Downloaded all the materials I needed to install that version of Linux. I freed up half a hard drive and a two gig swap partition so that Linux could run the way it wanted to. First time through, I installed a full installation, around six - seven gigs or so. Booted okay from what I know, said a few things failed but almost everything was okay. First thing I wanted to do was get my internet working, changed a setting or two, restarted pc, then it wouldn't load again. Tried twice reinstalling it, but then it froze on the GRUB boot menu program and kept rebooting over and over incessantly. I had to reinstall Windows XP Home because of it, now I don't want to even try Linux. Didn't know if anyone has any idea why it would load fine, then just not load at all. After it stopped loading it'd take me to the username/password screen, let you enter those in, then after you put them in and pressed enter, it froze shortly after. If anyone knows why the GRUB thing messed up, tell me. I tried putting the GRUB boot chooser on my linux partition the first time and then on my XP Home partition the second time, kept resetting the computer either way.

Thanks.

I am really

I often think it is best to start using lLinux with one of the live disks. Try knoppix and see if it works. Try ubuntu and do likewise. These disks will run the operating system off the compact disk without making any changes to the hard disk. They will run relatively slow, since you will be running completely off the compact disk, but you will get a feel for how well the distribution recognizes your hardware. If you find you like it, you could then install the software permanently onto your hard disk. I would not recommend Redhat 9. It is no longer supported by Redhat. Fedora Core 3 should work, but I think it is better to start with an easier product.

apolinsky

really??

I am using RH9 ...and wud continue to use it....

there's no help at all????

There have been statements that the unsupported products will be updated by a branch of Fedora, the Redhat community based branch. I have not heard of anyone getting updates from them yet.

You can continue using it, but as you know there are no more official security updates, so you can leave your system vulnerable to intrusion.

Why is redhat ignoring to do things to ensure that they are on the top....??

Redhat 9.0 is a very old distro and reached its end of life a while ago. They informed users of this way in advance and the users had the option of migrating to Fedora Core or Redhat Enterprise Linux. Take a look at this page on the Redhat website for detailed information.

Redhat 9 was a fine distribution. I started with Redhat at version 5.2. Over the years I went to 7.1, 7.2, 8.0 and 9.0. They decided a few years ago, to move to the 'Enterprise'. Because I always paid for support i was given free access to download Enterprise 2 and Enterprise 3. There was one catch. I could not freely download updates. One year subscriptions cost $300 and up depending on the product. Redhat also created the community based Fedora and continued to provide some support to the Fedora programmers, some of whom also worked for Redhat. Fedora tries to be 'breaking edge' technology, with perhaps not as tested products. Enterprise claims to be supportable for several years. If you need the quality of the enterprise, I would suggest either Centos, or WhiteBox, which are essentially repacking of the Enterprise Redhat products.

It's the Fedora Legacy project at http://www.fedoralegacy.org and yes, people get updates for Red Hat Linux 9 from them, for instance, to enlengthen the support period of that distribution.