I need Alot of help with Installation
 

I have a little (big) problem, I want to get Red Hat Linux, the downloadable version. I went to the site and it told me to download 3 different CD image Files (iso's) which I did. And I burned them to their respective CD's. But now I have 3 CD's with Red Hat Linux on them, I want to install them, but can't figure out how to boot up with the disks to install linux, nor do I understand how to install them. I need alot of help here. I've never run a linux system before, I'm only 15, and no one at my school can answer my questions (namely any of the computer teachers). Do I need to do something to the ISO files before burning them to correctly install them? I'm just totally lost. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!! :cry:

are you installing on a new hard drive or are you doing a dual boot?

if you are installing on a new one or making it linux only then
just put the CD named installation CD in the cd-rom and boot the computer. make sure that cd-rom comes before the hard drive in the boot order in the bios. and go with the flow. you will learn on the fly with the menu driven installation. just select generic stuff for now and you can laeran slowly.

if you are doing a daul boot then make some space for the linux on the hard drive and then install it on the free space.

all the best

P.S. dont forget to make a boot floppy for linux,

Yeah, getting into the BIOS is computer-specific but, like manthram said, do that and set CD-R/OM first. Put in the first disk, reboot, and off you go - assuming you've got a reasonably recent computer that can boot from CD. But I thought I'd add one thing that I've seen people make a mistake on, which is that you have to burn the image itself, not just copy the .iso to the CD. Never done it either way, myself - usually dump files on a CD, rawrite a floppy, and install that way. But the .iso is a special burn.

But manthram also brings up a good point - it'll help if you provide more, say, technical information when you have a problem. If it is a new hard drive, it's pretty simple, though you are going to need to set up at least two partitions anyway, at least if you follow standard operating procedure. Whereas if you are dual-booting - and if you're dual-booting with an NTFS filesystem - and so on - these add complications and more steps. But, really, installation's generally not to tough - kind of freaky when you do it for the first time, but not very hard in retrospect. Configuration afterwards is actually trickier, but that's often just getting pieces of your system to work and fine-tuning. Getting a basically working system isn't usually too bad. Good luck!

I have a month old computer, I'm going to try what you said, I'm crossing my fingers.

I tried your way mantram but, I created a CD name Installation CD. But I copied the iso image directly to the CD. Am I supposed to extract it someway to the cd? When I boot up with the CD in the drive, it doesn't do anything, just goes to the windows loading. How do you set it so the system loads the cd before the hard disk?

you cant copy the .iso file. you have to burn the image. double click on the .iso file and your writer software should take it from there. if it doesnt then open the software and check in the file section for "burn image". and then open the .iso file in the pplication.

as digiot specified bios is computer specific. you should either press del or F1 or F2 to get into bios. once you are there goto bios setup and then boot menu and then onto boot order

I'm trying and the image doesn't burn, the iso file just gets copied to the cd.

By month-old I'm assuming it's OEM Windows XP. Windows XP doesn't have the capability to burn ISOs correctly. Your manufacturer may have provided third party software that can do it, but it's doubtful. You're probably going to have to buy CD-burning software or choose a different method. As I say, you can download certain distros that can be installed from ordinary files on a CD-R using a boot/root/install floppy or, if you've got DSL you might try Debian's net install or something like that. Or just buy a distro's CDs pre-burned, so to speak.

If the system boots straight into Windows, you haven't changed the boot order, regardless. I've never booted with a non-system CD but I suspect it should freeze or give an error message as it does when you try to boot with a non-system floppy in the drive. Check your manuals or your manufacturer's website for the proper way to access and change the BIOS. That's something we can only guess at.

And what we need to be helpful is something more than "a month old" - something like "an HP Pavilion 510n with OEM Windows XP, 40 gig HD, 256 MB RAM, 1.2 GB Celeron - at this point I'm wanting to dual-boot with the current XP setup and my Linux distro. I have this partition of such and such a size and this other one of this size." That sort of thing would clue us in better.

<~~~~~~~~~~~Gave up

Alas my friends I have given up trying to burn the cd's and booting them. My CD pile is growing short and I'm going to save them. I ordered Suse, over amazon.

hm... I have XP, and my .iso burned fine.... its installing it that's the problem

How? I'd love to be able to do it. And what's the install problem?

You're not giving up Azain - you're taking a different approach. :D When you get the SuSe disks, you'll probably have a good time.

well, I have a thread in newbies... something like "issue with hard drive"

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!! My problem was getting the image to burn to the disk correctly. I downloaded NTI CD Creator. I got the image to burn to the disk and BAMM! I now run redhat linux. Thinking of that I have to change my distribution thing now. Hold on...

They're we go.

you should download the slackware 9 cd, screw red hat. slackware is not half as hard as everyone swears it is and it makes you learn linux in the process of installation/configuration.
its perfect for someone trying to learn linux.