CDROM reading
 

Hey, is there a command to run a CD? So it'll load just like it would if you booted from CD? So, like. If you put an install disk in, and boot from CDROM, it'd load the install program. Is there a command to do that same effect? Like "sudo run /cdrom" or something?

:scratch:

if your talking about booting the computer from the cd drive:
you have to go into bios and change boot disk priorty and orders

if your talking about, say for ex, u have a program (openOffice.org setup on cd), u put in the cd and mount it.. then cd to that dir and execute the script/executable file..

does that answer anything?

Sort of.. Okay, i'm running on a Gallantry server, and I can't set the Bios to boot from CDRom, because there's no option to. So, with Ubuntu for instance, I have to set it up as a server on one computer, then take out the hard drive and CD Drive of that computer and put it into the server, then the Linux shell is all installed, and I can go ahead and setup whatever XWindows or etc that I wanted. Obviously, this -has- to have some hardware problems. So I need a way to run the ubuntu install disk, without it booting from it. So like I said, a command from the Linux shell...

Unless you have an age old BIOS (lets say prior to 1998),
every modern BIOS has an option to boot from CDROM, just check the manual.

Anyways most distribution have the option of booting from floppy and then switching to CDROM to perform installation to help poor BIOSes that cant boot off a CDROM. To know hoe to switch from floppy to CDROM after booting from Floppy, READ THE INSTALLATION FAQS from the distribution that you are planning to use.

It's a twelve hundred dallor server built two years ago. But it has special bios in it, I think, to accomidate the GallantWEB software. You plug it into the network, and run GallantWEB on another computer on the same network, and it installs a bunch of stuff. I have since lost the Serial for the software, so am trying other things. But I can't get to any bios setup to boot from CDRom. So again, all i'm looking for is a simple command..

The thing is there is no such thing as "running a CD". You can run a program from a CD or boot a CD if it has the right programs/filesystem. Install CD's are meant to be booted from, I don't think there is any excutable you can run from a shell. (At least I couldn't find any in my Debian Etch netboot.iso image)

The best thing if you can't boot from a CD, is to use a boot floppy. Another possibility, is to boot the CD iso image from the harddrive. See the Ubuntu install guide on how to do this.