Linux.com: Linux for Beginners Part 1 : A Linux Install Made Easy

“Linux intimidates many beginners. There’s no graphical screen
to hide all of the information about what the kernel is doing, many
commands must be typed out instead of clicking on an icon. To not
be overwhelmed when installing Linux, you must think of the process
as being made from many small parts, instead of one big whole.
Partitioning your drive is the first thing you have to do when
installing Linux, and one of the scariest things.”

“Partitioning is much like cutting up a pie. Your hard drive
needs to be cut into smaller parts so it can be used for more than
one thing. For example, you could partition with one piece for
Windows, one piece for Linux, and another for swap. We will touch
on swap in a moment. Swap is a way for the computer to use your
hard drive as RAM (Random Access Memory)….”

“If you are brand new to Linux, you are definitely going to want
to use a very user-friendly Linux such as RedHat or Mandrake.
Distributions such as Slackware and Debian are better for advanced
users who need a server that they can quickly shape to do what they
want. Not to say that you cannot use those, I personally started
with Slackware and I am glad I did. It forced me to learn Linux a
lot faster than RedHat would have. But I was in a constant state of
confusion for quite a while as I was getting adjusted to relying on
man pages. (I will cover man pages in a bit.) Once you have decided
which distribution to use, and, obviously, you have gotten a copy,
you will be at the point of installation. I can’t express enough
that you should start with a more user friendly Linux. I would
highly recommend RedHat or Mandrake.”

Complete
Story