Hi. I have limited knowledge about linux and i have recently downloaded slackware 12. I have some experience using linux (ubuntu 7.04 which I no longer have)and have never burned a linux disk before and I am unsure about which files to burn. I plan on burning onto a 4.7 gb dvd-r. I am using windows xp at the moment and the burning instructions that came with my download is terminal commands for someone already using linux. I have googled to find out what to do and I found nothing. I just need to know exactly which files/folders I need to put on the disk. Any help is greatly appreciated.

You don't put the separate files/folders on the disk, you burn the .iso to disk with, for example, this:

http://www.imgburn.com/

ImgBurn, it's free and easy to use.

I must say ImgBurn (link in the above post) is the tool for you in this situation (meant to burn images onto discs, easy to use, doesn't cost money, ...)

It is possible to master a disk from the files you could download from a server, making it bootable etc., but it's just so much easier to download the image file (which is specifically made for certain disk types; there are own image files for CDs and DVDs, for example) for your architecture (32-bit = x86 if you have a 32-bit machine, or 64-bit = x86_64 if you have a 64-bit machine). That disc contains all the needed information (files, setup program, it's configured to be bootable, ...) so you just insert a blank disk for which the image is made for (CD or DVD usually), start ImgBurn (for example), select the image file you downloaded and click the burn button. It takes a while depending on your drive speed, and once it's finished, you'll reboot your machine with the disc in tray (and have BIOS boot from the disc before harddisk), and that's where it starts.

EDIT: some distributions only contain one setup disc, either a CD or a DVD; some distributions may have one or more discs, usually either one DVD or a couple CDs. The DVD and the CD set are equal in the sense that you'll get the same OS using either of them (they're there just because not everyone has a DVD writer, or a CD writer). Sometimes there's a CD and a DVD whose difference is that the DVD contains more apps right there, but you can nowadays get them from the web (using a package managing program) anyway, so it's ok to use the CD -- often people like to download the CD, because it's smaller so it transfers faster. After the setup they can then download the programs they want, and only them, and preserve bandwith.

Some distributions even have a CD set but don't require you to download and burn them all. Slackware, for example, has three discs as of now in the whole set, but a minimal install can be made with only the first disc. Rest of the programs can then be installed from the web, so it doesn't make difference.

If you use a disc set of several discs, you burn them all the same way, and start the installer by booting from the first disc. During the setup it then asks for the following disks as needed.

As a last "warning", some distributions like Fedora offer actually two discs/disc sets (DVD or CDs): the "normal installation media" (which is either i386 = 32bit or x86_64 = 64-bit) and "source media" (the names include .src or .srpms which means "source"). You'll want the normal (i386/x86_64) DVD or CD set to install the distribution; the source disk set includes usually as many discs as the other set, but those discs contain only the source code for the programs that are in the other disc set (in the installation set the programs are precompiled binaries; source code is made available as a separate disc set for those who need it).

Ok. Thank you very much. I have it burning right now. Will re post when its finished if I have any other questions. All the files and folders just confused me lol. Would've been so much easier if they would have just given the iso instead of all that other stuff...

There's a good Slackware forum here, under Distributions, if you need any more help.