I pretty much know my way around windows, but I'm so lost when it comes to Linux so far.
Yesterday I decided on & downloaded a distro, mandrake, and today I'm trying to install it.
I used PartitionMagic to create a LINUX & SWAPSPACE2 partitions to install onto.
I don't have a CD burner, so I mounted the iso's on 3 virtual dvd drives using Alcohol 120%.
Then I found out I can't boot from them.
So I made a floppy with RawWrite for Windows using the cdrom.img file.
Then I found out I can't point the installer to the virtual drives.
Then I tried the hd_grub.img file, and set out to configure the menu.lst file on the page the help file referred me to. (the forum wont let me post the url).
This is where I get lost. I'm not entirely confident that I'm choosing properly under "Please choose the partition where Mandrake is copied." Does that refer to where I copied the iso's to from the net or is it referring to where Mandrake is to be installed?
I want to put Linux on the 3rd partition of Disk 2, so I've left the first field set to "1st BIOS hard drive (usually hda or sda)" simply because I don't know what that is. I've set the second field to "2nd IDE hard drive (usually hdb)". And I set the 3rd field to "3rd primary partition"
The iso's are saved on D, which is the slave drive on IDE1- I'm assuming I can simply enter "D:" in the "Please enter the directory containing the Mandrake Linux Distribution" field.

My menu.lst file wound up looking like this:
timeout 0
default 0

title Mandrake Install

root (hd0,2)
kernel /D:/isolinux/alt0/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=128000 root=/dev/ram3 acpi=ht vga=788 automatic=method:disk,partition=hdb3,directory=/D:
initrd /D:/isolinux/alt0/all.rdz

I don't want to overwrite the one on A: until I'm sure I'm not going to overwrite the wrong partition and mess up either of the existing OS's.

The forum won't let me post a link to a remote-hosted screenshot of my PartitionMagic config because I'm new, so here's the text of it (sorry its so long):

General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 536,383,488
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 272,068,608
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,027,010,560
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 254,054,400
==================================================================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 9729 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
==================================================================================================== =======
0 0 00 1 0 1 05 498 254 63 16,065 8,000,370
0 1 80 499 0 1 07 1023 254 63 8,016,435 31,551,660
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 80 499 0 1 07 2462 254 63 8016435 31551660
0 2 00 1023 0 1 07 1023 254 63 39,568,095 116,728,290
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 2 00 2463 0 1 07 9728 254 63 39568095 116728290
16,065 0 00 1 1 1 07 498 254 63 16,128 8,000,307

==================================================================================================== =======
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2: 2482 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
==================================================================================================== =======
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 254 63 63 34,587,882
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 2152 254 63 63 34587882
0 1 00 1023 0 1 83 1023 254 63 35,616,105 4,257,225
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 00 2217 0 1 83 2481 254 63 35616105 4257225
SWAPSPACE2 0 2 00 1023 0 1 82 1023 254 63 34,587,945 1,028,160
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 2 00 2153 0 1 82 2216 254 63 34587945 1028160
==================================================================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 1: 76,316.6 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
==================================================================================================== =======
Unallocated Pri 7.8 None -- 63 16,002
Extended Pri 3,906.4 0 0 16,065 8,000,370
EPBR Log 3,906.4 None -- 16,065 8,000,370
E: NTFS Log 3,906.4 16,065 0 16,128 8,000,307
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 15,406.1 0 1 8,016,435 31,551,660
F: NTFS Pri 56,996.2 0 2 39,568,095 116,728,290
==================================================================================================== =======
Partition Information for Disk 2: 19,469.4 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
==================================================================================================== =======
D: NTFS Pri,Boot 16,888.6 0 0 63 34,587,882
*:SWAPSPACE2 Linux Swap Pri 502.0 0 2 34,587,945 1,028,160
Linux Ext2 Pri 2,078.7 0 1 35,616,105 4,257,225
Info: MBR Partition Table not in sequential order.
==================================================================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive E: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 16,128, Type: NTFS)
==================================================================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 8000306
17. MFT Start Cluster: 262144
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 643600
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x78145F6F145F2EFE
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55

==================================================================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 8,016,435, Type: NTFS)
==================================================================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 8016435 (0x7A5233)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 31551659
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 2560359
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x4004149104148BD2
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
==================================================================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive F: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 39,568,095, Type: NTFS)
==================================================================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 39568095 (0x25BC2DF)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 116728289
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 6184020
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x04D030CED030C7A6
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
==================================================================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive D: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
==================================================================================================== =======
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 34587881
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 2492079
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0xDA6CDA416CDA17D9
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
==================================================================================================== =======
Boot Record for drive *: (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 35,616,105, Type: Ext2)
==================================================================================================== =======
Ext2 file system super block:
1. Inodes count: 535296
2. Blocks count: 532153
3. Reserved blocks count: 21286
4. Free blocks count: 515344
5. First data block: 0
6. Logical block size: 2
7. Logical fragment size: 2
8. Blocks/group: 32768
9. Fragments/group: 32768
10. Inodes/group: 31488
11. Mount time: 0x00000000
12. Last write time: 0x41783FF0
13. Mount count: 0
14. Max. mount count: 20
15. Magic number: EF53
16. State: 0x0001
17. Error behavior: 0x0001
18. Minor revision level: 0
19. Last check time: 0x41783FE4
20. Max. time bet. checks: 15552000
21. Creator oper. system: 0
22. Major revision level: 0
23. Reserved block def. UID:0x0000
24. Reserved block def. GID:0x0000

Im just posting this one because i forgot to check the email notify box last time