@onfy assuming ide hard drive, compact flash to microsd adapter?
@noiob the laptop is running from a cf card. the problem is when shit hits the fan and you can't boot from it
try installing an operating system without anything to bootstrap!!
@onfy I'd pop the SD card in a computer, mount it in a VM and install on it that way. A hassle but you can image the card afterwards and you'll have something to fall back to
@noiob the worst thing about cool computer hardware is always being unable to use it