So I Have a Project PC and wanting to do Linux..

but the only problem is...I have no idea how to get started.

I tried a few months ago..but gave up with the idea and took a break...

I Boot & Nuke'd the hard drive...

so theres no O/S on it..when I pop in the Linux disk...it asks for a floppy boot disk.

the only floppy boot disk I have is for Windows 98 from what seems like forever ago.

can anyone guide me through it step by step?or even give me a link to a website that will?


thanx.

game.

 

Which Linux distribution are you trying? There are plenty out there, and many with great installation methods. You'll get a ton of opinions, so here are mine

Choose either Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), or Fedora 7. Both are great, install from LiveCD's (you boot to the CD, which loads the OS for you to try out, and you can install while browsing the internet ;-) )

In both distributions, you can choose from Gnome or KDE desktop environments. (Ubuntu is Gnome by default, while Kubuntu is KDE, and I believe Fedora 7 lets you choose which to install as default)

Gnome is a pretty user friendly interface and good to get started on. Personally, I like KDE. It has more options to tinker with form the get go, but is more visually appealing to me and I prefer the layout. You can easily try both if you'd like and discover which you prefer.

Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Kubuntu http://kubuntu.com/download.php
Fedora http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora.html

 

I forget..I think it was Gnome...but the problem is...there no O/S on the computer I'm planning on putting it on...so idk exactly how to get it to install...

 

download the latest image from one of the distributions i mentioned above and burn it to a cd *as an image, and NOT as a data cd. Then, put the cd into the 'project' computer, and tell the BIOS to boot from cd. That should take you right into the LiveCD, essentially running Linux from the CD, and on the desktop there will be an install icon

 

hmm...it seems I've tried this...but it didn't work..I think it might have been the cd burner program on the other PC...I'll try making a new one on this PC...I'll let ya know how it goes.

 

so I was using CDBurnerXP Pro 3 Freeware...and something screwed up on the last 10%...so now I need to make another CD...I'm supposed to make it bootable correct?

 

ok...popped in the cd..and got..

cannot load dos! press any key to try again.

then my screen turned off after I hit a key..

 

it seems you tried to make it bootable, thats the problem. When you download the image file, it is usually a .iso file. Bascially, thats a complete and bootable cd in digital form. you dont want a data cd of any sort, you want to 'restore' that iso file to a cd. Nero, Alcohol 120%, Roxio, and many others support this feature. Here is a free one that should do it that i found right here on MG http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html

 

well..I certainly hope I do this right..haha...down to my last cd...then I'll have to go get more...I'll give ya a heads up.

 

when u go to tools and all that about ISO...do I need to change anything? or just select the file and burn?

 

well, at the end of burning there was an error...hit retry like 5 times...didn't work...so just continued...put it in drive...loaded...

but when I hit check cd for errors it says "crc error - system halted"

and when I try to install it gives me some other random problem.

 

ok found 3 more cds....try another burn?

 

same error again...I'll re-download the iso from somewhere else..

 

you seem to be burning it correctly, I wonder if its the ISO you downloaded or perhaps the program you're burning with. Give it another try with a new ISO and let me know what happens. If you still get errors, maybe try a new burning program