Goodbye Knoppix - Hello Mandrake

**Drago** · 10-28-2003, 08:02 AM

My KNOPPIX disk cracked in my drive (I think that's where it cracked. A 1/2" crack starting from the middle outward. The CD felt warm, too - I wonder what's going on with that?

Anyway, I figured that since I have to replace the disk and I heard that the Mandrake installation was really easy (I'm a real newbie) I might as well order Mandrake. Then I thought of ordering Debian, and I wonder in fact whether Mandrake is Debian-based - I hope so. Debian has so many disks, and I only have 5.5 Gigs from my 20 Gig hard drive for LINUX.

I don't know whether this forum could support Mandrake questions, but thanks for your help getting started anyway.

Steve

**Wirf** · 10-28-2003, 08:10 AM

Mandrake is not Debian-based, its Redhat based.

If you're a real newbie then stay away from doing a Debian installation, Debian by itself is pretty hard to install. Knoppix is a far easier way to install Debian.

And i don't know about the rest on this forum, but i don't mind anwsering questions about other distro's as well, just don't flame me if i get the location of a config file wrong

**rickenbacherus** · 10-28-2003, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Drago

My KNOPPIX disk cracked in my drive (I think that's where it cracked. A 1/2" crack starting from the middle outward. The CD felt warm, too - I wonder what's going on with that?

Perhaps it is the long arm of Bill's evil empire!

I don't know whether this forum could support Mandrake questions, but thanks for your help getting started anyway.

Steve

Not really- there is a Mandrake experts forum that shouldbe able to answer your questions. MDK is nice for noobs but IMHO rpm's really bite! At least your using Linux tho right?

**Dave_Bechtel** · 10-28-2003, 07:44 PM

1. Stop using cheap media.
2. Get the drive checked out by a repair facility, and consider replacing it.

--I'm guessing it's a 48x or 52x, right? I have bad feelings about those, they run the discs too close to the failure point. (Too much centrifugal force on spinning plastic media.) Look into getting a slower drive, or even a DVD drive. Personally I never run anything past 32x, even while burning. CD's in my dad's 52x burner always feel warm after being ejected, could be the friction from spinning too fast or a cooling problem.

Originally Posted by Drago

My KNOPPIX disk cracked in my drive (I think that's where it cracked. A 1/2" crack starting from the middle outward. The CD felt warm, too - I wonder what's going on with that?

Anyway, I figured that since I have to replace the disk and I heard that the Mandrake installation was really easy (I'm a real newbie) I might as well order Mandrake. Then I thought of ordering Debian, and I wonder in fact whether Mandrake is Debian-based - I hope so. Debian has so many disks, and I only have 5.5 Gigs from my 20 Gig hard drive for LINUX.

I don't know whether this forum could support Mandrake questions, but thanks for your help getting started anyway.

Steve

**Drago** · 10-28-2003, 08:30 PM

Thanks for your feedback. I did hear about an unusual long five-fingered formation emanating from Redford across the country on the Weather Channel. Hmmm... They said that people were advised to stay indoors, avoid any object that says "XP Professional" and watch their wallet.

I /do/ have a 52x 48x 52x cd burner. I think if anyone knows of a Windows (oops!) utility to set the read speed of a cd-rom lower than max, that would be the best solution for me. I can do it in Nero, but I don't think I can do it in Windows.

I didn't download the image - I ordered it on the Internet and had it delivered. Maybe the first thing I should do is burn copies of the disk(s). I just bought a bunch of Verbatim CD-R's - you know, the ones that look like little 45's.

It is really annoying that I could never properly install KNOPPIX in a bootable partition, good that I didn't have to deal with any of my own data, but annoying that I'm stuck for a runnable LINUX installation and in a state of only partial success until I get the new one.

**j.drake** · 10-28-2003, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by Drago

I think if anyone knows of a Windows (oops!) utility to set the read speed of a cd-rom lower than max, that would be the best solution for me.

I just bought a DVD reader at Circuit City for $29 after rebates ($49 before). Why not get the extra functionality? AND, OfficeMAX has a DVD+-R/RW drive on sale for about $149, which will allow you to burn or read anything on the planet!!

I'm a newbie and installed Mandrake. It is very easy. But I still use Knoppix. The quality of help and participation on this forum beats anything I've seen anywhere else!! It all generalizes pretty well. If you're a newbie, it will probably be quite some time before you know enough for the distro to make a significant difference.

**Dave_Bechtel** · 10-28-2003, 08:49 PM

--Contact the company you bought the disc from and say they sent you a defective product. Ask for free (free shipping, too!) replacement. Send/fax them a picture of the CD if they ask too many questions.

Originally Posted by Drago

I didn't download the image - I ordered it on the Internet and had it delivered. Maybe the first thing I should do is burn copies of the disk(s). I just bought a bunch of Verbatim CD-R's - you know, the ones that look like little 45's.

It is really annoying that I could never properly install KNOPPIX in a bootable partition, good that I didn't have to deal with any of my own data, but annoying that I'm stuck for a runnable LINUX installation and in a state of only partial success until I get the new one.

**Drago** · 10-29-2003, 10:02 PM

WOW! Some really good ideas! All right on the money. There's absolutely no reason I can't run KNOPPIX off the CD even after I install Mandrake. Very cool idea. The rest too.

BTW, from my cracking experience, I think for those of you reading this who didn't download ISOs (that right?) and aren't installing it onto hd, it would be a good idea to start off by backing up that CD any way you can.

**Dave_Bechtel** · 10-30-2003, 07:00 AM

--You can turn the CD into an ISO image by booting it and doing the following:

' mkdir /mnt/blah '
' mount /dev/some-writable-partition-of-sufficient-size /mnt/blah -onoatime,rw '

' cd some-writable-area-that-has-700MB-free '
' time cat /dev/cdrom >knoppix-v999.iso '

--Then md5sum the .iso file and compare it with the md5sum from the FTP site:
ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/knoppix/

--You may be better off doing this from a poorman's install; I don't know what would happen if the OS had to read something off the CD while it was doing the copy, but comparing the md5sums should catch any errors.

Originally Posted by Drago

WOW! Some really good ideas! All right on the money. There's absolutely no reason I can't run KNOPPIX off the CD even after I install Mandrake. Very cool idea. The rest too.

BTW, from my cracking experience, I think for those of you reading this who didn't download ISOs (that right?) and aren't installing it onto hd, it would be a good idea to start off by backing up that CD any way you can.

**matt2kjones** · 10-30-2003, 04:44 PM

a 52x cd drive wont cause the disc to split if the drive or the disc itself isn't damanged.

If the cd spins flat, then there actually isn't much pressure on the disc, the only part that has that much pressure is when it spins up. but then, its not even that much

most likely cause is:

1. CD was damanged (ie, weakness in plastic)
2. CD Drive spins the cd slightly wonky, putting allot more pressure on the disc
3. The CD Loader mech is slightly damaged, and doesn't push the cd on to the spindle at the right plan, ie to slow, so it doesn't align with the hole correctly.