windows to linux burn
 

hi, i was just wondering if there was anything special i needed to do to burn off drivers and apps from my windows comp in order to get it to run on my linux comp. would like to get my linux up and running on the net (and have some sound), but can't until i get my drivers transfered over so any help would be greatly appreciated =).

Do you dual boot, or are the drivers on a different pc? If you are talking about using Windows drivers (hardware) in Linux, then you can't - they use a different language.

well, that's not 100% true, a few (usb-related) linux drivers need copyrighted win drivers to get bytecode from. Still that's unusual, and if needed you will be explicitly told what to get and where to put it.
the best way is to search for <my-hardware linux> on google (e.g. speedtouch adsl linux)

If you have win and linux on the same computer, mandrake setup has probably mounted your win drive somewhere like under /mnt. From a command prompt, try 'locate command.com' ('locate cmd.exe' for nt-2000-xp)

To run win apps on linux you can use wine www.winehq.org
However usually you can find a better linux application for what you're doing!

the problem i have is that the drivers are on another pc and that pc is windows only. what i was wondering is that if i burn off the drivers from the windows comp, will my linux comp be able to read the cd as is or would i need something to change the cd filesystem so the linux comp can read it correctly?

Ravenous - can you provide some specific examples of what you are trying to accomplish? Generally, if you've got Windows apps that you want to run under Linux, you'll need something like Wine, as ac1980 suggested. Furthermore, as XavierP indicated, a Windows driver file most likely isn't going to be compatible with a Linux system, in the same way that a Windows driver file most likely isn't going to be compatible with an Apple system, etc. That being said, if the files you burn to the CD are in a format that is recognized by Linux, then Yes, your Linux box will be able to read your CD just fine (eg, if you had html, jpg, or txt files, etc, and burned them to a CD, you'd be able to access those files on the CD by either a Windows or Linux machine)

To return to your original post, what problem/question are you trying to solve? Are you having difficulty installing Linux, or trouble with getting your internet connection working, or trouble with getting a particular application to work, etc. I suspect that by providing mroe detail you can get more specific responses. -- J.W.

of course: linux can read just about anything but the future: floppies, cds, tapes, usb keys, network shared folders, etc. from nearly any platform, from amiga to winxp ;)
however, when doing viceversa (linux->win) be sure the cd format is joilet (this is usually the default) or you will not see long file names under win

atch! I was late!

ok thanks a bunch guys, just needed to get that cd format thing out of my mind before i started wasting cd's. And if i run into any other problems i'll know who to ask (and I promise i'll be more specific about the problem next time too) =)

IF ur questions is whether u can read a CD writen in windows in linux then u can as CD's have their own filesystem ISO9660 file system.

BUt if ur question is whether linux can read windows device drivers then sorry AFAIK it doesn't