Linux Installation CD with iso file
 

I'd like to overwrite Windows 98 on an old PC. It's nearly ten years old with 200MHz and 32MB RAM.

I've dowloaded a DSL iso file. Version 2.4.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

I've burned it to a disk using Mac OS X. (Is that a problem? Versus using cdrecord within Linux?). And I put the disk in the machine and restarted the computer, but the computer isn't booting from the disk. Windows 98 just loads up.

How do I create a bootable installation disk using an iso file obtained from the internet?

You may have burned your disk correctly, but you have to make sure the system boots to the CDROM before the hard drive. If this is a very old system, it may not have that set up that way in BIOS. Different BIOS use different methods to change the boot device choice. You can try F12 during the POST (initial text screen) or enter your BIOS settings and change the first boot device to the CDROM. When you POST is running (the text only page at start up), look for the "boot menu" options for your BIOS. It may be F12, as mentioned above... or possibly F11 on older machines.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah I thought of that. I checked the BIOS and indeed the CD ROM is the first device listed in the boot order. That's why I thought maybe I didn't create the CD correctly.

OK, well... you've eliminated that possibility, so the next thing to ask is are you sure you burned a "CD image" or did you just burn a data CD? An .iso must be burned as a bootable image on the CD. Windows doesn't normally have this capability. I haven't a clue about MAC, though.

Ah Bingo. I'm pretty sure I created a data CD. So I'll need to look into creating a CD image. Thanks.

If I move the iso file over to a linux machine, and use cdrecord, will it automatically create a CD image? It will right, I mean isn't that what linux does? Because when I create data CD's on linux I normally start with an iso file using mkisofs. Will the CD be bootable if I cdrecord the DSL iso file to the CD?

ETA - Ok I think I've discovered that mkisofs can make a bootable iso by specifying certain options with the command. So if that is the case, isn't the issue about whether this is a bootable CD determined by the nature of the iso file itself rather than the burn process? Or no..

Alright I believe I have fixed the data CD problem. When I put the CD into the drive on my linux machine I could see only the iso file as the sole content of the CD. So I copied the iso to my hard drive, blanked the CD, and re-imaged the CD with the iso using cdrecord from RH and then I could see the contents, the index.html file and the boot folder and so forth. So I placed the CD into the tower where I am attempting to install the OS, restarted the machine, and the CD ROM light never came on, the start up process went to the 3.5" Floppy.

I've already blown away Windows using a Red Hat 7.3 installation disk on the machine. So I know that the CD ROM is working and that bootable CD's will run on start up.

I believe the Mac can burn a bootable CD. I haven't got access to an OSX machine any more, but I seem to remember it was the "Disk Utility" application. That was a while ago though, so it might have changed.

Thanks for your reply. It looks like Disk Utility wants to create a "*.dmg" file from my iso, but then won't the "contents" of the dmg be the iso file itself rather than the actual contents of the iso?

So I didn't bother. I just tried to use cdrecord. Is there some special argument I need to pass to the cdrecord command to indicate that the CD should be bootable? Or do the contents themselves make the CD bootable?

Hey lel800...

CDRecord in Linux has the capability to burn the .iso. Just RIGHT click on the .iso file and choose "write to disk". This is how I made my 7 CD Fedora set... no troubles at all.

Your next thing to check would be the integrity of your download.

*Where "downloaded.iso" is the full path and name of your downloaded .iso file.

Linux Installation CD with iso file
 

Something I had pointd out to me when I made my first CD from an ISO file was that I should use an 'R' CD, not an 'RW'.


Hope this helps.

Disk utility will burn an iso fine, it just doesn't want to admit it, double the click the iso on your mac, OSX will mount the iso on your desktop. Now launch Disk utility. It will list the iso and show that it is mounted in the left hand pane. click on iso in disk utility, and unmount it. then select the iso in disk utility and click burn, it will prompt you for a cd, and will burn the iso as a disk image, not as a data cd.

--dan

I've often wondered about that md5sum character set that is associated with downloads. I never knew how to check that out. Good to know. Thanks for the tip.

Yeah it checks out. It's a match.

That's interesting because I had been using a CDRW. So now I'm going to try to use a CD R instead. Thanks.

Thanks so much for the response. Ok I did exactly as you said using the original iso available from the download and this time I used a CD R and it worked! So now the CD ran from boot as it should.

Ok this works too. - Also using a CD R rather than a CD RW ... So that's good to know. I was able to create a bootable CD using Linux as well as OS X.. And I'm pretty sure cdrecord will work too..

Cool! I created a bootable installation CD from a downloaded iso file!

ETA - Thanks so much for the forum! And for everyone's advice and responses. Many thanks you all are great :)