Help with Mandrake 10.0 Installation

[unity]

Hi guys, this is my first post in these forums, but I'm a pretty experienced user of PC's and Mac's so I'll try and get to the point quickly.

I just built a new system from scratch, New motherboard, new HD, you name it... its new....

I decided to try Linux and see how I feel about it, so I downloaded the 3 image files and burn them on CD's. I was able to get the CD-ROM drive to work and read CD #1, supposedly all I have to do at this point is type something like cdrom.img and then hit Enter and the installation should begin but nothing happens.

I tried inserting the CD and rebooting but then nothing happens. It just reboots and I get an error message that its an invalid CD or there's no CD inserted. Having tried that, I looked in my cd pouch and found my old Win XP CD and I KNOW that if I insert it I won't have to deal with any more problems...so I'm at the point where quittin this experiment altogether seems like a better idea than keep trying...but something inside me tells me that I should persevere...

What should I do ? Get Help ? I guess ?

[lakerdonald]

hmmm...
so how far into the bootup process did you get before it froze up on you?
-lakerdonald

[unity]

It actually didn't freeze up on me. It just didn't want to continue further on.

I'll further explain:

I got a boot floppy disk for Ms-Dos and then I'm able to get the CD-Rom drive to work so that takes me as far as d:/>

At this point in time I insert my Mandrake CD #1 which contains a ISO file. My CD Drive is able to read it but won't install. So it doesn't really freeze up or anything it just won't start the installation process. I tried rebootin the machine and still same problem. I don't know what to type in there, I actually tried cdrom.img and hit enter but nothing happened

I'm wondering If I have to enter some sort of command that will allow me to open the ISO file and then look for something like setup.exe ...

Also, as far as formattin my HD... Will Linux walk me through that process? It's a brand new -just outta box- HD, never been used before. I know there's many different ways of going about that but... I'm just wondering what the best way to go is.

I hope I made at least a little bit of sense, if not I'll try and further explain. I really don't wanna give up on Linux before even installing it.

Please someone come through for me!!!

[donut]

the .iso file is a cd image. it's not a boot file and cannot be read on boot up. you need to reburn the image with nero or some cd burner equivalent and use the 'burn image from hdd' option, then selecting that .iso image, instead of creating a data cd. it should boot up fine and give you options for installing after that.

[unity]

that makes sense, i don't really remember what i did to burn the cd....i guess ill try again.

[drakebasher]

Maybe the following is useful, maybe not:

If you boot to a DOS floppy, you have loaded the DOS kernel to RAM. Unless you have an .exe or a .com file, nothing will happen with the CD. Unless your source says otherwise, I'd be really surprised if you would find a Linux installation package that expects you to install it within a DOS environment. Maybe your source had some instructions as to what to do with the CD once it's downloaded?

[unity]

I actually re-burned the files as ISO files and went ahead and installed. Everything went smooth, all drivers are setup and pretty much all peripheral devices were kind of plug and play. Including Ethernet card....I'm a first time linux user, and boy am I impressed. I can get so much done with Mandrake. It kick ass.

The only thing I would like to get fixed is my desktop size, everything looks kinda big ... I'm still gettin used to it, so I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint as to how changing the resolution.

Oh also, the max download speed I'm gettin is 30-35 kbps, whereas in my Mac I get around 120-180kbps and in my PC i get 180kpbs all the time.

Is there a way to configure the Ethernet card for better performance?

Thanks a lot for the advise, I deeply appreciate it

[sether]

The only thing I would like to get fixed is my desktop size, everything looks kinda big ... I'm still gettin used to it, so I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint as to how changing the resolution.

i think in mandrake under "System" there should be a "Configure my computer" link. you can probably edit some options there to get the right resolution. make sure the video card and monitor are recognized correctly, otherwise the higher resolution probably won't work.

that's the easy way of doing it. if that doesn't work you may need to edit /etc/XF86Config-4, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Oh also, the max download speed I'm gettin is 30-35 kbps, whereas in my Mac I get around 120-180kbps and in my PC i get 180kpbs all the time.

Is there a way to configure the Ethernet card for better performance?

you may need the linux drivers for your device. what ethernet card (make, model) is it? but are you sure this has nothing to do with the server(s) you're downloading from? try downloading/pinging the same exact server/file on the two different computers. it could just be under linux you're conencting to a slower server for some downloads.

[JoshHendo]

have you tried booting from a win xp or other os boot disk. then go start computer with cd drive support.