Swapping CD's under Knoppix

[mrmr96]

Hello, Linux Newbie speaking, help me join you!

I want to run some software under Linux, this software is supplied on a CD, but my laptop only has the one CDROM drive.

Once I've booted to Knoppix is there any way to remove the CD and run/install software from that CDROM drive?

Is there some Linux software availible that will mount 'virtual drives' from CD images (ISO/Bin+Cue etc) which are on the HDD?

Or would I have to boot into windows as normal, copy/install the software to the HDD and then reboot into linux and launch the software from the HDD.

[ Specifically I have a Toshiba Satellite S2450-201 and I want to load some DJ software called Stanton Final Scratch - as the softare is CPU intensive it only runs under Linux or Mac NOT Windows! Linux 1 - 0 Microsoft haha! ]

Cheers for your help guys

[Cuddles]

mrmr96,

I hope I can help you out on this one...

When running from the Knoppix CD, as a boot, you really don't have any options on removing the CD while you are booted. The "Operating System", any one that can run off of a CD that is, locks the CD tray, so that the system always has access to its files.

With that said, here are some options:

(1) - Install Knoppix on your hard drive as a "full-fledged" operating system, thus freeing up the CD-ROM drive...
(2) - If you have, I think the best guess is, at least 1 meg of RAM, you can run Knoppix into memory and run/boot it from RAM, thus freeing up the CD-ROM drive...
(3) - If you have enough free space on your hard drive, approximately 700 meg - the size of the CD, you can transfer the contents of the Knoppix CD to that hard drive, and boot from CD residing on your hard drive, thus freeing up the CD-ROM drive...
(4) - If you have a PCMCIA card slot on your laptop, you can buy a second CD-ROM drive to run off the PCMCIA slot, and still use the CD-ROM drive you are using as the Knoppix CD boot device, and use the "other" CD-ROM drive for your software requirements...

I think thats about it. I am sure others may have hit this same stumble you are, and others may have more options, but, I think this is about it. Not many options, but then again, when you consider Microsoft has a good monopoly going here, if you have a program that "only runs in Windows XXX", and you only have Windows AAA, you pretty much have to gut your system to run that program. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, not a fair comparason, but then again, it makes it Linux 2 and Microsoft 0 -

Hope this helps a little,
Cuddles

[mrmr96]

Cuddles,

Cheers for the tips - turns out there are more solutions than I thought...!

I like the sound of loading the CD onto the HDD and booting it from there.
Can you provide more details (or a link to details) of how to boot from a CD image as u suggest in solution (3)?

As for suggestion (1) - I had considered a dual boot system, using either Knoppix or another Linux release - but I understand that you need to repartition your HDD etc, which I'm a little relucatant to do on the laptop. (Concerns over the warrenty if I change the OS etc) But this does sound like a good idea. Is setting up a dual boot easy for a total linux novice?

Unfortuantly it seems from what you have said that it will not be possible to boot from a CD and then swap to another disc. This was my plan to dabble with Linux, avoiding a full repartition and install till I'm used to it.

However I came across MandrakeMove after my earlier post - It claims to be a Linux release that will boot from CD like Knoppix but will then allow you to swap CD's. It's still downloading now, but I'll let you know how I get on with it once I get it running. Sorry to the Knoppix guys for talking about Mandrake here, but anythings better than MS, right guys?

Cheers again
mrmr96

(My laptop system is a P4 2.4GHz with 512Mb and 30Gb)

[Cuddles]

Oh my mrmr96, Mandrake, RedHat, Debian, Knoppix, Suse, are ALL flavors of Linux - we are all one big happy family here.

I had heard of the "MandrakeMove" - but never tried it, nor any of the "other" flavors of Linux, other than Knoppix/Debian. Good to hear you have the options available

I ran the Knoppix CD, for all of about two weeks, before I was convinced it was "WAY" better than any Windows OS I had ever seen, so, I jumped "head first" into the deep "unknown" water of Linux early on. ( Some things you just don't "learn" unless you are "immersed" in it [giggle] or, more appropriately, have to deal with it )

You may find, with a lot of the "long standing" regulars here, many come from "varied" Linux variants, "flavors". If you decide to go with Mandrake, don't count out this forum. You may not get a "specific" answer here, considering you will probably have a "Mandrake" specific forum to use, you might still get a pretty good answer here too. (it might take a while, for a "background" specific person to come forward, thats all, but, you will probably get a good answer)

Hope you enjoy it, and good luck
Cuddles

[mcaycedo]

Another thing you can do is use an small Knoppix Live CD, lick Morphix or Feather Linux. Then boot and load to Ram, and Listo, you are on your way