Just read the article and have no major problems with it. I think it was very good in fact and you should keep the more wordy step by step flavor.

There were a few typos, but I find just as many in professional publications, and since it was 3 am when you wrote it, you are easily forgiven. Heck, I make enough myself in a simple post.

I do agree with the Hiper who suggested when using abbreviations such as GUI, you do include what it stands for, at least the first time you use it in the article. Reason being that, if you are like me, one hard part of jumping to Linux is learning the "new" language. Many terms are so different than M$, that explainations are helpful. "Mounting" your CD-rom comes to mind

I think pointing out which an OS are more user friendly or stable etc. was a good idea. When I decided to try Linux, I had to research what OS was the best for me and my capabilities. I sought out information on what Linux OS was more harware compatable and which was easiest to install, so I don't think that hurts to let people know that. It is supposed to be an article for newbies.

You could also mention in another article that free downloads, while available, can be a pain, (I Know, I downloaded most of my operating systems of Linux), and it is not the only way to go. You can also buy a non-boxed version from places like edmunds enterprises for less then ten bucks.

Also, Please don't get upset by some of the things folks had to say about your article. I don't think people were trying to be nit picky, as I am not, just offering suggestions. Pick out what you like and disregard the rest.

Sory for the long post. Just my 2cents. Post a message when the next article is done please.

To start, good job. You have put an article up to try and help folks, which is, oh-h, about 100% more than me. So the following comments are to try to help you make the article better.

Second page, are distros the same or different? Maybe you could make that clearer.
Some grammar on second page could be better.

And please put a note on third page that your install guide is NOT for RH9.

On WinME machine, did the Partition Magic thing, setup new partition stuff, got BootMagic setup (which I have been using to run/test different Windows on one machine for about a year)
RH9 did NOT like this. After three different install combos (and numerous rescue disk boots), final solution was leaving a chunk of HD unpartitioned, no BootMagic, and let RH9 automagically setup including dual-boot using LILO. Both WinME and RH9 running fine now.
Finished all this about an hour ago.

Keep up the good work.

This is a great way to start. perhaps there are some thing you want users to be familliar with, for example the permissions system, disabling network services, creating a firewall, and how to access your ntfs/fat drives. (with umask=0022,uid=0,gid=... in your fstab-options)

this might be a great example how a howto can be written:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-security.xml

at least, I like the way they have been written.

be sure to separate your documents. I wouldn't read all the text at once, try to be friendly with your visitors.

Setting up usb and hardware from scratch would be good to do a how to in. I still dont have usb working (last thing I have on my linux to-do list)

I can't believe you didn't mention Slackware
It took me about an hour twenty to work out how to install Slackware 8..
Then when I updated to Slackware 9.1 it was like less than 30 minutes (That's kinda unfair, because I did have previous experience with Slackware 8)

Nah, I read it, I think it's great.
Personally, I think there should be more as far as partitioning goes (Everyone makes partitioning out to be such a small thing..)
I mean, sure you could go with the graphical way, but why not explain fdisk!!

You should also explain alot about basic shell commands (Well if you know the basic commands)..

Explain to people NOT to depend on their GUI like they do with Windows, I always depended so much on my Windows GUI (I think I used DOS like back in '95 to play Doom and things, that was it.. I haven't used it since), so when I came to Linux, I just assumed it would do most things for me, after a short while of sniffing through some documents, I started to understand the console.
After learning most basic console commands, I now know that doing things through console (Copying large files, changing network settings, modifying "main" settings (xf86config etc.) just to name a few.. Is all so much faster through console, and I can't stress enough how people should learn to use console.

All in all it was great and I give it a 4/5 ;P
Keep up the great work, you are only doing the community good.

let's all just appreciate the wonderful effort of wldkos and give suggestions to make it more newbie friendly, if possible

I will back ur effort all the way wldkos.
gr8 stuff.
cheers!

Thank you all very much. I am taking the suggesitons into consideration and I already have my "how to burn an ISO" ready to submit with like 10 easy screenshots. As for USB and hardware, I use RedHat and Mandrake, and My Usb scandisk cruizer drive appeares in /mnt/removable faster than windows can detect it. i have only had problems with battery backup software, but Ill look into it.

I really want to cover Partitioning, Shell commands, The KDE/Gnome Desktop, Startup scripts, the /etc directory (all of them eventually) and just how to feel at home on linux and get used to it.

Thank so much to everyone that replied with kind words, you guys are the best.

I would really like to read it but I can't connect to the server it's on...
You wouldn't happen to have an alternate site would you?

The site was having some DNS issues. Check again, it's back up and tell all your friends