new to linux how do i do this
 

I have a question i have a 1997 dell desk top that has windows XP on it and i have having trouble reformating my hard drive and putting linux ubuntu on it. I have the linux CD but when i put it in the CD drive and boot up the computer it is not doing anything. How do i go about doing this proceder?????

Your POST screen (when you first turn on the PC) should have the option to either go into the BIOS or hit F12 to jump into the boot menu. If the latter, hit F12 and select cd-rom, if the former, go into the BIOS and change the boot order to make the cd-rom the first one to boot.

You also might want to try Xbuntu or Fluxbuntu. You also way want to look at the Alternate CD ISO. If the system is from 1997 I suspect you are limited on RAM and CPU. Xbuntu and Fluxbuntu uses a less intensive GUI, the alternate CD is better suited for installing on low resource systems.

If your BIOS does not support booting from CD try Smart Boot Manager to boot off the floppy drive then selecting boot from CD.