Need Help with an ISO image disk

[Gyn_Paul]

I'm trying to install a Linux OS on a spare PC. It's a version of Kubuntu which is downloaded as an .iso, which I've then burned as instructed, to a CD as a bootable disk. I can persuade the bios to install the cd drive and to run a version of DOS, and can change the drive to the one with the disk in, I can even get it to DIR list the contents of the disk (just the one file; Kubuntu_iso)

How do I get it to open and unpack the files?

p

[Tim]

I  did something similar 18 months ago with an old machine I rescued from the bin and remember the same problem - I downloaded Ubuntu. I can't be too much help I'm afraid because the grey matter has forgotten how I did it - but I do remember that I read alot of the Linux forum pages and eventually found one that pointed me in the right direction. I think, in the end, I registered on one site and some helpful people there also helped me with some software I wanted to run.

Try a search on a forum for your OS and it may help you as well.

Good luck - Tim

[Rose (& Greyman)]

I have used a program called ISObuster (freeware) which unpacks the contents of the ISO image onto CD. I presume you could then use DOS to run the setup.exe file which will (?) be one of the files on the CD. Can't remember where I found the program but it should be google-able.

[Robert]

Hi,

       I have had a look at a bootable Ubuntu disc and it contains a whole lot more than an *iso, are you sure that you burn it as a data only disc (not questioning ability here) I have done that loads of times. if the PC bios is set to boot from the CD Rom then the disc should boot OK. Good luck anyway.[:)]

Robert

[Bob T]

As an iso disk it should not run dos but go straight into the Linux install. I use Suse Linux on all our PCs and burn the iso disks with nero one our one Windows machine, which is dual boot.

I don't understand why you are booting dos and changing to the drive with the iso disk in it. Boot the iso disk and see what happens.

[Gyn_Paul]

Greyman - That's a natty piece of software, but it will only run in a windows environment.

Robert - you are absolutely right. After I posted last night, I had a re-read and a re-think and realised I needed to author the isoimage file in Nero and make it unpack and unzip as it prepped the disk before burning.

Works now, thanks (and only 2 duff CD-R's to use as bird scarers !).

Kubuntu is my first venture into Linux, I'll have a look at a few others before definitively installing.

SuSe, anybody ?

paul

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="Bob T"]As an iso disk it should not run dos but go straight into the Linux install. I use Suse Linux on all our PCs and burn the iso disks with nero one our one Windows machine, which is dual boot.

I don't understand why you are booting dos and changing to the drive with the iso disk in it. Boot the iso disk and see what happens.

[/quote]

I'm not deliberately running dos, the Bios is doing it, despite having changed to CD boot-up. Surely the CD driver needs to operate in some environment ?

Would you recommend SuSe ?

p

[Bob T]

No the CD should be recognised by the BIOS, if the PC is booting into DOS then there is something else running before the CD does.

I have been using Linux for over 10 years now, and am still learning, but I have settled with SUSE as the KDE front end is very user friendly and the installation is easy.

There are only two things that I use Widoze for and they are printing from a colour laser printer (I bought the wrong one that has no Linux drivers) and playing my favorite Windoze game.

With Suse Linux, I have no anti virus or firewall software running as there is nothing that can attack linux.

SUSE is just about to bring out version 11 in about 10 days time, and that should be cutting edge stuff.

The important thing about trying Linux for the first time is to find someone who can help with the little questions and SUSE has a good following on the internet. I am willing to help if you need it, although I am no expert, just PM me with some contact details.

Loads of people don't realise that almost everything to do with Linux is free. Open office is available for linux and, in my opinion, is much better than Microsoft office.

Incidentally, the people behind SUSE are Novel and they are a well known player in commercial networking solutions, so the free product cannot be that bad!

[Keith CHANNING]

"there is nothing that can attack linux" ?

Admittedly, it is currently a stonger and more secure platform than Windoze (partly because there is a great deal less of it, partly because its structure is less vulnerable, and partly because more malware authors hate Micro$oft than hate that nice Mr Torvalds), but let's not get carried away.

Take a look at http://www.linux.com/feature/128450

[Bob T]

Kieth, the problems with malware and worms is that they do not affect the linux machine, but can spread to any windows machine that it connects to.

Most people run windows as an administrator, so while the PC is swiched on it is in administrator mode thereby allowing any old bit of software to mess with anything.

In Linux, you do not log on as Root (admin mode) but as a user, and as a user there are very limited things that can be messed with.

I take it that you are a Linux user and not just someone who likes to trawl the internet to discredit things that you have not tried yourself.

[Keith CHANNING]

Bob - I have been using Linux (Red Hat then Fedora Core) for about ten years and administering Unix systems before that. I remember the 1988 Morris worm.

Not being registry based, such vulnerabilities as Linux has are more at individual component software level - web servers, telnet servers etc. That there are frequent and regular patches available for most distros confirms that vulnerabilities are found and patched (a darn site more quickly and openly than in proprietory systems) but that vulnerabilities do exist, and it is important to keep the systems patched up to date.

That is why I queried the statement that nothing can attack Linux. I should hate to see someone set up a system, believing it to be bombproof, only to find their web server compromised because a known exploit had not been patched.

[Bob T]

Then I apologise for the (small) dig in my last post. I admit that saying that nothing can attack linux is a bit tongue in cheek, but in the overall picture of people running home PCs, the amount of vulnerabilities with Linux compared to Windoze is minuscule.

Of course most Linux distros do keep themselves up to date, and tend to sort out potential problems very quickly compared to Windoze and often sort the problems out before they fully evolve rather than 3 months down the line.

I still feel safer doing my internet banking on Linux without anti virus software than I used to using Windows with anti virus and firewalls installed. There is a fire wall built into SUSE linux, but I have mine switched off. I ran an internet vulnerability check running both Windoze and my linux set up and the reports that I got back were quite amazing. Windoze did reasonably well with the firewall and anti virus, but linux set up was virtually invisible on the net. I wish that I still had the website that I used to run that check!

[Keith CHANNING]

There you go - we agree. My current Linux box works less than was the case when I had fixed IP addresses. However, it has two network connections, one to the modem/router and one to a GigaBit switch for internal stuff. All boxes are behind NAT and a firewall on the modem/router, PCs all have AV and firewall, Linux box (web and mail server more than desktop) uses SELinux.

I have been accessing the internet since 1995 and X25, X400 and bulletin boards before then. Apart from a copy of Form picked up from an infected floppy disk in 1990, I have yet to have any problem and, with continued vigilance, I hope to remain clean.

[Bobc]

"I'm trying to install a Linux OS on a spare PC. It's a version of Kubuntu which is downloaded as an .iso, which I've then burned as instructed, to a CD as a bootable disk. I can persuade the bios to install the cd drive and to run a version of DOS, and can change the drive to the one with the disk in, I can even get it to DIR list the contents of the disk (just the one file; Kubuntu_iso)

How do I get it to open and unpack the files?"

I know nothing about Linux but my 14 year old son is something of an expert - he suggests going to https://shipit.kubuntu.org/?loggingout=1 and ordering the Kubuntu CD which is free of charge.

Any more advice then email [email protected]

Kind regards,

Bob Clarke

www.legrindouxproperties.com