Then your friend said something about 'burning it' unto a blank CD / DVD. There you read ages ago that in order to burn an image, you need to have a CD / DVD burner or RW Drive.
Yeah thats right.
That a file started with .ISO extension is infact a CD / DVD image. It is an International Standard Organization format for making a working CD/DVD , an ISO9660 file to be exact. It is a half finished product by the way. Everything IS inside the file, but to access it you first need to transfer the whole image unto a blanks CD / DVD. It is slightly different from a mere copying. If you just copying an ISO file unto a CD / DVD, it will be still an ISO file there, like before you copy it. So burn, not copying it.
And dammit, there your problem is. All you have with is a cheap netbook without a CD / DVD drive. If you wanna burn some files without a proper drive, you definitely gotta find a lighter!
Just kidding. It is actually possible to simply access the file without burning it.
A Microsoft Windows user (WinXP/Vista/7) can still access the file content inside the ISO file like the normal CD / DVD via third party virtual drive software such as PowerISO. This software create a fake 'D or E' CD / DVD ROM drive in 'My Computer' and by following the instruction, you can 'mount and unmount' the ISO file like 'insert or eject' the real CD / DVD. Grab the PowerIso from this location.
Linux users do not need additional software to read the ISO file. Well, they are geeks remember? A geek just get himself an X terminal. Then he issues a su or sudo command or even to become root, then to type
mkdir cdrom
mount -o loop myimage.iso ./cdrom
Walah, it works everytime. Then browse the 'cdrom' folder in the home folder. Later, when it no longer needed, back to the terminal and type
umount ./cdrom
Thats the geek way, along with a geeky note. If the errors pops up after you type the above commands, then please google it to find the correct one. Because even a geek doesn't have to remember everything.
Err, a less geeky solution for a linux user, please? Just click the ISO file, you may be able to read it straight away.
