I am a complete noob to Linux and want to try it out from hearing about it but I have no idea which distribution to use or how I get the ISO successfully on a CD. I downloaded Ubuntu because it had only one ISO which I thought would be easier to burn and install. I used the recommended ISORecorder but I always get errors when it begins to burn the image to the disc. What should I do now, is there another free ISO burner?


I also tried downloading RedHat 9 but theres three ISO's and the downloading links do not work. How come you can't get RedHat for free from their official website??? Isn't Linux supposed to be free? Is there another way I can get the newest RedHat or other distributions for free?

Furthermore, isn't there a way you can try Linux by booting it from the CD so it doesn't effect my Windows xp x64 installation.
Maybe, I should do it this way 1st before I install linux and screw everything up. When I do install Linux will I be able to install it along with my current Windows OS because I don't want to reformatt it. I am using two driver in Raid0 so do I need another harddrive to successfully install linux or can I just do it in Raid0 along with the Windows on the same drives?

THANK YOU

RE: Red Hat

Red Hat is not free....rather...Red Hat Enterprise Linux is not free. Red HAt 9 was back when it WAS free but it's no longer supported. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 is the latest Red Hat Linux Distro. If you want Red Hat...but not want to Pay. You can try Fedora 6 (which is Red Hat's FREE Linux distro), or you can try CentOS 4 (which is EXCATLLY like Red Hat except without the Red Hat logos)

RE: Live CD

You can download and run Linux from a Live CD...it won't touch your HD because it's running from the CD. YOu can try Knoppix Live CD

Ubuntu and Mepis are both available in live CD also

Hi - I presume you are currently on windows, and that is where you will be burning your iso image to cd. Well, I don't use windows so I can't be much help there but I presume this is something that can be done using any cd burning software on windows. there is nothing special about the iso image really. Perhaps google around to get some advice on this.

Next issue is which distribution to choose. Ubuntu is a wise choice as it tries to makes itself user friendly. Also ubuntu isos are usually "live cds" in that you can boot off them and run linux without actually installing anything. As custangro wrote, knoppix is the most popular live cd and a very good place to start, I would think.

-mark

Try ImgBurn, I'm pretty sure that's the program I used when I was starting out with Linux. As the others suggested, Ubuntu and Fedora are very popular and user-friendly. Another one to think about is PCLinuxOS, which has an extremely similar look and feel to Windows. ZenWalk was also fairly user-friendly and seems to be popular, but when I tried to run it it was godawfully slow, so I can't say how it will work out for you. Good luck, I hope you enjoy your Linux experience!

I downloaded the Debian Etch net install ISO (one CD) and burned it using ImgBurn last week. It worked the first time. The etch install worked right off the bat, unlike 16 months ago when I had a bear of a time getting Woody installed. ImgBurn is super easy to use. The net install is the only way to go (unless you don't have a dsl or other high speed connection).

If you just want to boot off a CD to try it get Damn Small Linux.

You should be able to repartition your HD on your Windoze machine and install Linux with GRUB, but make sure you back up everything first.

Good Luck,
JP.

Yeah, try DamnSmallLinux or Puppy they are small downloads and you can also burn them to a mini-CD/RW or a regular size one. I use ImgBurn frequently when using Windows to burn my ISO's of distros or video's.

Ubuntu
SabayonLinux
PCLinuxOS

Try to burn iso file to cd or dvd using magiciso.
http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-burnwin.htm

I think that ubuntu-like distros (ubuntu-kubuntu-xubuntu) are the best choices for new users. They're very simple and good-looking.

Here you can find some links to download the iso and the instructions to burn it (you just need a program like nero or any other burning suite).

When you've got the CD, you just need to reboot the computer and wait a few minutes; then you will start working with a live operating system that doesn't write anything on your hard disk. If you like it you can create a partition and install on the hard drive, else you only need to reboot