What he is suggesting does not require you to install
linux on your windows system. Simply use the utilities
in the directory to create those floppies you need.

--- Robert Byrnes <robertbyrnes@home.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>  
> I bought a copy of Linux Mandrake 7.1 today and the
> install hung when trying to initialize the cd-rom. I
> got the error: "I could not mount a device on
> /dev/scd0". So I went to:
> <http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/heliumlast.php3>
> for the solution. I accessed this site with another
> box running Windows98 and downloaded the appropriate
> files. I was hoping to copy them to a regular floppy
> to reboot the other machine again, but, I can't get
> all of the first file (cdrom-aic7xxx.img) onto a
> single floppy! 
>  
> A friend running Linux over in the UK offered this
> help:
> "The problem is that the boot floppy image you
> downloaded is just that - an image. You need to
> create the floppy but transferring the contents of
> the img file onto the raw floppy filesystem - rather
> than copying it as a file. (The patch floppy is just
> a plain copy of the patch file to a formatted disk).
> The problem here is that the method to transfer the
> image - 'dd' - is a Linux command! And
> you ain't got no Linux....
> Don't worry though, if you get your Linux CD running
> on the win machine, there should be a DOSUTILS
> directory with rawwrite and winrawwrite which are
> the DOS/win programs to do this for you in an MS
> world. Check out the readme file in the images
> directory off of the cdrom on how to create boot
> disks from img files in different situations."
>  
> I would really rather avoid installing Linux on my
> Windows machine as I already have another Pentium
> machine with a blank hard drive that is going to be
> exclusively Linux OS. That is, if I can get beyond
> the first 30 seconds of trying to install it! :-)
>  
> I was hoping someone local here around Phoenix
> wouldn't mind putting these files onto two floppies
> for me and I could meet them at the next meeting or
> somewhere else and exchange two clean floppies in
> return. I would be extremely grateful for this
> favor!!!
>  
> Again, thanks in advance for any help!
> Robert
> 
> Robert
> 
> 
> Oscar Wilde observed: "The reasonable man adapts
> himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists
> in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
> all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
> 

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