newbie needs to reinstall linux?
 

ah yes, a newbie did something wrong<suprise> and I need to reinstall linux-what is the process to do this w/o killing other os's on system. specifically fstab is f***'d any kind souls willing to help me would be appreciated


<tmhbsc>

you should be able to just load over your existing partitions you setup by popping in your install cd rom or floppy and there you go.
what os loader are you using? you might after the install have to reconfigure lilo or whatever your using to load with though....that's it though. just don't erase or install over any of your partitions your other os's are on and you will be alright.

boots from hard disk
 

trickykid, I tried installing debian linux (friend gave me cd) and of course screwed something up. I want to reinstall it, but it boots from my hard disk. How can I make it read from cd to reinstall?

I'm linux clueless,
-alex

When you boot up your computer you should see a quick message about pressing <Del> or some other key to get to the BIOS. You want to go into the BIOS and enable booting from your CD drive.

If your computer is more than 4 years old you may not have the option of booting from the CD, in which case you will need to use a floppy.

thanks
 

I got my computer from work. It's an HP and had
windows 98 on it. I took that off when I installed
linux. I don't think it's too old. But thanks for your
suggestion entm, I'll try it when I get home..
-alex