Not recognize CD-rom; old Pentium MMX; want to install Redhat 9
 

How can I boot from a floppy to install the Cd-ROM driver, and then switch to the CD-Rom to install Redhat 9? I somehow did it 2 years ago. But I can't remember how I got it to install. I now want to reinstall it with all the development tools.

Check your bios settings. There's usually a list giving the order places that they computer should boot from.

John

Thank You, John
Setting the BIOS is the first thing I do when booting from a CD-ROM. The problem with the old machines is that they don't recognize the CD-ROM until into the boot-up process. So, unfortunately, it looks at the CD, sees nothing, and begins to boot the old Linux on the /dev/hd0 drive. There is a work-around for this. But I can't remember what it is. -- but your reply is appreciated
If I use a floppy boot disk, it boots from the floppy, and then goes to the hard drive. But the solution is somehow related to loading the driver for the Cd from the floppy. The problem is that I don't use Linux normally, and can't remember how to do it.

If I'm not mistaken, you can do this command from your old Linux installation

dd if=/mounted_cdrom_directory/boot.img of=/dev/fd0

The boot.img file should pick up your cdrom automatically. If you need a special driver, you will need to pass that at boot time. If this is the case you will need to give more info as to what hardware you have.