppy disk. Unless you want to rewrite the installer and split the CD over several floppies you're better off buying it digitally as Nate suggested.

[mlg man]

Well if you have a PCMCIA port, then why not just buy a PCMCIA Usb Card?

[Paul]

Or over your home network?

[Phylum]

Well if you have a PCMCIA port, then why not just buy a PCMCIA Usb Card?

That's more expensive than buying the games again.

[RoryF]

Well if you have a PCMCIA port, then why not just buy a PCMCIA Usb Card?

Windows 95 doesn't support USB at all.

Would copying all of the CD setup files onto the Hard Disk by copying as much of it as a time into a folder on the notebook and running the setup on the Hard Disk work?

Floppies might contain small amounts of data but I'm sure it's worth a try if it's possible.
EDIT: Yes, I overlooked Phylum's post. I'll try that.

[Nate]

Would copying all of the CD setup files onto the Hard Disk by copying as much of it as a time into a folder on the notebook and running the setup on the Hard Disk work?

It might. Why don't you try it and see?

Though... how are you going to get the files on to your computer if you don't have a CD drive or USB capability? And why the heck are you running Win95?

[RoryF]

It might. Why don't you try it and see?

Though... how are you going to get the files on to your computer if you don't have a CD drive or USB capability? And why the heck are you running Win95?

My main laptop (which I'm typing this in) has USB and CD drive stuff. The way I'm transferring the files is the PCMIA port because that's what the external floppy drive connects by and the Notebook already has drivers for it. Both my laptop and the Toshiba has them. It's running Windows 95 because that's how old the Toshiba is. I'm going to put Doom and Screamer 2 on it soon.

[Phylum]

EDIT: Yes, I overlooked Phylum's post. I'll try that.

My first post? That was a joke. You'd need to decompile the installer to even begin to do that, and even then it's no easy feat.

[RoryF]

My first post? That was a joke. You'd need to decompile the installer to even begin to do that, and even then it's no easy feat.

I misread it, I thought you just meant to copy all the CD files onto multiple floppies and then on the hard disk. Which is what I'm going to do.

[Phylum]

You'd be better off making an ISO, then compressing it into a .rar and splitting it. That way you can just recompile it into one .rar and run the ISO on the new machine.

[RoryF]

You'd be better off making an ISO, then compressing it into a .rar and splitting it. That way you can just recompile it into one .rar and run the ISO on the new machine.

Is there any way of running an ISO on Windows 95? I know WinRAR works on it but I haven't been able to locate a ISO program...

[Phylum]

You don't run an ISO, you mount it.

[Paul]

Hmmm lets be sane here:

Size of data for AO 640mb
Capacity of floppy disk 1.44mb

Number of times you'd have to copy a segment of rar to the floppy = 640/1.44=444.4 times!

Double it because its 444 times write and 444 times read = 888.

Assume writing one full floppy disk takes 30 seconds (likley much longer though, and 1 disk will die after so many reads/writes).

((30 * 888) / 60) / 60 = 7.4 hours.

So.. buy a usb cd-rom, get it from steam or using your home network would take far less time effort and pain :P

[RoryF]

Hmmm lets be sane here:

Size of data for AO 640mb
Capacity of floppy disk 1.44mb

Number of times you'd have to copy a segment of rar to the floppy = 640/1.44=444.4 times!

Double it because its 444 times write and 444 times read = 888.

Assume writing one full floppy disk takes 30 seconds (likley much longer though, and 1 disk will die after so many reads/writes).

((30 * 888) / 60) / 60 = 7.4 hours.

So.. buy a usb cd-rom, get it from steam or using your home network would take far less time effort and pain :P

My AO and AE seem to be 174MB...

The point I was saying was that it doesn't have USB so the CD-ROM thing won't work, Steam is annoying to use, and I don't know how I would connect it to the network.

[Nate]

I don't see why you find Steam so annoying, but if you can connect to the internet, you could buy them from Good Old Games or Amazon.

But if you could connect over a network, you could copy over the disk files from another computer.

[RoryF]

I don't see why you find Steam so annoying, but if you can connect to the internet, you could buy them from Good Old Games or Amazon.

But if you could connect over a network, you could copy over the disk files from another computer.

The reason I said it's annoying is because I have no means of online payment by myself, so it's awkward.
I still don't know how to get it on the network either, the floppies seem like the only option.

[Nate]

Why don't you just install it on another computer?

[RoryF]

Why don't you just install it on another computer?

Because the whole point of this question is so that I can get it on the notebook...

[Nate]

But why? Why not simply throw out the notebook and use a computer worth having?

[Phylum]

Nate speaks words of wisdom.

[RoryF]

But why? Why not simply throw out the notebook and use a computer worth having?

Because it's able to play old stuff on it and it has 3 hours of battery.
Turns out though, it has Windows 98 Second Edition (the guy must've upgraded it) and it also has 32MB RAM instead of 16...
I think I've found a solution though. Since it takes PCMIA cards I found a PCMIA wireless networking card that is for Windows 98 - Windows xp and it's only £6.
Happy me!

[Nepsotic]

trying to be helpful- but if it fails, could you not load the disk onto another computer, move the files onto a USB stick, and ram that home in your drive? presuming it has a USB drive

[RoryF]

trying to be helpful- but if it fails, could you not load the disk onto another computer, move the files onto a USB stick, and ram that home in your drive? presuming it has a USB drive

Well, the notebook has no USBs, but it has Windows 98 Second Edition so it could support them now. Me and my friend are going to hook up a USB CD Drive to his notebook (It's newer and actually has USB) and then send the files using infrared. If not we'll upload them privately on a host and download it onto my notebook since the PCMCIA wireless card has arrived so I should be able to get that working today.

[Nepsotic]

good luck

[RoryF]

Bah, we were so close. We managed to transfer all the cd's setup files onto my notebook however as I suspected the person sold me a disfunctional pc card!
We even tested it in both our notebooks, it didn't work in either of them.
Sending it back and trying a different one, hopefully with more luck this time.

[Paul]

How about plug the hdd into a pc, copy the game onto it, then plug it back in to your notebook?

[RoryF]

How about plug the hdd into a pc, copy the game onto it, then plug it back in to your notebook?

Well, I don't know how is the issue.
And also, I'm weary that doing anything like that would break the thing (it's 14 years old ).

[moxco]

Can you connect an Ethernet cable to the laptop and another computer, enable file sharing, and copy the files across from the latter?