Booting from an ISO?

[Ell]

Well guys,
with farkin being the diverse place it is, everyone seems to know a bit about erverything, so a computer question for you guys (and girls).
My cd burner has died, and a new one isnt coming for a while, and im wantitng to install a non windows OS from an iso- the problem is i need to do this without buring the install cd to a cd. Im wondering how i could try to boot the install cd from a spare hdd.
ive tried to copy the files to a formatted (in fat 32) hdd, leaving all the boot files and the like open to a fresh install, but it doesnt work (probably because linux uses a different file system).
Help would be greatly aprreciated. Cheers

[W2ttsy]

well with a bootable OS installer, there is normally a small operating system that resides on the CD that the computer can load.

what you might want to do is install your nix varient onto the spare HDD (UFS format) then boot off that HD (may have to config the BIOS).

then you can install from the OS onto your other HD.

bit of mucking around. otherwise, get a mate to burn the ISO for you? or it wouldnt be too hard to borrow their CDRW. alot easier than fiddling with boot drives and partitions and junk..

glad to see youre moving to *nix

W2ttsy

[Ell]

w2ssy, im not too fussed with chaging bios settings... nothing too hard there.
But, because im runnign XP at the moment (which is causing more trouble than its worth), so how could format a drive to UFS?