Downloading Linux directly to hard drive?

[lordevereste]

I'm wondering is it possible to download linux directly to my hardrive and install from there?
I'm running win 98 with no cd burner.
Silly question I'm sure....
Thanks...

[endoalpha]

yes.
In Mandrake, use rawwrite to make a boot floopy using the hd.img image. Boot the floppy and install from the HD.

[lordevereste]

Thank you very much for the prompt reply!
So I'm now downloading Mandrake 9.0 to 'C:\Mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso'. I just find the rawrite hdimg and off I go?
Guess I'll fiind out in about 4 hours... Thank you again... I'll let you know how I'm progressing.-)

[lordevereste]

PS. I'm absolutely astonished you can actually download an operating system and for free!!! Kewl or what?

[endoalpha]

You will have to get something like isobuster (http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/) to extract contents of the .iso file. There will be the rawrite.exe and hd.img files in there somewhere.

[endoalpha]

Originally posted by lordevereste
PS. I'm absolutely astonished you can actually download an operating system and for free!!! Kewl or what?

There are many others. Atheos, freebsd, and BEOS is now available as a developers edition. Just search in google.

[lordevereste]

Which one do you use?

[endoalpha]

Gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org)

[lordevereste]

Ok...
So I had success downloading and opening with 'isoburner'(Thanks for that link), had a problem with RAWRITE but eventually mangaged to use a hd.image to boot with...
My problem now is that the bootdisk can't locate Mandrake90 even though I believe I'm entering the correct location...

C:\WINDOWS\Mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso

I did at one point get 'Which driver and parameters for Kernel questions too... Which of course made no sense to me LOL

Wondering did I download the correct version for my PC?
Any more help would be greatly appreciatted... I have a feeling I'm close...
Thank you so much.-)

[lordevereste]

PS Gentoo looks sweet... Way down the line for me tho'.

[lordevereste]

Yikes,,,I need to download 3 cd's, Ok... Maybe that's the problem?

[endoalpha]

The first cd is the only one needed for a basic install.

The "C:" is not needed or wanted in linux.

[JohnT]

Mandrake is based on RedHat.

http://jgo.local.net/LinuxGuide/redhat-hd-install.html

[lordevereste]

The RedHat is definitely beyond me... But thank you.
Ok... I left out the C: and just typed \WINDOWS\Mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso
and also tried

WINDOWS\Mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso
and finally

\Mandrake90-cd1-inst.i586.iso

This is beyond me, should I be doing some thing differently?

I do have Mandrake 8.0 on disk but I get 'can't uncompress or can't recover from this' messages and recommending something called 'e2fsck'?

Hmmn...Sorry to be a pain and quite obviously less than able...

[JohnT]

If the article I gave a link to is beyond your scope, then I would suggest getting the cd. Very inexpensive from............................

http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php/ba/pdtl/product/159

[lordevereste]

LOL... Well, it's not so much beyond my scope it's just that I really don't want to repartition my HD and have to reload Windows and the many applications and drivers and files.
I know Mandrake can resize the windows partition which will be perfect for now....
So my quaestion is much the same, what do I type when asked for the 'location' of the ISO?
I don't have a cd burner so I've downloaded Mandrake to my hard drive...
Thanks a lot...

[JohnT]

The link I gave you outlines the directory hierarchy that you should have in windowc for the install to proceed properly. The commands are also outlined.

[lordevereste]

Thanks alot John T... I'll have a good look and see how I progress.
Best!

[lordevereste]

Hmmn..Seems to me I'd have to download redhat (which I'm loathe to do as I bought the last Redhat cd and support that came with the purchase was arrogant and elitist)...
Isn't the point of Linux is that it's free? I've paid for Mandrake 8.0 and Redhat so at this point it's been more expensive than the 'other' os...
Was just a very simple question...
At the prompt asking for where the iso is, what should I write?
I can surf to newbie armeggedon and not figure out trees and commands and buying another cd no matter how cheap defeats the purpose..
Please just tell me what to 'type' when searching for the ISO on my partition?
I know no one gets paid for advice but the afterlife I'm certain the rewards are fantastic...Pretty please.-)

[JohnT]

Copy the contents of the three CD's in the above mentioned arrangement. Using rawritewin.exe (located in the dosutilis folder on CD1) and specifying the hd.img (located in the images folder on CD1) make an install floppy. After booting point it to the directory you just made, located on your c:/ drive partition.

[lordevereste]

Thanks again JohnT!
I've been surfing around and discovered a HD install is really not worth the effort and maybe a network one will be better...I created the net boot image and I did manage to get connected but get 'host Name' error... I'm going to the purdue ftp site( ftp://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/Mandrake/iso/) and must be missing something.. I have been searching really hard but can't figure out the proper HOST NAME...
Tough this... You must be getting pretty darn sick of this Noobee.

[Helper_Monkey]

Get a friend with a cd burner to make the cds for you.

Also, I'm not sure if you know or not, but you should defrag your hd before you start changing the partitions.

[lordevereste]

I finally broke down and bought a cdr today... Thank you Endoalpha, JohnT and Monkey_Helper(Who is psychic)...
Really appreciatte your time and patience.
Hmmn..so I'm downloading Mandrake (again. but on another 'older' pute)) and I'm guessing I BURN the download to cd and boot the cd?
LOL thank you good people, you are loved!

[lordevereste]

Well... I made sure I got a compatible cdr and saved the iso and burny it to cd... My first burn SUSE!
It booted and loaded and I'm jazzed....