I am a newbie who was trying to install Debian from a CD-ROM that was attached to a Soundblaster 16 PnP card. The problem: when I ran dselect, I could never give it an answer to "block device name" that would find my CD-ROM, so I was unable to get information off of the CD.
My solution: - I opened the computer case. - I found the cable connecting the CD-ROM drive to the Soundblaster card. - I disconnected the cable from the card and connected it to one of the IDE interfaces on my motherboard (on my old motherboard, I suppose I would have connected it to the hard drive controller card). - (I did some minor tinkering with the BIOS, but I don't think it was necessary.) - (I checked to make sure that Windows 95 was still working properly with this set up; it was.) - I reinstalled the Debian base system on my hard drive. - When I ran dselect, and it asked for block device name, I entered: /dev/hdb (failure) /dev/hdc (failure) /dev/hdd (SUCCESS!) I now have the default Debian installation on my hard disk. I realize that this was a clumsy, inelegant, klugy solution, and that the Debian wizards (among whom I hope to be someday) will probably have a good laugh about it, but it did work for me, and it might work for some of the other newbies who have their CD-ROM attached to a Soundblaster PnP. If all else fails, give it a try. Obviously, I cannot play audio CD-ROMs with this set up, but I would rather install and play with Debian GNU Linux than to play CDs on my computer. I hope this helps some other frustrated newbies out there. -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .