haha.. this jus shows how newb i am. but anyway.. here's da dealy.. i have corel linux, i hate corel linux.

I've downloaded the i386 iso's for red hat 9 and about to burn them onto cd's.. can i jus burn them as regular data cd's or do i have to burn them a special way?

ISO files are cd image files. If you do not burn them as images, they will not be bootable.

Check the md5sum to make sure the downloads are good.

How To Check MD5sums On A Linux Iso Image
# Cheap CDs
Discount Linux CDs
Linux Central
Cheapbytes
TuxCDs
ComputerHelperGuy

i downloaded the iso files onto a xp laptop because that's the only computer i have with a burner.. is there anyway i can do it with a windows box or do i have to use linux to burn image files?

Windows software will do it but lots of windows users burn coasters because they won't read the help to find out how to burn image CDs. I don't think it's a drag/drop thing.

Sorry, it's been 4 years since I used windows much

You can do it with linux box..use nero or easy cd creater. I find burning cd's to be easier in windows than using linux cd burning softwares such as xcdroast.

Here's how you do it-
With Easy CD Creator:
--------------------
Open Easy CD Creator
Go to "File"
then to "Create CD from disc image"
make sure to change the bottom drop down menu ("Files of type:") to say
"ISO image files"

It will do the rest after you browse to the *.iso file
(Thanks for zacheyer)

With WinOnCD:
------------
you can select a
"track-image" project when you click the New button. So long as you are
in track mode, not file-system mode (how that looks depends on whether
you have 3.0 or 3.5) then dragging a track image file onto the CD window
should accept it as a raw track. WinOnCD uses .RAW as its own
extension
(Thanks Rick Jones)

With Nero Burning Rom:
----------------------
Open Nero.
Close the wizard if it is started automatically.
Go to "File"
then to "Burn Image...".
In the next dialog, click on "Image Files (*.nrg)" and select "All files
(*.*)".
Choose the .iso file and accept.
In the following dialog make sure:
- Type of Image is: Data Mode 1
- Block size: 2048
- Image header: 0
- Image trailer: 0
- All the checkboxes are unactive.
Click "OK".
In the next dialog check that the "write" and "finalize" option are active.
Click on "Write".
(Thanks Antonio Asensi)

With CD-Record:
---------------
CD-Writing HowTo:
http://howto.linuxberg.com/ptHOWTO/CD-Writing-HOWTO

For example:
cdrecord -v speed=4 dev=4,0 mandrake.iso
You get the number on the SCSI bus number with "cdrecord --scanbus"

I find the easiest way to burn is with the command line tools.

# CD burning info
Is it configured and what is the device? Command this to find out:
cdrecord -scanbus
Adding an IDE CD-Writer to Linux
CD Writing HOWTO
# Burn an ISO to disk
cdrecord -v speed=<burning speed> dev=<your device> /path/to/foo.iso
# Burn from disk to disk
cdrecord -v dev=<your device> speed=<burning speed> -isosize /dev/cdrom
# Generate an ISO from a directory.
mkisofs -Jr -o foo.iso /path/to/directory
mkisofs -vrTJUV "Label" -o foo.iso /path/to/directory
# Generate an ISO from a CD
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=foo.iso
Linux MP3 CD Burning mini-HOWTO
# Convert mp3 to wav with lame
for i in *.mp3; do lame --decode $i `basename $i .mp3`.wav; done
# Burn a CD from wav files
cdrecord -v -audio -pad speed=<burning speed> dev=<your device> /path/to/*.wav
# Erase a CDRW
cdrecord -v dev=<your device> speed=<burning speed> blank=fast

# Mount CD iso images
mount /path/to/foo.iso /mnt/iso/ -t iso9660 -o ro,loop=/dev/loop0

very informative ..and I am not being sarcastic.