After fooling with linux a while back and now getting extended exposure to it on my floor at college I want to go back and get it all working. It works on my desktop, minus that is will not burn audio CDs nor will it play audio (my sound card isn't recognized, I want to replace it with a Soundblaster 128 PCI, will that be auto detected/installed?, and XATV will not see all the stations on my tuner) but it runs to the point where I can utilize it and I do like what I see.

The issue comes in with my laptop. I have a Toshiba Protege 7020CT. Unfortunatly it has a pcmcia CDRom drive and is not listed with that scenario on the linux for laptops site. Also, the linux expert on my floor can boot from internal CDRom drives and also uses slackware, so he can't really help either.

So because I have a pcmcia cdrom drive I cannot auto-boot and boot into the install. I made a boot disk for pcmcia devices. It will recognize the CDRom drive (as it is powered and can open/shut) but it will not recognize it when I tell it to install. (unless I need certain parameters for the kernel - it's a Port 24x cdrom drive) This being accepted I attempted an install from an FTP. My network card works and all so I pick an FTP site. I enter the site and the directory of the distro and hit ok. Some sites it tells me it couldn't find the install files, so I tried other sites. On one that worked it told me it couldn't find a .bz2 file (forgot the name prior)...but if you follow the path that it claimed came up empty....the file is sitting right there.

Does anyone have help to offer? It would be greatly appreciated.

I managed to get my notebook working for a SuSE network install. I made the mistake when I listed the directory. I hooked up the IP address of the server ok, but then I listed the directory as ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/i386/8.0 , when all that is needed is only the /pub/i386/8.0 part.

Is your CDROM internal or external? If external, can you connect it up using a USB? How would you install Windows? Surely you must have a workable CD that allows you to install Windows? Just do the same thing but with your iso boot disk. Why do you have to do a network install? Can you just download the iso? Then your installation will be exactly the same as Windows.

When you are tyring to do a network install, is this from your bios boot option or from your linux network boot install disc? You cannot just connect up to the ftp from your bios bootup option. You must start-up with a small 20MB or so start-up linux boot disk to enable you to commence the network install.

If you have an internal Lucent modem, you can grab the driver from www.heby.de/ltmodem.

I did list the FTP in the proper way.

My CDRom is external and is connected via PCMCIA card. To install Windows I must use a boot disk provided by Toshiba. It will load to a command line, where from there I can type Q:\setup.exe to commence a Win98 install. Dispite the fact that you are supposed to be able to install Win2000 or WinXP from command line, the install program itself locks up during the transfer of files....I don't know if that is relevant or not.

I do have the Mandrake ISOs...the problem is as far as I know the install cannot be run from the DOS command line, and since the CDROM is accessed via this particular boot disk that only boots to a DOS command prompt, that is where I find the problem.

I am trying to do a network install through a boot disk I created with the pcmcia.img file with rawwrite off the mandrake install discs. I am not sure what you mean by bios boot option so I am assuming I am not taking that path. What do you mean when you say I must start-up with a small 20MB or so start-up linux boot disk to enable the network install?

As for the modem, I never use it so it really doesn't matter.

I guess a follow up could be this. I have Linux installed on my desktop. Can I transfer it with Norton Ghost? It would just involve some really well-planned formatting with Partition Magic and I do not know how exactly I'd have to mimic the partitions for the Gosting to work. Any ideas?

I haven't tried a Mandrake network installation, but with a SuSE network installation, the procedure was to download about a 20Mb iso that was used to boot up and commence the network installation process. This was the process that I followed on my IBM X series notebook with a SuSE network install. I have an external CDROM connected via USB:
1. Download the SuSE boot-up iso 20Mb.
2. Burn the iso onto a cdrom.
3. Start the notebook and in the first few seconds press f12 to use the bios software to boot via cdrom.
4. The cdrom loads up the program to commence network installation.
5. Enter the ftp number ie 217.9.113.66
6. Enter the directory path ie /pub/suse/i386/8.1
7. Installation is underway!

For just a standard install with the Mandrake discs, the procedure is:
1. Turn on computer and press F12 for boot options
2. Select boot from cdrom
3. Installation is underway.

Looks like you need the pcmcia file on a floppy to get your cdrom working, then on your cdrom you will need the iso to start-up your network install.

http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/dem...ke9.0/Install/

http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~davis...x_install.html

I don't have the luxury of booting from my PCMCIA CDROM directly...otherwise I would install from the burned ISOs. The PCMCIA image on the Mandrake discs will not see my CDROM on the drivers Toshiba has given me only allow to go to a DOS command prompt.

Hopefully a more experienced linux user will provide a solution soon. Sorry I cant help.