CMOS (i.e. the motherboard BIOS, what you are referring to as the setup
screen) -- there are many brands, and they all differ. TYPICALLY after you
get in, via <DEL> or <F2> or <F10> (the three most common ways) or whatever,
look at what is displayed for options (perhaps after having to clear a
warning message). 98% of the time you will find an option to exit without
saving < use this if you are unsure about the changes you have made. If
there is there will also be an option to exit saving changes. When used,
either choice will be confirmed with a box upon exit--it can be confusing,
read it carefully before making a choice. Some CMOS do not give you an
option to exit without saving; IN THIS CASE BE VERY CAREFUL.
How to change your boot order. You are correct that normally it is
desirable to seek a floppy first, then the hard drive; for many things
including installing Linux it is absolutely necessary to seek the floppy
drive first. Highlight the boot order field (usually by <TAB>ing down to
it). <F1> will often give you a list of the selections possible. Changing
values will cycle through them. Stop when the one you want is displayed,
then exit that page and exit CMOS saving your changes. Read the border
messages on the CMOS page--It should say "info = <F1>" or whatever, and "to
change values <PgUp> <PgDn>" or <+> <-> or whatever.
Install through DOS. No, you don't install Linux through DOS, although
you can do a text-based install. You can even install Linux ON the DOS
filesystem, though that is undesirable for a number of reasons. Once you
have made the boot order change so that the motherboard will look at the
floppy drive first, the disk that you have already made should work just
fine. That floppy disc will boot a small version of Linux and then find your
CD ROM (be sure to have your Mandrake disk inserted when your machine is
booting up), and it will transfer over to the CD and begin the graphical
install directly. Be SURE that you know what partitions are Windows and
which are to be for Mandrake (assuming you will be dual-booting) as the
installer may need to mark your new partitions itself [meaning it may find no
space and want you to delete these partitions to make space, which can be
easily done within the installation]. Normally one creates "free" or
"unallocated" space and the installer will divide it and set it up with "auto
allocate".
The only time I have been put into text install was when I booted on the
Mandrake floppy and the CD was not in the drive when the floppy Linux system
found the drive. It should go right into the graphical install on its own if
the CD is in the drive.
-Gary-
In a message dated 7/1/2000 3:31:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Dear All, Thank you everyone who gave me wonderful advice. Unfortunately
I found out that my CD rom is not bootable. In the Bios setup it shows
that it is an option but a technician told me it is not anyway. My Bios
setup is C,A,SCSI. Should not that be changed to the floppy first and
how do I do that? I am a true newbie and have not done much on the Setup
screen. Also, may I install by graphical installation or text
installation through MS-DOS? I have made the floppy for graphical with
rawrite but how do I do it for text installation? I have already done
the partitions with Partition magic and I have Bootmagic installed.
Those applications seem to be OK but I cannot get the Linux boot disk or
Linux Installation CD to boot the installation screen so that I may
install Linux. In other words I have bootmagic and partitionmagic on and
the next step was to boot up so that I may install Linux through the CD
next. Linux is not installed yet. May I install Linux another way such
as text installation through DOS without uninstalling bootmagic or
partition magic? I appreciate your help with this. I have contacted
Linux-Mandrake support days ago several times but I have received no
answer. I have looking through everything that I can find in
documentation and other Linux sources but have not found the answer yet.
I appreciate anyone's input. I do have a Pentium 200 MHZ with 2 IDE hard
drives one with 2.5 gigs and the other with over 8 gigs. I have 96 megs
of memory and everything else should be compatible from my research. As
a reminder my hard drive is already partitioned through partition magic
and Linux is not installed yet. Thank you very much for your
help.Sincerely, Marcia
