First Linux attempt.

Ive down loaded a few diffent versions of Linux. They are suppose to be live Cd's. However, when I open them with WinRar they appear not to be ISO files as I am familiar with, but actually contain files and directories.

Was attempting to use an Ubuntu Live Cd given to me on an old system. Gave me Kernel Panic error. Unsure if the Cd was bad or machine was to old.

1gig Duron processor
PcChips Board intergrated video/audio
128mb mem

If you use winrar, then you will see the files and directories that make up the iso file. You should burn isos to a cd or dvd as a disc image using something like Nero. What was the detailed error message you got when you tried to boot from the cd?

All ISO files I've seen yet are exactly that: ISO files. Probably WinRAR can open the ISO container and show the content. You're supposed to use a CD recording software and have it burn the disk based on the ISO image.

You can check whether the ISO is good by comparing checksums; usually a checksum (md5) will be given where you can download the ISO, and good recording software can check the checksum for you.

As for your machine, your problem is the RAM size; 128 MB is too small for Ubuntu 7.10 which needs 256 MB for installation. You could try Xubuntu or Fluxbuntu, they might work. You might still want to add some more RAM in order to be able to use the machine with decent performance. A total of 512 MB should suffice.

Robin

Did not realize WinRar decompressed iso's

Error message from Ubuntu Live Boot

36.626697 crc error

36.628696 Kernel Panic Not syncing
NFS unable to mount root fs on unknown block (1,0)

36.628758 _

Thanks For help.

Hi,
You should check the md5 for the iso(s) you downloaded since the checksum error for this iso. If the md5 is OK then it could be a burn issue. Slow down to a lower burn rate.

If you downloaded the cd/dvd iso then be sure to check the md5sum for the original iso. From the cli;

If the iso md5 is ok then you should try 'CdromMd5sumsAfterBurning''.

This way you will know if the burn was OK! This will check the download iso with the known md5sum that you also get with the iso.

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links' .

Looks like the image is corrupt. BTW, an iso is the filesystem image of a CD, it must be burned (usually in dao "disk at once" mode) using a burning program. I recommend you check the md5sum of the image and burned CD to make sure they match the one given by the distro.

EDIT: As onebuck says ^^^