Installing CentOS
 

I just got the 4cd set for CentOS. I know I have to partiton my HD before I install it; my machine currently runs XP, and I don't like it. My question is: once I get ready to install, what do I do? Go to the partition and put the first disk in the CD drive?

You do not need to partition your hard drive before installing Centos. You can use something like Partition Magic or Paragon Hard disk Manager.

Centos will have the tools necessary to partition your hard drive in the install cd. You will need a minimum of 2 partitions for linux. One will be "/ "or "root" partition and one will be a swap partition. You should also make a "home" partition for data.

Swap and ram should equal one gig or if you have lots of hard drive make the swap partition one gig and format it as "swap".

/ partition should be 5 gigs minimum. 7 or 8 is even better depending on what you are installing. Its been awhile since I installed Centos but I think the only format option is ext3. Ext3 or reiserfs are great.

home partition should be as big as you need. 10 gigs or more depending on what you plan to store for data.

The bootloader should be installed to the mbr. It should automatically find your xp install and add it to the boot menu.

You will need to set your computer bios to boot from cdrom first.

What are you refering to as mbr?, and thank you for the help. I'm sure I'll return.

"Swap and ram should equal one gig or if you have lots of hard drive make the swap partition one gig and format it as "swap"."

not true...

you are free with the swap size.. even the memory is flexible...
:cool:

mbr is the master boot record. It resides in its own space on your hard drive.

Certainly the swap size can be any size you like. The rule of thumb for swap (ram + swap = 1 gig) was more pertinent in early years when ram was expensive and 256 mb was considered alot.

I have one gig of ram and a one gig swap partition. I doubt my swap partition is accessed at all.

It all depends on how big your hard drive is and how much ram you are using. If you have loads of space make the partitions bigger, including swap, just for the halibut.

i just downoaded a 3-part centos OS ISO file how can i combine it to a CD and install it on my laptop as a secondary OS since i frequently program in C++ and it is easier than using a secure shell connection