linux installation issues

I'm attempting my first installation of linux today, and am having some problems. I've decided to go with Mandrake 8.2 because it seems to be the easiest to get ahold of and I've seen rave reviews of it's installation ease. Apparently these people didn't download the files, (bought the cd). My problem is I'm not quite sure how many cd's to burn, and what files go on what cds. I've narrowed the problem down to two folders within the "mandrake" folder. They are "RPMS" and "RPMS.cooker". Through research I've discovered that "RPMS" contains utilities for mandrake, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the installation process, but nothing on "RPMS.cooker", so I'm guessing it's just a copy of "RPMS" since they are of the same size (1.65 gigs) and seem to have the same files. If you're still following me my question is are those files necessary to the installation at all, and should I put the rest of the files on one cd for the installation? I know this seems like a rather stupid question but to a linux newbie such as myself it's rather necessary. Thanks again.

No, no..... you need to download the ISO images, not the individual RPMs. Scroll down and find the section for ISO images. There should be 3 images.

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftpt...a647f401ea.php

I've got the ISO images...I downloaded everything the ftp site had, I just need to figure out what to use. So I've got the images.....now what?

Burn'em up baby! you have a CD burner?

got a burner...but here's the problem....I downloaded the files on a different computer then the one which is going to have linux installed on it.....

Correction to what I said earlier: Mandrake is 2 ISOs, not 3.

You need the following files:
MandrakeLinux-8.2-Prosuite-Download-CD1.i586.iso
MandrakeLinux-8.2-Prosuite-Download-CD2.i586.iso

In Nero, choose File and Burn Image to make the CDs. I'm sure Roxio has a similar function.

ok let me explain this installation a bit further. First of all I don't want to partition my hard drive, so I'm installing linux within windows. supposedly...the installation disk does this automatically, but that's the problem...I need to make the installation disk with the files I have, and I have a lot of files. the iso images will be on the cd, but I think I need more then that....i'm thinking I should just put all the non RPMS files on one cd and see how it goes. Does anybody have a better idea?

May I refer you to a thread I started...check here for some basic help

heh, just a bit of an update pertaining to my situation. I tried the ISO images and had the same problem, so I went out and bought Red Hat 7.2. Aside from the fact that it refused to read my partition, and i had to delete windows to install it, it worked rather well. At least BIOS read it as a Operating System CD.....Mandrake's own boot floppy couldn't see it as an installation cd.