LinuxQuestions.org - zillionth request for tut for creating and installing linux

The Short Version:
Where are the hold your hand step-by-step tutorials? Or better yet documentionation to show a newbie how to create a boot disk, partition your hd, install a distro, etc.

Long-winded, make you swell up a tear version:
I'll admit I've often been curious, but afraid of installing linux on my only computer. Well today I don't have to worry since I aquired an old dual PII HP workstation.

I downloaded the boot from cd version of SuSE 9.0 copied the contents to a cd and plopped it into the HP giddy as a Japanese school girl on holiday. Then, the HP spit the cd out and said it can't boot from it.

Now, I don't want to be one of those whiners saying there isn't any documentation, yadda yadda yadda, but where is the documentation? Honest I've searched the fourms, but I get this feeling I'm not in on the joke because there always seems to be lots of assumptions that I should know how to do most of this stuff but when I download the files I don't know what to do with them since there's no documention.

Thanks!

HUGHG