I have a Compaq 6710s hp notebook. I have RHEL5 desktop installed on it with the in built partitions which i think have been created by the RHEL5 Desktop DVD SETUP which runs when the media is mounted in the CD\DVD ROM.

The label of the DVD is

RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 5 DESKTOP

When i insert the dvd and the system boots using it,

it gives these options besides others,

-To install or upgrade in graphical mode, press ENTER

-To install or upgrade in text mode, type linux text PRESS ENTER

-ecourts-install option installs machine(It will format entire system)

-ecourts-recover option will restore the Operating System only(It will not format the user area)


When i select the first option, it returns

Could not find kernel image: none

When i select the second option with "linux text", it returns

Could not find kernel image: linux

The contents of the DVD are following

Folders

1. Client
2. images
3. isolinux
4. VT
5. Workstation.

Files

1.eula.en_US
2.EULA
3.Readme-as.html
4.Readme-bn.html
5.GPL
6.
7......are the READMEs in different languages.
23.RPM-GPG-KEY-FEDORA
24.RPM-GPG-KEY-FEDORA-TEST
25.RPM-GPG-KEY-REDHAT-AUXILIARY
26.RPM-GPG-KEY-REDHAT-BETA
27.RPM-GPG-KEY-REDHAT-FORMER
28.RPM-GPG-KEY-REDHAT-RELEASE


i WANT TO KNOW THAT IF I CLEAN UP ALL MY HARD DRIVES AND THEN INSTALL SOME OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM LIKE ubuntu OR wINDOWS xp


tHEN
CAN I RE-INSTALL FRESH COPY OF THIS RHEL5 DESKTOP USING THIS MEDIA(RHEL5 DESKTOP DVD).

OR I WILL NEED SOME OTHER DISKS LIKE KERNEL IMAGE DISK OR ANY OTHER LIKE OR SOME PARTITION HELPING SOFTWARE ON DISK? or some other, i dont exactly know the installation process in linux operating systems.

Of course you can use that media to install fresh copy. And you can use same media for a number of installations

Thanks

Ok..... Thanks for the reply...........

One more question!

Does that mean

even if whole of the data present at the moment on my hard disk is erased,
the media can be used to install a fresh copy of RHEL5 with the exact partitions and settings as they were at the time of my purchase?

I am fearing about the partitions about which i dont know much and if there is any such thing in the TRANSACTION I AM SUGGESTING to carry out, which causes irretrievable (atleast for me personally) changes to my system which causes me not to have the exact copy of the RHEL5 DESKTOP?

I think that the 3rd option will bring you the system as it originally was. However, I would consult Compaq tech support/website to make sure.

From the command line just do a df -h
This will show you your current partitions and their size. Easy to remake them at that size during install.
Note: if you plan to dual boot with Windows, Windows has to be installed 1st, and Linux later or else the Windows portion never works. At least that has been my experience.

I'd use

fdisk -l

df will only show known Linux partitions, fdisk will show all partitions.

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 1288 10241437+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 1289 1419 1052257+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 1420 9729 66750075 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1420 9729 66750043+ 8e Linux LVM



Now, can anyone suggest me, what to do?

Will i be able to have an exactly same installation of RHEL5 using this media even if i erase all the data including partitions on this system?

Any help will be really appreciated?

I am a newbie and attempting to play with this LINUX CALLED OS and would like to learn, but with no risk of causing an irretrieveble loss to the existing system status.

That DVD should install ok. You don't need to cleanup/re-partition the system first. All those options will appear in the install process.
However, looking at your firsat post, it appears that you have a bad burn ie the DVD cannot install.
The last 2 options beginning 'ecourts...' are NOT std RHEL options, so I can only guess that the DVD was created by eg Compaq or the reseller you bought it from.
I strongly suggest you contact them for clarification.

ok................

You are right........
this DVD is not standard RHEL5 media but configured for my father's organisation.

I have one more question:

When a new copy of linux OS is installed, what are the pre-requisites?

For ex. i have a desktop with p4 processor and other configurations. Besides Hardware Requirements, are there any other requirements like......PREINSTALLED LINUX KERNEL on the hard drive or any such thing?

Btw, what is "linux kernel" ?

Linux kernel is real linux, all the functions of OS is basically performed by linux kernel.

Thanks