Ok...I have a dual harddrive system.
it sucks...but works

C: Primary Master - 3gig
D: Primary Slave - 2gig
E: Secondary Master - 24X ATAPI CDROM

ok...first and foremost, I can't install Linux on D:, or C: for that matter....

i put the disk in, and nothing happens, so i open it manually...but it doesnt run, it opens the files...but none constitute with intallations.

The limited instructions told me to make a boot disk...and I did...EXACTLY how they said...nothing else happens...

ok...please give me exact things to do...it would help me out sooo much..

Are you trying to run the install from Windows/DOS???

Yea...Ive tried both Win98 and MS-DOS...but in DOS it doesnt recongnise my E:....

so...

yea, ive been trying for a while now...

Not too sure which Linux ditribution you're trying to install, but if you made a boot disk you need to boot your computer with that disk. You may have to tell your BIOS to use the A: drive as the first boot device. You will also need:

The installation files (cdrom(s), ftp site, or on a readble partition)

Some free space on one of your hard drives.

Coffee.

A bookmark in your favourite browser to www.linuxquestions.org

well, my D: is empty...clean...2.1 gigs usable space...

i have plenty of coffee

already bookmarked...:-P

and, im unfortuanly using redhat 5.2

dont laugh...i got it as a gift...from people that knew very little about pc's....


but, im getting Mandrake soon enough (christmas)

ANYWAY!

So all I should have to do is mess with my BIOS to use A: as a boot thingy?

thats easy enough...why didnt i think of that...


but, does my linux cd have to be in the tray?

does the files on the cd have to be on my HD?

or does it ONLY use an empty HD and a boot disk?

You need a boot disk - your machine starts cold and reads this disk (which contains a bootable kernel image) to start up. Once that happens the install scripts need to install something to somewhere.

The somehting would be the source media (in your case it sounds like a CD).

The somewhere is a hunk of magnetic media (a hard drive with some free space is a good start). You need _real_ free space - not just a DOS or FAT32 file system with lots of room. Linux should be installed on a native Linux parition.

If you have hardware that plays nice then you should be on your way.

well... first... your BIOS should specify the boot in this order : cdrom, floppy, hd.

if it's not in that order, then installing is going to be a major pain... the cdrom needs to be able to boot. keep the coffee warm. triple cappachinos??? are your friends.


...love the sig. by the way