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I've been meaning to download and install Mandrake for awhile now. I've never used any type of Linux system before, so I'm a super noob.
I downloaded Mandrake 9.1 in the form of 3 cd's that are compressed with as .rar files.
So I unpacked the files to 3 directories. cd1/cd2/cd3 and i figured I could install from windows XP pro. However, non of the cd's seem to have a setup run file that i can find. I have a cd burner, but I have no cd's right now, and I will go through any lengths to install mandrake 'without' having to buy more blank cd's.
Is this possible without using my cdrom/burner? I don't care if its time consuming, or i have to download 20 other programs to do it, I would just REALLY like to not have to go out and buy more cd's lol. I kinda live far away from the nearest stores...
Any help would be appriciated.
Thanks
Regg
P.S - Also, here are my system spec's. Give me a head's up if anyone knows of any conflicts I might experience with mandrake and my current hardware.
Athlon XP 1800+
1028mb DDR pc 2100 ram 2x 512mb sticks
Aopen AW-840 Cobra 5.1 sound card
ATI Radeon 7500 64mb DDR video card
K7S5A mother board with on board LAN and sound
(On board sound is disabled in bios so I could get my other sound card working without issues)
Lite-On 40x12x48x Cd burner
Linux doesn´t use .exe files like windows, so you wont find them on a linux disc. Disc no.1 is a bootable disc, so you need to burn them to a cd-r and start the computer with the disc 1 in the drive.
Make sure your computer can boot from a cd-rom, you may need to go into your cmos settings and enable cd-rom booting
You can install Mandrake from the HD using a boot floppy disk. Usually the files are ISO so not sure if this will work with them being rar. The iso files need to be located on a FAT32 formated partition.
If you extract the 1st cd you can create the boot floppy from the rawritewin.exe located in the /utils directory using the hd.img file located in the /images directory.
If you have a broadband connection you could install via nfs, ftp or http. You still need to create the boot floppy disk using the net.img file.
Alright thanks guys. I'll try making a boot floppy and see how it goes. I do have a broadband connection DSL as well. I'll post again after my attempt about how it goes. Wish my luck!
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