[SOLVED] Help with install

[dogluvver]

I have an old machine running windows. It has a CD drive and doe not boot from the USB.

I want to install Linux Mint and am told that Plop will do that but when reading through the plop information I fail to understand exactly what is required. I have a DVD of Linux mint. I also have the CD iso on a USB stick. Obviously the DVD will not run on my old machine (CD drive) and I do not have a CD large enough (need 700 mb). Will be at least a week before I go near a store!!

What do I have to do to get the USB bootable after (or before) I copy the CD iso to the USB.

Brian (not a techno geek)

[dogluvver]

Should have mentioned that I want to replace the Windows OS with Linux.

Brian

[ss]

"copy the cd iso to the usb"?
First, burn the iso image, not copy it, to the USB device with the some thing like UNetbootin. This will only make the device bootable.
Now, leave your USB device, nothing further needs to be done to it, and then configure your machine to boot through the USB device. Your computer Bios wouldn't do that as you said, so you need Plop boot manager to allow your pc to boot with a bootable USB.
You can write Plop boot manager to the hard disk or you can write it to windows boot menu or a cd or a floppy, and the plop manager will let you boot from your bootable usb drive.
There are various methods so you need to study plop boot manager section. This is a very simple way to do it. I think you are confusing yourself with plop linux section.