yr2alex

Simply Mepis 3.3.1 Simply

yr2alex

As afore stated, broken, brokren,broken.... How inferior... At the very least I still have URPMI, just no prcatical and attractive GUI for centralized package management. How disappointing...

This has nothing to do with smart or apt. The mirror you are using has the wrong package name listed in its hdlist.cz and/or synthesis.hdlist.cz. Try changing your mirror and I bet you get different results.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Final words -- I am inclined to agree with you, it doesn not have anything to do with Smart or Apt, it is the environment in which they were poorly implemented.

yr2alex

Ok perhaps I am doing something wrong, that is not an implausible idea.

From the screenshots, you still have LE2005 sources.  You need to configure to use 2006 sources that's why you have the problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am using LE2005 on this system, but I have no objections to changing mirrors or pointing them to MDV 2006. So said so done.

The way I understand it is that urpmi is still valid, and it looks like eventually synaptics will replace it, but for the time being it is co-existing, and relying on the same sources, rather than duplicating source addresses.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is fine and dandy but if Synaptic is not configured to use hdlist.cz or synthesis.hdlist.cz the way Synaptic uses packages.gz on a Debian system then it is for all intensive purposes broken!

Your urpmi points to LE2005, therefore changing to 2006 as mentioned above will no doubt fix your synaptics issue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok i'll bite

# Package repository URL's

# Signed repositories have a [<key>] where <key> is the name of the key
# as it appears in vendors.list. If you remove it, no digital signature check
# will be made.

# See http://www.mandrake-linux.com/en/cookerdevel.php3 for a full list of
# mirrors.

# You can also get mirrors from easyurpmi.zarb.org

# format is simple :
# 1) rpm is the type of archive
# 2) server is the path to the main directory
# 3) list is the relative path to the list, from the main directory
# 4) rpms is the relative path to the rpms, from the main directory

# you cannot use synthesis.hdlist, but you can take a hdlist.src, to install SRPM
# with apt.

# example 
# rpm ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/linux/distributions/mandrake-devel/cooker/i586/media/ media_info/hdlist_main main  


#Acnova-Plf-Free
rpm http://plf.acnova.com/mandrake/non-free/10.2/ hdlist i586 

#Acnova-Plf-Non-Free
rpm http://plf.acnova.com/mandrake/free/10.2/ hdlist i586 

#Gulus-Updates
#rpm http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/updates/LE2005/main_updates/ media_info/hdlist updates 

#Gulus-Main
#rpm http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/2005/i586/media/ media_info/hdlist_main main 

#Gulus-Contrib
#rpm http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/2005/i586/media/ media_info/hdlist_contrib contrib 

#Gulus-Jpackage
#rpm http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/2005/i586/media/ media_info/hdlist_jpackage jpackage 

#Planetmirror-Plf-Free
#rpm ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/plf/mandrake/free/2006.0 hdlist i586

#Planetmirror-Plf-Non-Free
#rpm ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/plf/mandrake/non-free/2006.0 hdlist i586

#Texas-Updates
#rpm ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakelinux/official/updates/2006.0/main_updates/ media_info/hdlist updates

#Texas-Main
#rpm ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/main media_info/hdlist main

#Texas-Contrib
#rpm ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/contrib media_info/hdlist contrib

#Texas-Jpackage
#rpm ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/jpackage media_info/hdlist jpackage

#UK_Anorien-Updates
rpm http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/Mandrakelinux/official/updates/2006.0/main_updates/ media_info/hdlist updates

#UK_Anorien-Main
rpm http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/main media_info/hdlist main

#UK_Anorien-Contrib
rpm http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/contrib media_info/hdlist contrib

#UK_Anorien-Jpackage
rpm http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/jpackage media_info/hdlist jpackage

But wait there'is more.... I now try to upgrade mozilla-firefox from 1.0.2 -1.0.6 and get the following:

Please help

Regards,

yr2alex

Are these package managers configured to use urpmi sources? If they are then bugs apparently have not been squashed.. and that is a shame. Good gui tools will definitely make Mandriva's transition to desktop a viability and reality much sooner. See what happens when I attempt to upgrade mozilla-firefox using both Smartpm and Synaptic via Apt the proof is in the pudding. Then again there is always the possibility that I did something wrong like whipped instead of sturred. See for yourself.

yr2alex

I have used both,

urpmi is OK, but it is no apt....

as a mtter of preference I use APT.

I love MDV and APT, I've got the best of both worlds

And the moral of the story is Apt is better, no URPMI is better,no APT, no URPMI, no APT ..... Oh who gives a F.A.Q already!!! Use whatever the F.A.Q. you want, just make sure it is on Linux. As for me... (see the screen shots below)

yr2alex

I have MDV 10.2 installed on a VMware machine which has to access the internet and external networks via a firewall/proxy. I Tried Smartpm on it and was very impressed with the exception of the fact that it does not have built-in proxy support making package management impossible. However, I tried Synaptic -I am rather fond of it (in fact I use it quite frequently on Debian, Mepis, and Ubuntu). It is a mature package manager that has built-in proxy support, with the exception of a few external issues it worked as soon as I plugged in the repo data. Smart is good but it does not suit my needs because I can not use it here at work because it lacks proxy support. Urpmi does, nevertheless, a moot point a frontend gui that will perform the same actions is what I need.

all for your help,

yr2alex

P.S. I have provided some screen shots

Use Smart... this is the "modern" way to handle Mandy packages.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Believe me I intend on it. Further more, I would like to perform an active comparison beteween the two package managers. This was my motive for asking. Again is there any available documentation containing instructions on how to configure Apt-get to use Mandriva mirrors?

yr2alex

Now that Apt and Synaptic are available for Mandriva, is there documentaion available with instructions on how to configure /etc/apt/sources.list to use Mandriva mirrors? No flaming please, just exercising the right to make choices. Linux --need i say more?

cheers

yr2alex

If you ran a version of Mandriva which gets constant updates - i.e., Cooker - all you'd need to do would be 'urpmi.update -a' followed by 'urpmi mozilla-firefox', and the job would be done.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

this is the answer i was looking for in a nutshell, thanks Oh and btw oddly enough 1.0.4 was made available just before your reply to this post, heh.

Viva Mandriva, thanks again

-yr2alex

I don´know how urpmi could be less robust than other methods.

I have never ever had any troubles using it. Need I say it again, never.

I have occassional problems but they all eventually revealed that I had done something incorrectly. When I did it correctly, what do you know......................the problem disappeared.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I never meant for the words "more robust" to be a negative implaction despite how it sounds. I too have not had any major issues with URPMI to speak of. In fact my experiences have been much like yours in that regard.

I suspect most who have problems are those that either do not know how to use it properly in the manner it was designed for or those who think they are cleverer and try to use it in a way that it was not designed for.

Those singing such huge praise for other systems, I sometimes suspect do it to big note themselves.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

with the exception one incident that I had with the install of Mandriva I have had nothing but good things to say about Mandriva. In fact I have been content with using it since release version 8.2, only I'm not sure if URPMI was available then and if so I wasn't aware of it. As far as installing packages was concerned then, I either installed via rpm -ivh, -Uvh or built from source if I wasn't able to resolve deps. Each distro has their pros and cons please don't be offended because I chose to underscore the pros of another.

(Note the emphasis on sometimes. If you start to flame me then maybe you see it as applying to you.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No worries as always I reserve flames for edibles.. :lol:

I know there are other good systems out there but I have to admit I get a little fed up with a lot of the pseudo elitism portrayed by some critics of urpmi.

In what way is urpmi less mature than Apt-Get ??? Many make this kind of empty remark without really explaining what they mean by it.

Maybe that means it is a newer system.  So what.  Perhaps that is a good thing.  For an example look at grub. Much newer than Lilo but ten times easier to use than lilo.  Lilo does a great job but not better than grub, just differently.  So why not use the easier one when it achieves the same result in the end for a lot less user effort ???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Touche!!

Urpmi is a good product that does a great job.

Does this mean it won´t get even better in the future ???  I do not think so.

Cheers.                          John

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed

yr2alex

Thanks. I had come to the same conclusion after having read the help files, man pages and other on line documentation. However, I wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything that perhaps I may have overlooked. While on the subject of package management, Apt-Get does provide the upgrade feature that I was looking for in URPMI. Connectiva was the distro responsible for porting apt to rpm (which by the way has worked very well on my Fedora box to date). I mention this in light of Mandrake's recent aquisition of Connectiva, hence Mandriva. My question is, and I'm sure someone else has probably asked it before, Will Mandriva some day incorporate Apt-Get in the O.S.? URPMI is good, but because it is not as mature as Apt-Get it lacks some of the features that make Apt-Get so robust.

P.S. thank you again

-yr2alex

Hello all,

Just a quick question, is there a way to upgrade an individual package using the URPMI utility? For example, I want to upgrade Mozilla Firefox from version 1.0.3 to the latest 1.0.4, what option would I use with URPMI in order to accomplish this?

TIA

yr2alex

[moved from Installing Mandrake by spinynorman]

this newbie says:  get VMware out of the loop completely. 

Check and re-check how much unpartitioned space you have for the install.

Also when you're installing do not copy the CD's to disk - you will not have room and you will get a ton of errors.

hope that helps.

Kristi

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok so I wanted to put everyones theories including mine to the test. I went to the local Office Depot here in Sunny St. Pete Florida while there I bought 2 25 packs of Maxell CDRW (got a great deal they were on sale $8.99 off), next burned the iso images using K3B on my Fedora 3 box (which by the way burned at 4x for my CDRW 's by default) instead of using Nero on my XP box. My choice of using CDRWs was purely a strategic and precautionary measure. Finally installed MDK 10.2 on an IBM Thinkpad R40. If my recollection servers me right there were only two minor hick-ups as far as errors are concerned- but that it did not stop the install from completing successfully. Mandriva formerly Mandrake Linux has redeemed itself. Thank you, those of you who bothered to make any suggestions I appreciate your candor and diligence.

VMWare quite often has problems with new releases, from what I hear. The fact that 10.0 is OK doesn't necessarily mean 10.2 will be (entirely different kernels, for a start).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My instincs tell me otherwise. I beg your pardon my most recent episodes have made me quite a skeptic, however, you may be on to something worth looking into. Have you any other suggestions?

OK, more questions!

 

How big is the "free space" and what else is on the drive? What did you use to previously partition the drive? What is the partition location in relation to the rest of the drive? Better yet, tell me the linux designation. In fact, could you post an fstab from a working distro?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hopefully you and I are refering to the samething when I say that the free space on the VMware virtual machine was 8.0GB, nothing else was on the dirve (that is to say the virtual drive ) it was created for the sole purpose of testing the latest Mandrake iso before exhausting physical resources (CDs). The host machine is a windows XP machine so I don't beleive the remaining questions are relevent, however, I can provide you an fstab from a machine that I am running Simply Mepis 3.3 on, which by the is one that the mdk 10.1 insatlled failed on in an identical scenario.

top - 13:52:13 up 8 days, 6:42, 1 user, load average: 0.25, 0.16, 0.14

Tasks: 99 total, 1 running, 98 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie

Cpu(s): 1.3% us, 0.7% sy, 0.0% ni, 98.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si

Mem: 506860k total, 500960k used, 5900k free, 82824k buffers

Swap: 1020116k total, 1028k used, 1019088k free, 168808k cached

/etc/fstab-

# Static entries below, do not use 'users' option in this area

/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,noatime 1 1

/dev/hda2 swap swap sw,pri=1 0 0

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devmode=0666 0 0

none /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0

none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0

/dev/hda3 /home ext3 defaults,noatime 1 2

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 user,unhide,noauto,users,dev,ro 0 0

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

/etc/fstab: unmodified, readonly: line 1

IBM ThinkCentre 8183-wap

2.60 Ghz Intel Celeron 865g chipset

2800 512MB DDR

Seagate 37.3Gb hdd

48x optical drive

no floppy

ps2 mouse

If you have eliminated hardware, media and software as potential problems then the only issue left is with vmware.

 

Try out the latest version to see if it works from here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my opinion,a waste of time MDK 10.0, Fedora 3, and many more install on the version I'm running. Question for you, assuming that your installation was successful, where did you download your iso? I would much rather test that.

Ok, I gather from you responses that I apparently did not include enough pertinent information. Nevertheless, I did manage to get your attention. By the way thank you for your timely responses and here is my rebuttal.

How far into the install before the error?

Is it the same file each time or different?

What are you system specs?

How many fingers am I holding up?

OK, forget the last question, just the first three, please! :lol:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once agin for your viewing displeasure, I have included yet another screenie containing captures of the entire installation process from beginning to failure, however, just in case you are unable to view it I have provided the following steps

1. Language selection English of course

2. Accept EULA

3. Left the desired security level unchanged

4. Selected Use free space option in Drakx Partitioning wizard

5. The next screen states how many installation cd's were detected, next (incidentally this screen offers two paths both of which were explored. On the initial attempt I just selected next, on the second I checked the "copy whole CDs" box").

6. The next screen states that the installation media has been found and asks the following question: Do you have any supplementary installation media to configure? clicked ok with the default of none.

7. The package selection group window appears tried it with the default options on first attempt, on second minimal and I mean minimal.

8. I am greeted by a series of similar error messages of failed package installs (it matters not whether they are random or not they are not installing!). The error verbatim- There was error installing packages: libreadline5-5.0-2mdk.i586 Go on anyway? If choose yes it seems as if though every other package fails. Conversely if I choose no the Install craps.

As for system specs try everything that runs on x86 architecture that I have made an attempt to install thus far. However, that is neither here nor there this attempt was installed on a virtual machine (VMware 4.05 to be exact) using guess what? I'm glad you asked, the iso image files that I downloaded from my favorite mirror Mandriva-Linux-2005-Limited-Edition-Download-CD1, CD2, CD3.i586.iso

Well that kills the cdr theory, onward...

Four thoughts:

1. Your burner is malfunctioning - hardware problem.

2. The s/w you are trying to burn the isos with is malfunctioning. Try a different app such as Nero.

3. You purchased a bad spindle of cdr's.

4. Try to burn a different iso then the ones you d/l, if it works fine then you can disregard 1-3. As a test for this try to burn DSL, is only 50MB

 

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Remember my original post? Once bitten twice as shy.... I reiterate this attempt was installed on a virtual machine (VMware 4.05 to be exact) using guess what? I'm glad you asked, the iso image files that I downloaded from my favorite mirror that kills the burner theory also. If it is all the same on my last failed attempt (mdk 10.1) I used soley Nero 6 ultra, But once again neither here nor there. Bad CD's huh? Highly unlikely. I have a spindle of 100 Maxell CD-Rs. Each draw is random because I have used them to successfully burn isos of other distros like Kubuntu, Simply Mepis, ProMepis, FreeBSD just to name a few basically there are no defects. I hate to tell you this, but once again neither here nor there.

Yep. You checked your ISOs but not your discs. You also didn't eliminate hardware as a possible source of the problem. If you're overclocking, back down to stock speeds for the install. Try disabling DMA - boot, when you hit the first screen press F1 and type 'linux ide=nodma'. Finally, 10.2 has the ability to install from the .ISO files on the hard disk rather than CDs, so you could try that; grab the boot.iso file from an FTP mirror, write it to a CD, boot from it and tell it you want to do a hard disk install.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I tried- F1 and type 'linux ide=nodma' in my 10.1 attempt so I wasn't in the least optimistic but what did I have to lose? I tried it again and recieved the following and familiar - There was error installing packages: libreadline5-5.0-2mdk.i586 Go on anyway?

burn really slow complete the install and install the missing pkgs at first boot

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

been there done that..

I am suspicious of the cdrom blanks you are using.

You would be amazed at how many el cheapo brands are incompatible with normal burners or burning programmes.

A friend of mine received a bonus pack of 10 blanks when she bought some product or other.

So far 3 failed burns and the rest won't even start.  And that in Windows as well as Linux.

 

Personally, I only use TDK, Laser and Imation (and in that order of preference) for both cdrom and DVD discs.

Since using K3B since way back I have never made a coaster.

 

 

Cheers.                John.

 

BVCs advice is spot on.    Also the problem is NOT with Mandrake, it is your hardware or your discs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm using Maxell CD-Rs, I'm not arguing with you, I too am a Mandrake fan, I'm just conveying a problem that I have been experiencing with the iso's that I have downloaded not only from my favorite mirror but various other mirrors as well. In fact a screen shot of my 10.0 desktop resides on mandrakes website My mdk-10 screenie

Final works Mandrake is a good product even better if I can ever get it to install that being the case I may take you up on your cheers. =)

Gotta go along with these folks.

 

Dual DVD/CD burners are even more sensitive...

 

I always burn install Cd's on very slow..  (like 2x or 4x) while downloading the next because you only need one error to screw you're install.  Its not like a song skipping..

 

Good quality media is always a good idea... even more so if you back up onto it!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Again neither here nor there, thanks for the advise though, I'll try to keep it in mind.

I had this problem when I attempted to install 10.1. When I attempted it with 10.1 I downloaded iso imgs from at least four mirrors, went through nearly 30 cd's before admitting to exhaustive failure (surprizingly enough the md5sum checked out ok for every iso). The last time I sought assistance I was told it was a fluke; then it was suggested that I wait until 10.2. Well here it is 10.2 same issue only this time once bitten twice as shy. I have uploaded some screenies for your viewing displeasure. You will note that in this case the md5sum checkes out ok as well for each iso. The error in the second screenshot is the first of ten before I aborted the install which was doomed to inevitable failure anyway. Any suggestions before I completely give up on my once upon a time first choice Mandrake Linux, oh I beg your pardon Mandriva Linux?

Hello,

I was just wondering if perhaps anyone in the community of Mandrake Linux users could shed some light on the subject of Package Management with regard to Mandrakes recent acquisition of Connectiva. If I am not mistaken Connectiva was responsible for porting Debian's Apt-Get to rpm based Distros for example Fedora Core. That being said is here's my question, is there a possibility that Connectiva's package management model such as Apt-Get (Synaptic) or Smart RPM will be ported over to Mandrakes URPMI perhaps as an enhancement? Please don't misunderstand my thinking, I'm sure that Mandrake envisioned Product enhancement when considering the acquisition- making something good better right?

What do you think?

YR2ALEX

[moved from Forum Discussion by spinynorman]

if it is a firewall problem, try with disabling the firewall during the mirror setup. will it work then?

Unfortunately I cannot disable the Firewall because I do not administer it, therefore in order to get Mandy to work -I work around it. DNS was never an issue. This facility is a very secure facility so naturally firewalled for most incoming/outgoing traffic additionally to be able to access external sites I must go through a proxy as illustrated in my last post. The problem that I am experiencing with URPMI is that the Firewall here is more than likely blocking traffic from ftp mirrors- in fact I have had no success with them at all using URPMI and limited success via browser. However, with http mirrors I have experienced no problems. Having said that I'll try some other http mirrors.

for the assist GUYs

I was able to get URPMI configured at least in part by adding:

 --wget --proxy myproxy.com:80 --proxy-user myuid:mypasswd

to urpmi.addmedia command which seem to do the trick, however, when I run for example:

urpmi --wget --proxy myproxy.com:80 --proxy-user myuid:mypasswd xmms

I get the following output:

http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/10.0/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/xmms-1.2.9-4mdk.i586.rpm
...retrieving failed: wget failed: exited with 1 or signal 0

Installation failed, some files are missing:
   http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/10.0/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/xmms-1.2.9-4mdk.i586.rpm
You may want to update your urpmi database

My question to you is simply, does it matter if I use entries for 10.1 or not? I ask because I am obviously limited to mirror sources beginnig with http- for example:

main http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mandrakel...6/Mandrake/RPMS with ../base/hdlist.cz

the firewall here blocks the ftp mirrors, any suggestions?

I installed MDK 10.0 on a test box here at my job and while attempting to set up URPMI using the easy urpmi online setup tool ran into a small brick wall. At any rate I did the following in this order after going to easy urpmi.

# urpmi.removemedia -a

no problems there

then copied the first of a string of entries into the cli

urpmi.addmedia --update updates ftp://rpm.pbone.net/pub/mandrake/mandrakelinux/official/updates/10.0/RPMS with ../base/hdlist.cz

waited, waited then waited some more before the following was rendered:

retrieving source hdlist (or synthesis) of "main"...
   ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/10.0/i586/Mandrake/base/hdlist.cz
...retrieving failed: curl: (7) Connect failed

my guess is the proxy/firewall here so I edited the /root/.bash_profile by adding the following:

http_proxy=myproxy.com:port#

then edited /etc/profile by adding the following:

export http_myproxy.com - and I still get :

retrieving source hdlist (or synthesis) of "main"...
   ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/Mandrakelinux/official/10.0/i586/Mandrake/base/hdlist.cz
...retrieving failed: curl: (7) Connect failed

any suggestions?

yr2alex

One question though: why burn cds again and again? If the cds work on another machine, that's not the issue (or did I misread)?

The md5sum checks out ok on the downloaded isos every attempt. Why so many cds? Each attempt to reburn isos to cd was an attempt to determine if the problem with iso was isolated to the mirror or if image was well you know borked (for the lack of a better term). I've come to the this conclusion it has to be the iso image not the media. I say this because (as you'll note in one of my previous posts) in one of my atttempts to install I completely circumvented the process of writnig iso to cd by attempting to install directly from the iso image via VMware which will allow you to install supported OS from an iso image by reading it as if it were on media. I have been able to do so with every release of Mandrake from 8.2 to 9.0 to 9.1 to 10.0. In fact the following screen shot was captured while running MDK 10.0 on VMware workstation 4 on a test box at work.

And lastly, indeed, this is really really strange..

That is the understatement of the year, however, don't fret the year alast is nearing it's end. Mission Mandrake 10.1 Official install has also come to an abrupt end.

I have exhausted every known means to get MDK 10.1 installed (not to mention exhausted many, many cds) and have been met with failure on every attempt. As a last ditch effort I attempted to hack the iso images themselves using "isobuster" as recommended in a previous post. I got real close but no cigar. I was able to see a directory structure on one cd1 but it would not boot, made the next cd1 bootable using mandrakesoft.img it sends the system into a vicious reboot cycle. Lastly I had a bright idea of using mandrakesoft.img from my 10.0 cd1 (which installed flawlessly) then got an error that autorun.conf was missing in lang or dosutils/lang directory but it was there, only as autorun.con. Wierdly enough that is how it is on the 10.0 cd1 as well. I thought what the heck got nothing more to lose at this point- so using the last cd of my spindle I recreated the cd1 only this time renaming autorun.con to autorun.conf- borked borked and more borked now it just sits with the cursor flashing at the top left coner of a black screen. In a final moment of desperation I managed to locate 3 more blank cds, reburned the iso's at 4x and guess what BORKED!!!!!!!

It is fair to say that as much as I love Mandrake it is time to move on, until they get it right I will continue to use 10.0 and of course there is always Fedora.

cheers

So ... when this will be done in earlier versions correctly MDK must have changed some installation routines in 10.1.

I Understand how you did it, your instructions are easy to follow- but what I'm trying to do is understand why???

It just seems as if some completely unnecessary steps were taken in order for you to get MDK 10.1 OFF to install, granted you did what you had to in order to get it to work. However, if I understand you correctly I must first install windows, unpack isos using iso buster (windows software) copy each of the cds to the root of a windows directory/partition then install it from there. What if you don't have windows installed, as in my case I have always typically installed Linux on an empty hdd from scratch. There has to be an easier and better way...