My Bust PC - Fendora ? or Linux ? <- Need Help

[php-5]

Hi there.

My pc recently was acting up, and it seems like my Windows XP has corrupted (who would have guessed :) ).

Anyway, I cannot re-install my OS and so I want to maybe install something the good old free Linux. HOWever. I not sure how....

I am probably going to need to know how to format my hard drive and install Linux or Fendora.

Thanks

[boxxertrumps]

think of operating systems as animals...

you have the different families, Windows, Mac, linux and Solaris.
There are different species to each, a small part of the linux "tree" would be this...

Linux
|->Red hat
....|->Fedora
|->Debian
....|->Ubuntu
........|->kubuntu
........|->edubuntu
........|->xubuntu

you can see that Fedora is a linux, much like a tiger is a mamal.

So you should get Fedora5, its the most stable distro out of the series.
Comes with yum, a program that installs programs more easily. and fedora6 has some installation problems.

EDIT:
The first thing you'll have to do is download all of the .iso files from this URL...
http://ftp.linux.ncsu.edu/pub/fedora/linux/core/5/i386/iso/

[php-5]

Thanks.

But how would I install this, when I have no operating system what so ever on the hard drive. Since you would probably need a bios to boot from the disc img wouldn't you. Or am I confused?

I have 2 hard drives. A 200GB (Master) and a 40GB (Slave). Both which have been formatted.

Thanks

PS: How good is Fendora 5 with gaming?

[boxxertrumps]

Once you have all of the Iso's(also known as disk images), you mount them onto witeable CDs. (link to wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image))
http://www.linux.org is the best place to look for info about this.

Rule #1 of linux: your screwed with gaming.
Almost no games are release for it. there is Wine(Windows Emulator), But it has some trouble with a few games... you can get Qemu/vmware/cegega, but those run windows and linux at the same time, big proformance hit.

[Twey]

Not really, no. Qemu and VMWare do, but Cedega is an emulation layer much like Wine. Its performance varies wildly; some people have reported that it runs drastically slower than on Windows, some that it's actually faster than Windows. My advice, therefore, is to give the trial version a spin before buying in, to see how it is for you.
But how would I install this, when I have no operating system what so ever on the hard drive. Since you would probably need a bios to boot from the disc img wouldn't you. Or am I confused?Yes, you do need a BIOS, and yes, you are confused :) The BIOS is not stored on the hard drive, and is nothing to do with the operating system. It's written onto a small ROM chip on the motherboard.

[killerchutney]

I remember my old pc, a 133MHZ Windows 95 with a wopping 1 Gig HD!!!!!!!1

When I got my new one it got demoted to the garden, where i broke off the CD drive, opened up the case and then put my foot through the motherboard :)