Sorry but for the 1 billionth time can someone explain. For some reason even after all the googling and looking through forums I can't seem to do it :\

I have the 3 cds of Mandrake 10 downloaded on my comp. I have extracted them into 3 folders. I use Nero 5 burning software, I have 700 mb cdrs. Using the 'data' feature I cant boot from cd, installing a floppy boot for linux and it says those cds are not recognized as mandrake cds.

Ok so I google and i learn about burning images. So I go to file>burn image> select 'all files' >I select 'isolinux' and gives me paramters and such everything is ok, I burn the cd. 1 minute later cd is burned and it only took up maybe 1/15th of the cd.

Any help would be appreciated yes im a core noob that cant even install the easiest distro

What kind of files do you have?
You should have:
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD1.i586.iso
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD2.i586.iso
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD3.i586.iso

Use the burn image, then select the first (Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD1.i586.iso) and burn. Do this for all of em.
Now you'll be able to boot from the 2nd cd if you set the boot sequence right. The rest is cake.

From a ftp that mandrake has I downloaded a folder called Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download. In the folder it contains:

Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download.md5sums.asc
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD1.i586.iso
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD2.i586.iso
Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download-CD3.i586.iso

you want to burn the ISO file. it is rather large, should be about 650mb

i am including the link to the directory for the ISO files for Drake 10

ftp://ftp.umr.edu/pub/linux/mandrake/Mandrake/iso/

you want the files that end in .iso


mandrake is odd that the links for the ISO files are way down, I had to search for quite a few minutes

most distros you can get the ISO's rather readily


I would recomend using a program such as download accelerator... this is going to be a lonnnnnng download.

shane

Why? If you downloaded iso images then just burn as is.

Click File->Write CD Image
point it at your iso.
Burn

You would think I woulda figured that out but nupe hah. Its burning properly now. Thank you so so so so much. Out of curosity what is Mandrakelinux-10.0-Community-Download.md5sums.asc then?

the md5 sums are a unique digital signature for the file. That file has the signature that was generated for each file. If your copies don't generate the exact same md5, they got corrupted in the download. Get another copy. If you're using windows, there is no built in md5sum utility. Get md5summer. If the "hashes" don't match. Don't burn them. They're corrupted in some way.

I use Nero burning software on windows XP. When I try to burn image, i go through all the wizard, but when I start the burn, after a few seconds it stops and tells me that the file is too large for a single CD. Anyone know what's going on? Maybe these mandrake iso's are not to be burned on CD?

In Windows, if you just double click on the .iso files, Nero should open automatically and be all setup to burn the images.
You'll need 700Mb CD-R's.
Make sure you run the checksums on your .iso files prior to burning. If they don't match, your download is corrupted and you'll have to download that file again. If you burn corrupted .iso files, when it comes to install time, they won't work, for obvious reasons.

If you're having trouble downloading the .iso images and you're in the UK, why don't you try buying Mandrake from a supplier?
http://www.cheeplinux.com/cat.pl?ses...age=Mandrake10
They sell various Mandrake packs - the one I'd go for is the 4 Binary CD pack for £10. I've used them in the past and their service is pretty good.

Nero must think your cd is too small. Are you using the 80min/700mb disks? Or are you using the older style 650mb disks?

Ah thanks all for the replys, didn't know there was a CD700mb. Yeah planning to buy the distro CDs but want to try it out before doing that.