Mandrake 8 HD install

[FunkSoulBrother]

I'm trying to download all the proper directories for mandrake 8 to do a from-Hard Disk install. I noticed this directory in the FTP called RPMS.Cooker. It seems to have the exact same files as RPMS. In fact, in MSIEs FTP mode, it seems to have the icon of a Windows Shortcut. What gives? Do i need to have all these RPMs twice to properly install Linux?

Also, I dont know if this is related, but I havent been downloading that directory, and i've proceeded through the install as far as choosing packages to install, and when it begins installing my chosen packages, like half of them say "an error occured installing whatever.rpm, would you like to continue anyways?" I'm not sure if this is related to that RPMS.Cooker (directory/shortcut), but i'd thought i'd toss it out there in case i was doing anything blatantly wrong. I have installed Mandrake 7 from HD before and never had this problem. Any thoughts?

[Rob 'Feztaa' Park]

I had that exact same problem the first time I installed Mandrake, and yes, the problem is that the install is looking for the RPMs in the wrong spot.

I'm not sure what FTP server you are downloading from, but it sounds like the install you are trying to download is "some assembly required" which basically means that it has the wrong directory structure.

Try downloading it from a different FTP server, and look for a folder that has a directory structure something like this (memory is a little fuzzy here):

dosutils
images
Mandrake (RPMS, mdkinst, base, and share are subfolders)
doc
misc
tutorial

If it's your first time, I suggest you find an ftp server that has the proper directory sturcture, instead of attempting to make it yourself.

[FunkSoulBrother]

well, I was downloading from the Minnesota FTP on this page. (http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftp.php3)

I tried a few others and they all seemed to have a RPMS.cooker directory in the /mandrake directory. I am downloading the rest of the tree just as you said, and it is Installing SOME of the RPMs just fine, just about half or so get the "Error installing package whatever.rpm" message during install.

Do you think anything could create that particular error message besides the install not being able to find them?

[stepdad]

The difficulty your probably experiencing is that your trying to combine programs that were built on two different distributions.

Mandrake 8.0 is the current, stable release. "Cooker" is Mandrake's beta testing code, and normally includes a lot of programs that are in development and not considered stable enough for an actual release.

If you want to use the newer, cutting edge code then download everything and install only from the Cooker files. Otherwise install everything from the 8.0 release, mixing and matching doesn't work well with RPMS.

It is possible to run the stable version of Mandrake and update only a few things to non-stable releases, such as the newer KDE Desktop. It's been my experience in the Linux community that what they refer to as "unstable" code is generally as reliable if not more so than what Microsoft considers a stable release.

Personally if it were me I'd install 8.0 from the ISO's, it is a lot less hassle.

Stepdad

[FunkSoulBrother]

thanks for clearing me up about the cooker. I'm not sure that completly solves my problem though. See, i wasn't downloading the /RPM.cooker folder in the first place (cause it seemed to be redundant). I was really only asking about it because when i tried to install with everything BUT the /RPMS.cooker directory, I got the message that my RPMs had installing errors, and I got scared and thought i needed the .cooker directoty.

My problem is when i install with everything else (the file tree listed above), i still get these error messages when intalling RPMS. I thought the lack of that directory was the cause of my error messages. Now i see that it isn't. (Unless there is some other cooker directory that I am unknowingly downloading, and it is still trying to install cooker files)

I am downloading the tree (minus /RPMS.cooker of course) one more time, hehe, from a different FTP. If it has errors installing again, i dont know what i'm going to do. I can't get ISOs cause i dont have a burner.
Or is there a way to use ISOs from your hard drive? That would be excellent. I could spend 20 bucks on cd's, but I really dont want to lay down the cash.

I guess I have one more thought. I resized my windows partition before install with a 3rd party partition programs. Maybe it screwed up my windows partition? (or the part of it some RPMs are on) I've never really had hard drive failure, at all, so i dont really think so, and windows seems to run just fine for all the things I use it for daily, but i just cant figure out why the installer rejects like half the RPMs i chose.

[ 09 July 2001: Message edited by: FunkSoulBrother ]

[FunkSoulBrother]

also, just out of curiosity, can anyone confirm for me that they get a shortcut Icon when looking in these various FTPs at the RPMs.cooker directory? Like all the other directories show up as normal folder icons, and that one shows up different.

[FunkSoulBrother]

heh, hate to keep adding more questions to this thread before anyone replies, but I also just had the thought that maybe the hd.img file that i used to boot is causing it to think I am trying to install cooker files. Maybe this wouldnt have anything to do with it. Just another newbie thought.