linux

I want to install linux on an old system but icant find a free download all the books that i have says its easy to find a download i just must be stupid does anybody know where to get it from?

 

Do you have any idea which distribution you want to start playing with?

There are a lot of different distributions and each one will have their own webiste, and each one also has a rather keen (some might say fanatical) following.

Here are some distro websites so that you can get started looking:
Debian
Mandrive - formerly Mandrake
GenToo
SuSE Linux

Its worth having a look around the sites... also find out if all of your hardware is supported by the distro before downloading... Especially your Graphics card as configuring X can be tricky at the best of time.

Hope this helps get you started - let us know if you have any more queries and we'll see what we can do to help

 

You might also want to try this site , which has a fairly comprehensive list of the different distros.

 

I dont really know i bought an old computer today just for screwing aroud with linux on its an old pentium 1 with a 10gb hd

so il probs need an old distro

It was a bargain at £2.50 ($4)

 

The only thing that is going to limit you is the amount of system memory, 64Mb Minimum for any of the newer distros, 128Mb would be better.

You can try this distro http://www.damnsmalllinux.org if you want a GUI Desktop you will need more system memory as I stated above.

 

I just want to try the basics to be honest.

Thanks for that i will try it when i get home.

 

I have gone to this site ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/ how do i download this to a cd to boot my other pc?

 

Vector Linux ( www.vectorlinux.com ) should run well also. It's easy to use, and is supposed to run well on older hardware. Slackware ( www.slackware.com ) which Vector is based on, should also run well, but it requires a bit more effort to get running just right. If you are new to Linux, I'd stay away from Slackware, unless you want a good learning experience.

 

you need to download the ISO file and burn the CD image to a CD

 

I have burned the iso to a cd then put it in the comp and booted it it still says no operating system.

 

you may need to change the settings in your BIOS to allow your computer to boot of a CD

 

also, when i burned my copy of knoppix live, I didn't
realize it was already an iso and ran into a problem
burning an iso image as an iso image.....
check the file you downloaded.

 

is there anyway i can do it without using iso's?

 

im sure there are, however you wold be more hassle for you being new to linux.
an iso would be easiest to use.
the .iso file is basically what you need to burn to a cd to make a specific linux installation disc or runnable disc, without an iso you have no way of making a disc ie as in using say nero and selecting to burn iso image to disc. which would be the same as saving say a windows xp pro cd as a iso file through nero then burning that saved iso file to disc and getting the same disc. it would be the same as if you were to do a disc copy nero creates the image (iso file) to burn then burns that file to disc then delets the file once finished.

If you are unable to burn the iso to a disc then i would suggest finding a web site that does that sort of thing and sells linux burnt cd's or runnable cd's. i don't have a website to send you to you'll have to google for such a site, however when i was looking around for different versions of linux to try out i found several sites that sold discs ready to go.

 

the cd i have burned when i put it in this comp it say files on disc dsl1.5.iso is that right?

 

dont believe so, i think you inadvertently burned the iso file as a file, you need to burn "image to disk" with a program such as nero, um just to check if you put cd in and explore in windows if all you see is that .iso file and its a bigge as in XXXmb then you burned just the file to disc. get in your burning program and look around for an option of burn image to disk, once there browse for that iso image and try burning to cd. if you dont have the option you may have to find someone to burn that image to a disc for you.

 

waltaja will hopefully have other suggestions for you if your still at the old stuck point

 

that is usually the mistake most make, burning the iso as a file instead of an image. i have never used nero, so i can't give any tips on how to burn it with that program, but there are many on here who can.

the .iso file for DSL should be a 48MB file (DSL is probably the "lightest" distro out)

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/ has the file you need. current.iso 48MB

the latest version of DSL out is 2.0 if i'm not mistaken

 

I used nero to burn the image to the cd but it still wont boot any ideas?

 

If you just burned to ISO file to the CD that won't work. You have to "Create a CD from Image file" to make a bootable CD from the ISO.

 

I went to to nero back up and data burn > image to disc.
Is that correct?

 

Yes that's correct!

If you deal with ISOs a lot, a handy program for Windows is ISO Recorder. It adds an item to your right click menu when you right click on an iso image with the option to "Copy to CD"

 

I did that and i put it in and it didnt boot.

 

Cleck on Recorder in the menu, select Burn Image, change Write method to Disc-at-once, click the Burn button.

 

Is that with nero or the other program?

 

Nero

 

Il try that when i get home.