Hope I'm not breaking too many rules by doing this, couldn't think of any other way

FOA Steve Scrimpshire, ref. http://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=46444

Sorry for being so dim, but I do need some clarification:
- is '/i586/isolinux/alt0/' where you put the .iso; if not, what do the path-components mean?
- what is 'all.rdz'?
- is '(hd1,0)' where you had 2007.1 One installed, or where you installed 2008?
- and, is an installer simply an installer, or will a Mandriva installer only install Mandriva products, a Ubuntu installer Ubuntu products, etc?

It certainly sounds like a great method, I'd like to use it as a general-purpose tool.

You may find this useful:

http://tinyurl.com/5qby5q

Jim

And to answer the bit of your question not noted there - installers are specific to the distribution and version. A Mandriva installer won't install Ubuntu. A Mandriva 2008 installer won't install Mandriva 2008 Spring. An Ubuntu 8.04 installer won't install Ubuntu 7.10. So for Ubuntu you'd need to find their documentation for hard disk installation methods.

Also you might want to note that on the page jkerr links to there's a USB-based installation option, which may be useful to you too.

Quite a complex topic, but you've helped me a bit further down the line. Many thanks to you both.