I'm re-installing Linux on an old laptop for a few reasons.

When I try Slackware 10.1, it gets to the point of copying files over the
network, and I get hundreds of frame inconsistency messages, and it just
stops.

When I try Debian Sarge, it gets to the root floppy and gets I/O errors on
it, even though the diskette can be read by another machine and the boot
floppy works great.

Hardware: IBM ThinkPad 750P, 36MB RAM, 12GB HD. LinkSys PCMPC200 wired
16-bit 100Mbps PC Card. No CD drive.

I add "floppy=thinkpad" to the kernel parameters, and it works fine for
Slackware, but it seems to get ignored by debian. There's a "--" in the
debian kernel command line and all parameters after that seem to be
ignored.

Any tips on getting either working are greatly appreciated. More points
for getting XFree86 3.3.6 running, as it's the last version with the svga
driver for the WD90C24 video chip.

Thanks,
Chris