Will Linux Mint still run off the cd drive without a hard drive installed? I see all new versiona are approaching 2 gigs in size so I am assuming you need to burn DVDs in order to install? Surprising there in no install FAQ or info which to me is the big reason Linux will never be mainstream, as it seems they purposely keep things vague.
Ubuntu is the distro you want, not mint. It has FAQs and tons of support. Just type in your question and the word Ubuntu into any search engine, and you will find your answer.
Compared to anything microsoft, Ubuntu is a snap to install, and just plain works.
Mint will run off the CD drive. It will also run off a USB stick. Better to install it to a hard drive though... (Or better yet a SSD. That’s how I do it on three laptops and a desktop. Takes about 20 seconds for it to boot from an SSD, and you don’t need a big expensive one either.)
Fairly easy to install. Instructions are HERE:
https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation/user-guide/Cinnamon/english_18.0.pdf
You can make a bootable USB and install it from there.
You can install from a USB drive
You can run Windows from a CD? Congrats
I've run various flavors of Mint (pun intended), Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, and a couple other distros from thumb drives.
I installed it onto hard drive, but in the past I ran Mint from a CD to see how I liked it. On this last install I dont recall seeing the “run from cd option” but I suspect it’s still available.