How do I install Linux
 

I am new to Linux! I want to download it and try it!
I hope that by using Linux I will learn more about web server and smtp etc.
But I need some short tips about installing Linux.
I want to download Fedora Core.
Please tell me what do I have to do to install Linux.
What do I do with the ISO's, burn them on CD's, boot whit the CD's?
And in case there are things that I have to know about the installation proces (like what it ask's me) please tell me!
I have installed Windows before and I know how to partition my HDD as FAT or NTFS file systems but not as Linux file systems so please help me here too if you can(how should I partition my HDD, sizes, types?).
Also i want to know if my hardware is compatible with Linux so point me where I can find a list of compatible hardware but in case you know here is my configuration:
Gigabyte 8I848P mainboard
2X128 MB DDR-SDRAM DIMMS 333
Pentium 4 2400Mhz FSB533Mhz 1024KB L2 cache
Sony CRX300E Combo DVD-CD-RW
Realtek LAN & Sound (ALC685?)
ATI Radeon 9200SE 128MB AGP8X
I really want to try Linux and If I find it that stable and fast as everybody says them I think I'll leave Windows alone for a while.
If you want please tell me your personal opinion about Linux!
Thank you!



:newbie:

Installing Fedora is as easy (if not easier) than installing Window$. All you need to do is choose Fedora core 1 or Fedora core 2. Then you need to download the ISOs from http://fedora.redhat.com where the mirrors are listed. Once you have them, burn them onto CDs. Be sure to burn from image (ISO)(look in your burning software for this option) so you don't burn the isos onto CDs. You probably know that ISO is just the image of all files and not the files themselves. So be careful here, if you don't want to throw away CDs.

Once you have the CDs ready. Just put in the Fedora core CD 1 and reboot your machine. Sit back and enjoy :))

You will have a lot of options at installation, but that's what Linux is all about (adjusting it to your needs). You can choose the predefined packages (Desktop, Server, Custom). Choose the one you want. If you never saw Linux before, I would suggest you not take the custom one, because you have to know what packages(programs) you need to install for it to work. Take Desktop, or Server one, or you can take Custom, but in that case you might end up reinstalling soon (that is a good thing).

The next thing is partitioning your harddrive. Here you have two options. Partition automaticly (Linux does it all for you, you just need a free partition), or you can partition with Disk Druid (a nice graphical tool for manual partitioning). If you decide to partition with Disk Druid, keep in mind a couple of things. You need a / (which is refered to as root partition and should be as big as your installation is (from 3GB to 10GB) partition. A good idea is to have two more paertitions. A /boot partition (used to boot linux, you don't really need it, but if you decide to have it, it should be 100MB big). The one partition you really should have is the /home partition (this is where all your files will be saved, so don't spare with space).

This is it (you have the /, /boot, and the /home partition. You are next to see the RedHat Linux Boot Loader (called GRUB). It will automatically put in your Windows partition, so you can boot windows after the install. You will get a boot screen where you will be able to choose between Linux and Windows.

This should be all the improtant stuff. Next time you get here, you will be from linux probably :)

Make it happen. Good luck!

To check if your hardware is compatible, do a google search for “linux hardware compatibility list”. There may also be an HCL on the Fedora web-site.

Assuming that Installation supports your hardware, installation on Linux is just as easy as on Windows. Download the ISOs, burn then onto CD, check each CD by trying to read it (in whatever OS you used to burn them); if the install crashes then it's usually caused by a duff CD.

You may have some issues getting 3D acceleration working on the Radeon; see the posts at the top of the Hardware forum for instructions on that. But get the OS installed first; it will still work as a generic VESA card if necessary.

The installer will handle partitioning the drive, but you'll need to make some free (unpartitioned) space on the disk by resizing your Windows partition if you want a machine that can dual-boot with Windows. The Fedora installer may do this for you.

For a first install, use the default partition settings; they're usually good enough.

One more thing: Fedora is a testing distribution for Red Hat, and as such is the Linux equivalent of Beta Software; if you want stability then you should be looking at Debian, SuSE or Mandrake. (That's an over-simplification).

Another option to test compatibility is Knoppix. (http://www.knoppix.org)

You can download a version of linux that runs from a CD without even having to install it on your hard drive - this allows you to see what linux is like and it allows you to have a play without breaking anything! :D

The other important part of this is, it will also give you a clue as to what hardware will be supported, as Knoppix has good hardware detection, and it might highlight any potential problems like rjlee mentions above with the Radeon.

All I can say is, good luck, and I hope you find what you are looking for in an OS in linux!

You forgot something rather needed: swap
your swap partition should be 2x your RAM
you have 256 RAM, you'll want 512 swap

Setting the swap space equal to twice the RAM is a somewhat limited way of working out how much you'll need. There used to be a good reason for that value but if you actually test the performance, it won't have that much effect.

The main thing to remember is that the total (virtual) memory (memory used by all processes running on your computer) cannot exceed the value of physical RAM + swap space, so the swap space must be no smaller than the amount of memory that you need, minus the amount of physical RAM. The more services and programs that you run, the more swap that you'll need.

So if you had only 8kb of RAM — yes, you really can run a computer on 8kb — you'd probably want a lot more than 16kb of swap. You'll want at least 2–3Mb before you can do much that is useful.

These days, there's not much overhead to making a swap partition that's too big, except for wasted disk space.

Hope that's not too off-topic,

— Robert J. Lee

i reccomend you set up a dual boot system with linux and windows, so that you can use windows as a back-up, especially if you are a newbie. Just remember to first partition your drive, then install windows and THEN install Fedora Core 2 in that order. I made the mistake of making one big linux partition and later when wanting to try out different distributions and installing windows I was forced to go through many complicated and time consuming steps.