(I)PLOP vs USB 1.1 and (II) PLOP vs PC CARD on Compaq Presario 2100 Notebook PC

[jksmurf]

I am trying to breathe life into my Compaq Presario 2100 Notebook PC by installing Google Chrome Vanilla for the kids.

It has no USB boot, and has 2 x USB 1.1 ports, so I found PLOP, made a CD_ROM from the plpbt-5.0.14 ISO, and had problems with the starfield freezing at the menu, until I worked out how to press u, then played with Force USB 1.1 Mode 1, Mode 2 with no result.

PLAN A - MY USB 1.1 TRIALS

For Mode 1 I got this message

loading UHCI driver
searching on hosts
driver removed
loading EHCI driver
searching on host
host 1
driver removed
BOOT ERROR
NO BOOT DEVICE FOUND, PLEASE RETRY IT

For Mode 2 I got this message

loading EHCI driver
searching on hosts
driver removed
loading UHCI driver
searching on hosts
driver removed
loading OHCI driver
searching on hosts
host 1
driver removed
BOOT ERROR
NO BOOT DEVICE FOUND, PLEASE RETRY IT

I also made a floppy img of 5.0.14, same deal. SO I gave up with USB1.1 and went to plan B

PLAN B - TRY A PC CARD (AS I READ GOOD THINGS ABOUT TRYING IT)

So then I bought a "SYBA" PCA Card with USB 2.0 ports, made an ISO Image on a CD-ROM using ImgBurn from \PLOP\plpbt-5.0.14\pcmcia\plpbt.iso

It uses an NEC uPD720102 USB 2.0 Host Controller Chip.
Holding ctrl on startup gives me this, then hangs.

Loading plpbt.bin.....ready

plop boot manager :
pcmcia start

found PCI to CardBus Bridge
searching pccard
pccard found, searching for USB controllers...

<HANGS>

I've read that if you using Linux Distros you need something to kickstart USB off the PCMCIA card, is the problem the Google Chrome ISO I have on the USB?

What I'd really like to know, should I persist by buying another more well known PC Card => USB 2.0 or is it just likely to be the computer?

Will an older version of PLOP help?

[Elmar]

for linux based systems, you can try plopkexec.

regards
elmar

[jksmurf]

for linux based systems, you can try plopkexec.

regards
elmar

Thank you. Unfortunately I only know Windows, was hoping to test run some Linux builds via USB, as well as Google Chrome. Any advice on the PCCARD or on what else I can test?

[Elmar]

plopkexec is also a boot manager. put it on a cd like plpbt.iso

[jksmurf]

plopkexec is also a boot manager. put it on a cd like plpbt.iso

OK, I did that, but reading the docs it is for "autodetecting and chainloading Linux distributions from USB". I am however trying to get access to a USB drive to autoboot an ChromiumOS Vanilla ISO, which is not a Linux Distribution (I assume) so I don't think it really helps me out too much?