if u do a minimal install, then redhat would also just be 1 cd.
u will have the choice when u start the install.

if u want to install a desktop manager, then it will go into 2 cds.
but then, u could do a minimal install with 1 cd, then download and install the desktop managers, and everything else afterwards.

okay, ive chosen slackware, and started the install, but the system is saying that i cant write on hd1(hey look, im picking up lingo!), how do i bypass that so i can install linux?

Um, that ain't good. It ain't bad, but it does suggest you missed a step. Did you partition your hard drive before you tried to install Slackware? The Slackware Book has some decent advice on how to use fdisk to partition your drive. At a minimum you'll need a swap partition (2X RAM size is the rule of thumb, but don't get carried away if you have tons of RAM) and a root (/) partition.

Here's a few tips from one newb to another...

I just installed Red Hat 9 about a week ago. So far, I've had very few problems with it. And the few problems that I have had are problems that I can deal with (such as the occasional mouse freeze).

The installation for redhat 9 was an absolute breeze. It was easier then some Windows installations I've had to do in the past. While I don't have much to compare it to when it comes to other distributions, I've found Red Hat to be reliable and fast.

It's true that Redhat doesn't ship with mp3 support, but I fixed that in a matter of half an hour by installing a program called mplayer. Mplayer will also play most of your movie files and other audio formats. On top of that, there is a program called Crossover that I installed that allows you to view a lot of windows only file formats (Quicktime in particular is what I needed it for).

In short, I'm amazed by the complexity of Linux. I've got so much to learn. But on the other hand, I haven't been stuck very long with any of the problems I've had thus far. The users on this forum have been invaluable in helping me to sort out most of my problems. I also picked up the Red Hat Linux 9 bible, which seems to be a pretty great book. If you happen to get that book, Linux comes with it, so you don't need to download/buy it.

Within a week, I've gone from having never used Linux before, to being fairly useful in the OS. It's all quite intuitive if you're willing to take the time to read man pages (help pages, basically) and just not get frustrated. It just takes a little time to learn.

for you slack thing, when slack boots do this:
cfdisk
make the partitions you want
(a 100mb one at the begining that is bootable, followed by a swap that is twice the size fo your ram (change type to 82 to make it swap) then last use the rest of the drive as a linux part)

then type setup and it will let you do stuff.

i did the partition thing, and its saying the drive isnt writable. im stuck. maybe i just fucked up with the hd. any clue?

uhm, dmesg | grep hd
then see weather you hard drvie is hda, hdb hdc, or hdd, then do cfdisk /dev/hd(then whatever was next)

The problem with your drive may be as simple as it may already be formatted.
If there is not information on the drive you are afraid of losing, go to manual format during the Linux install. If there is a filesystem listed, rather than a blank drive, delete it. Then try the install again.

I'm a newbie myself and I don't know slack, my brother uses it and loves it I hate it. I just made the long time win switch myself and all I can say about RH is that i love it. all the software it came with is like have i win machine LOADED!! it comes with the exact equivilent of microsoft office (even accecpts its files). pic viewers, multiple web browsers, email progs instant msgrs. on and on and on. As i'm sure most of the distros do. my big thing is having automatic RPM updates. while i'm still learning i don't want to worry about my system not being right or not have my sys 100% because i haven't completely learned how to compile software yet ya know? thats just my exp. not bashing slack i'm sure it's great once you get good i'd like to attempt again when i'm more sure of myself. nomatter which way you go the people here are great and will help you do it right. there the only reason i'm up and running at least.

generally people live and stick with the distro they start with, I personally liek slakc, debian and any other non-rpm based distro, i however hate suse, redhat and any rpm distro so much.

i just installed debian right now.
im already happy. and the install wasnt difficult at all.
i had a problem starting X, but it was cos i had specified 24-bits, and it started up beautifully when i edited XFree86 config file to read 16-bits.
this is a beauty.

i wasnt able to install debian earlier, cos i really was clueless. then i did a redhat install, learnt a few things from it, and now the debian install looked easy. all thanks to redhat 8.0 and the guys here.

its 4:30am here and is been a night well spent (in some ways, at least - hehe)

what video card do you have?

if you r a newbie... then redhat for sure
slackware's not for 100% pure linux newbie

I learned no prob on slackware 7.1 (far harder than 9.0) when I had just heard of linux for the first time. slackware is fine for linux newbies, just not for everything computer related newbies.