Installing Suse 9.1 Personal

[Lotus]

hey guys. this is the first time ill be installing linux by myself at my pc here! i downloaded the iso (not quite an .iso) from the 'Download Linux" area from the main menu tab at linuxquestions.org. well it finished today BUT it was an .rar file. SO i unrared the files into a folder i created on my desktop. then i got those files and draged them into a cd and wrote them on it. so when u open the cd its all the files there and also it appears the little suse linux icon by the cd name. but when i try to boot it after i restart the pc it says "booting cd:" and then just starts windows xp normally. any ideas what might be happening!?! i got the .txt file from suse.com with installation tips but i did everything normaly. the only thing i didnt do was use an program to burn the stuff into the cd, i just dragged and droped and windows burned it normally. and also i thought was strange is it came in .rar format.
thanks anyway :D

[happybunny]

simply copying files to a CD does not make it bootable.

Normally I'd find the ISO, which extracts via K3B or Roxio and makes the CD bootable in the process.

Not sure if you could boot to floppy or any boot cd, then launch some type of install (like you can in windows with winnt.exe)....thats a good question though.

Also verify that your BIOS is set to boot to cd first before harddrive

[Lotus]

thx happybunny for the fast responce!!
well.. so .. do u think if i get the files and burn them in another cd using nero or roxio.. might work?

this is from the installation guide of suse.com:

2. Use a burning application of your choice to burn the ISO file to a
blank CD-R/CD-RW. Select the option that allows burning a CDROM image
and/or a iso9669 filesystem.

whats is iso9669 filesystem?

[happybunny]

Not sure the mechanics of SUSE install cd.

What version did you get? Here are 2:

http://www.suse.com/us/private/download/suse_linux/

Not sure but here are Novell Suse downlaods too:

http://download.novell.com/pages/PublicSearch.jsp

The live version does not install, but runs off cd. The other is a personal, stripped down version that will install.

an "iso" is a single file that represents the contents of a CD. You take a cd of any type, and you can make a single file .iso backup of this cd. You can then extract it like a zip file, or simply use a cd burning software to make copies of the original cd from the iso, without needing the actual cd.

[saikee]

Should it not iso9660?

As described by others we normally have to download an iso image. In Nero there is a function "to burn an iso image". Click it and specify the file and a bootable CD is at the end of a 5 minutes (approx) process.

[happybunny]

yes, you can create a bootable CD and have the SUSE install files on it too, but if you use a Win98 boot disk to use as the boot media when creating the new ISO with SUSE files on it, you boot on cd straight to a c:\prompt.

What would you type then to start the SUSE install?

[Lotus]

well i got the prob fixed by burning the files using nero bootable cd type. but now it starts working but then it ends were i have to type something (the first time i can type something after it booted) and well i dont know what to type... i tried some stuff like 'setup' 'run' lol
any ideas?
btw its Suse 9.1 Personal

[happybunny]

well, to make your life easier, can you just download the ISO from
http://www.suse.com/us/private/download/ftp/personal_iso_int.html

and then use Nero to burn the ISO to the CD?

Dont just copy the ISO to the CD but tell Nero to "open" the ISO file and burn the CD. With Roxio, I just double click the ISO and it knows what I want it to do, I don't think Nero is smart like that.

[Lotus]

hehe.. i already got the boot part working! :D
my problem now isnt the iso but is what to type in the dos thingie for it to start the setup!! because it boots from the cd does a whole lot of thinking and stuff and stops in a place where I can type something. :confused:

[saikee]

Startx for kick start the desktop if you your in Bash shell command prompt.


Use the up arrow key to recall previous commands.

[Lotus]

well. ive tried alot of stuff and still nothing.. the problem is the folowing

the pc boots from the instalation CD. then loads a bunch of stuff (caldera stuff and bla bla) then it stops for me to type stuff. then i type E: to do to the drive where my suse cd is. then i type dir to look at the files. now. does anyone know what must i type for the installation to start!? or should it have started automatically!?! plz im going crazy here!! if anyone can help it would be great!!

[happybunny]

think peaceful thoughts...go to your happy place.

The problem is, you created a boot cd using some type of boot manager unknown to the SUSE installation files.

SO, your machine boots to CD just fine, but you just go to whatever "shell" that boot manager chose, most likely Caldera DOS from what you see. This was unrelated to the SUSE files you also put on the CD.

From there, you are right, you need to figure out which file it is that launches the begining of the SUSE install.

Since the CD you created is not really a SUSE install CD, it does not "autorun" as a real SUSE CD would. (A real Cd being one created from a SUSE.ISO file).

So, the question here is, what file do you need to launch to begin the install...and I have no idea.

Ill look at an ISO disk and see what i see.

[Lotus]

huhuhu! just discovered something!! is is an .ISO file! the problem was that when i installed winrar i letted it check the .iso file so all iso files be read by winrar! so i opende winrar and uncheck it and it went back to .iso file! any ideas from now on!? :D
so u guys think if i burn now from the original .iso file it will work!?

[happybunny]

yes....

BUT, i think Nero doesn't normally deal normally with ISO's, so be careful.

If you associate .ISO's with Nero, simply double clicking it might make it launch in Nero properly, meaning it will know you want to "extract" it onto a CD.

Then boot and hopefully you can start the install

[Lotus]

YAY! finally worked! i burned with the original .iso and it worked :D
but now something else.. not a problem just a question.
on yast before he install he checks ur system and stuff. but on the partition part i can choose:
- use entire hd
- use 75gb /hda(something like this)
- use 15mb unused space

well.. i have 10gb of free space on my hd.. the rest is all used up. howe can i choose to only use these 10gbs!? and also when will i choose the space for the swap (memory something thingy) part??

cause i definatly dont wanna be loosing all my data hehe :D

[saikee]

Just go in as the expert mode to specify the loaction for Suse