I am trying to install Mandrake Linux (as a dual boot with WinXP) over a network connection (I am at a university office with an ethernet connection).

I have created a network.img boot disk and have booted off of it.

When prompted, I choose ftp as the download method.

I put in all of the static IP address info for my computer.

Then it asks me for the ftp name or IP address, the folder where Mandrake can be found, and a login (which is left blank for anonymous).

So I type in the ftp://ftp.... info for the mirror and then the directory where Mandrake is and I get a message that says "bad hostname." I've done this multiple times using different mirrors and always have the same problem. I have also found that if I type "ftp" or some other random name in the place where I was asked to put the name of the server, I get a message that says "unable to find (whatever directory I told it that Mandrake was in).

This is extremely frustrating. Does anyone know what is going wrong (or how I can get the IP address of the ftp server, that may help).

Thanks for any help that you can give me.

I've done this before so I think I can tell you correctly. You can use any download location from http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3(except the iso mirrors, of course). For the explanation, we'll use ftp://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pu...rake/9.1/i586/.

In the first field, all you need is the name of the server. The installer knows it's a ftp server (because that's the install method you chose) and wants the location of the files in the next field. For this example, all you need is this:
Note: some servers actually do have ftp. at the beginning of the address even once you take off the ftp://.

The download folder is the rest of the address. For this example, all you need is the rest of the address:
The installer just wants to be pointed to the directory containing Mandrake/.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll double check things. I've started and ftp install before but they are extremely slow!

Hey,

I'm at home now so I'll try that later when I get back to school (I think I was trying something like that before but I added backslashes and/or ftp:// to the name so that probabably messed it up).

Anyway, you say that ftp install is very slow. Is there any network install that is fast (or decently paced)? The reason I am not using CD's is that I have had all kinds of problems getting them to work (they checksummed ok but aren't being recognized as installation disks).

Anyway, thanks for your help.

I've been trying to do a NFS install but as you can tell by me thread it's been rough. I tried it because I already had the mandrake installation files on my hard drive from a hard drive install.

If you're (by chance) multi-booting or can somehow get the installation files one the hard drive, then the hard drive install is great. Instead of and NFS install you could set up your own ftp server over the network (you might run into the same problems as my NFS install though). I don't really like the idea of a ftp install from a internet server because if you have to reinstall, you have to redownload everything.

Maybe a silly question but did you burn the isos as images onto the CDs as opposed to just placing the iso files onto the CDs?

There is an hd.img as well. I don't know how exactly it works but I guess what you do is put everything you need, i.e. the contents of the cds, onto a harddrive and install from there. Might be worth a try.

There is a readme files on the ftp servers that contains the ISO image that says how to burn the cds. You do have to burn them on in a special way. I used nero back when I burnt mine.

I had Windows originally, so I used a program called ISOBuster to extract the contents of the iso images into regular files that could be read when doing the hard drive install (witht the hd.img image). It was really easy. You'll be able to find instructions easily with google and there used to even be a link from somewhere on the MandrakeLinux site to some instructions.

I was using the burners in my school computer, where they don't have ISO reading software. So what I did was burn the ISO's onto three disks, use a freeware program (I think it was called Undisker) to extract the ISO from the CD, and burn that. I can see all the files on the disk when I open in Win Explorer and they are the same as the ones on the mirror sites (under Mandrake/ directory). I have also checksum'd them and they are ok by that.

My cd drive wouldn't auto boot them, though, so I had to use a boot disk, but it says they are "apperently not mandrake install disks". I don't understand everything that is going on, but when I check the "logs" (alt-F3) from the boot disk's interface it has a couple of entries about loading cd drivers, so I believe it detected the cd player all right. Maybe it didn't, though, and that is the problem...

I don't know. I have heard a few other people have problems installing Mandrake from CD's when they already have XP installed. Maybe its just a newbie coincidence, but it could also be something else.

I'm pretty sure this won't do. You really have to burn the iso images as such. When you extract the files first and then burn them, the result will be different from burning the isos (for instance, the exact physical location of the files change)

I might be wrong but I think M$ has a free iso burner for download as part of their powertoys - you might want to check it out.

The only problem is that the computers at school which do the burning are lab computers and I am not allowed to put programs on them (the Undisker program was done in my office).

Maybe I'll ask them if they'll let me use the program.

BTW I have plenty of hard disk space to do an install that way, but I'm really not sure how to do it. I have a 13.5 gig C: drive (unpartitioned) and a 40 gig d: drive (two FAT 32 20 gig partitions. Now, I would prefer to leave my D: drive as a data drive accessible by both systems, so loading on the C: drive would require repartitioning, correct? I really think I may just reinstall Win XP since I purposefully installed nothing on it just in case I needed to reinstall it (as much as I dislike windows, the install is pretty quick).

Any thoughts on doing a hard disk install? Is it tough? And do I just download the files from the /Mandrake/ directory on the mirror sites?

Thanks.

Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I loaded Mandrake via network and it is working great.

When downloading via ftp, the "name" of the ftp is just its base internet address without slashes or colons, e.g.

ftp.rediris.es

(this is the site I used)

When typing in the directory for the program to find the Mandrake dircetory, be sure to put a "\" before the first file folder, e.g.

/pubs/...../Mandrake/base

The whole process, from boot disk to booting Linux, took about 3 hours. This is not too bad all things considered.

Thanks for all of your advice and help. I will probably be back with more questions sooner than later.