Installing Linux on your computer
This guide will give you a good idea of what to expect when you install Linux on your your computer and should hopefully de-mystify the process, however since the installation routine for each distribution is slightly different it is worth reading the documentation first.
You will need: a computer with spare space on its hard drive, a Linux CD and a couple of hours .
Place the CD in the drive and restart your computer. After a couple of minutes of loading stuff the computer should automatically start the installation procedure. If your computer doesn't start from the CD then you can change this setting by pressing ESC, DEL or F2 (depending on your computer) when your computer is starting up and choosing the option to boot from CD first.
Before you go any further make sure that all your hardware is plugged in as the installation will detect these and install any necessary software for you.
Probably the first thing you will be asked to choose is your language. Make sure you choose the correct country as well as language at this point.
Next you will be asked to agree to the license. Read this, or not as you wish and click OK.
Then the installation will likely ask where you want to install Linux. Choose the empty space on your hard drive if you have created it already, use the installation to create some spare space for you if you want to keep your existing operating system or just use the whole hard drive if you don't want to keep what is currently on the the computer and are just going to run Linux on it. Linux needs its own special partitions and your installation may very choose these for you.
If you are asked, you will need:
* 10 megabytes for "boot" if you are going to run Linux and another operating system.
* At least 128 megabytes for "swap" (this is used when the computer runs out of RAM memory). I would recommend 1 gigabyte if you have enough space.
* The rest of the space for "root" (where everything is installed)