[kwlug-disc] CD distro's no more?

[Paul Nijjar]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 01:27:18PM -0400, Insurance Squared Inc. wrote:
> I just downloaded Mandriva's powerpack...but it's only available on DVD.  
> My webserver however only has a CD drive.
>
> Are there alternative solutions to buying a slimline dvd drive and  
> installing it in the server?  Like creating CD ISO's, or some sort of  
> network install?

According to the wiki

http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Installing_Mandriva_Linux

there are network installation options. You could make a bootable USB
key from the DVD (assuming you can read it in some other computer) and
then use that to do a network installation. 

You might also be able to install using the media you downloaded by
using the ISO file directly -- the wiki suggests that the Mandriva
installer can use ISO files directly. The trick will be finding a way
for your server to see the ISO. Putting the image on a server hard
drive partition (that will be left alone during the install) could
work. 

You could also try putting the image on a USB key if you have
one that is big enough. If you happen to have an NFS server available,
maybe putting the ISO image on NFS would work. 

I don't know the details of the Mandriva install, and I don't know how
many hoops you want to jump through, but these are the approaches I
would look to first. 

- Paul