On my old 486, I need to use the CD-ROM drive to install some packages. How do I get the CD-ROM working? It's a Mitsumi, double speed(2x). Please help

What O/S are you running?

Well, I'm in the process of installing Slackware linux.

Well, I tried this:
When I boot with floppy, it says to add parameters if I need to force read an IDE/ATAPI cdrom, so I did this:

boot: ramdisk hdx=cdrom
and after the rest is loaded, I do this:

# mount /cd
mount: can't find /cd in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
# mount /cdrom
mount: can't find /var/log/mount in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
# mount /hdx
mount: can't find /hdx in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
#

help!

Try:

mount /dev/hdx /mnt/cdrom

Let me know...

# mount /dev/hdx /mnt/cdrom
mount: mount point /mnt/cdrom does not exist
#

then make it, "mkdir /mnt/cdrom"

Ok, the directory was made, but:

# mount /dev/hdx /mnt/cdrom
mount: special device /dev/hdx does not exist

and the same goes for /hdx and /cdrom

Again, good call regal... :)

there is a command to list your devices hda1, hdx and such, i cant remember it at the moment, im not in front of my unix boxes.

B, do you have remember this command?

ill do some looking, and get back on this one.

in the mean time;

http://www.slackware.com/book/index.php?source=x2280.html

# mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /cdrom

I know you can see what your computer sees
as far as hardware if you snoop around in
the /proc filesystem. I know what you are
talking about regal, but I can't put my
thumb on it... back to the man pages...

Ok, well, I got errors when I did that.
screen shot:

# cd etc
# cat fstab
/dev/fd2 / minix defaults 1 1
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
#

Do I need to add something in there?

no, as i said earlier, dont edit the fstab file until we get the command right. you need to find out what your cdrom's device name is. do this, use the 'dmesg' command, and look for your cdrom in there, at the beginning of the line, it should show the device name.

use that in the /dev/devicename part.

btw. you need to have a cd in the drive, in order for it to mount anything.

Ok, I did 'dmesg'. I couldn't find my cd-rom. I found hda , but it says it has 520mb, which is the size of my hdd. I think it's my hard drive. Here are some lines:

hda: ST3660A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
hda: ST3660A, 520MB w/120kB Cache, CHS=1057/16/63

check to be sure that the drive is installed correctly, did you install linux from this cdrom drive?

the Dmesg should show everything that happens during boot up, so if linux isnt seeing your cdrom, that would be the start of our problem.

The problem is that I'm trying to install linux, and I need the CD. What I'm doing now is booting from a boot disk and root disk.

ahh, you have to have the correct boot disks for your cdrom to be detected, read the install faq, it will tell you which boot/root disks images you will need.

You said "i need to install some packages" which would be correct if you had the operating system installed already, the correct thing should have been "I NEED TO INSTALL LINUX".

*This is why everyone should give every little detail when asking a question on any forum.*

per:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-7.1/bootdsks.144/WHICH.ONE

you should make the boot disk from the mcdx.i or mcd.i file.

also, if you are "installing slackware" you will need to burn the whole iso to a cd, not just the packages you want. (posting this here, since i noticed another post with your name on it.)