Mandrake is my favorite flavor of Linux.

Oracle 8.1.6 installs very well on RedHat Linux 6.0,6.1 and 6.2

But, When it comes to Mandrake 8.0+, It creates hell lot of problems. Version of the JRE included with Oracle Installer does not appear to work as intended. This precludes a number of problems with installing the software.

Another problem is that Oracle attempts to link its libraries at install time using glibc version 2.1.x. Mandrake 8 uses glibc version 2.2.x. Oracle will not link with this version

After searching the net, I came across an HOWTO article written by David Stevenson. The article explains all the steps required to install Oracle 8.1.6 on Mandrake 8.0+

I was able to successfully install Oracle 8.1.6 Enterprise Edition on Mandrake 8.1 using the instruction given therein.

The Latest version of the article can be found at
http://www.security-soft.co.uk/oracle/