Download the Ubuntu 6 Live DVD (or CD) ISO.
Burn it to DVD
Insert DVD to laptop
Reboot
Start live session
Run it for a while to see if it does what you want it to do.
*Remember that everything runs of the DVD so it will be MUCH slower than if you installed.
Decide if you like it.
If you do, double click on the install icon on the desktop.
If you don't, eject the dvd and restart.
Back to Windows.
Find another distro you want.

WWW Link

EDIT: If you like it, check out Automatix (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=138405) to make life better in oh so many ways

The first question I have is why you would want to buy a Linux distro when they can be downloaded for free?

There are plenty of excellent distros out there, it just depends in large part on exactly how you plan to use it. A couple of newbie friendly distros are SimplyMepis and Ubuntu. They're both Debian based which makes package management pretty easy and they both have pretty easy GUI installers.

They are also both LiveCD distros so you can simply boot from the CD to check it out and see how you like it before ever installing anything to your drive. If you like it, you install it.

If you're looking for something to get your hands dirty and really learn about Linux, give Slackware (my personal choice) a try. Slack does entail a bit of a learning curve but it runs faster than the two previously mentioned distros and gives you far more control of your system under the hood. It's also the oldest Linux distro still in use.

I find Slack's Keep It Simple Stupid approach far easier to deal with as it makes maintaining and customizing the system much simpler.

You can visit distrowatch.com to do some reading up on various distros, as well as visit the forums at linuxquestions.org to learn more about Linux as well as get support for any problems you run in to. (I'm a senior member there.)

As far as the actual install, while it does vary from distro to distro and exact instruction would be distro specific, you basically put in the CD and boot the system.

You'll need to set up your partitions. I recommend a / (root) partition, a /home partition, and you'll have to have a /swap partition. The /swap should be twice whatever your RAM is, up to a max of !GB. It would be rare to need more than 1GB of swap.

If you plan on sharing files between your Linux and Windows, I'd also set up a fat32 share partition as both operating system can read/write to it without any problems.

As for file system I use the reiser file system for / and /home. It's a good journaling file system and quite reliable.

Once your partitions are set up you'll install your system. The exact procedure here is distro specific but typically involves selecting the packages you want to install (for a first install just select everything and do a full install), and the installer will take over from there.

Typically Linux distros will only include one bootloader, either Lilo or GRUB. They're both good many newbies find GRUB a little easier to deal with as it reads directly from the config file. When prompted choose to install the bootloader to the MBR.

Once the install is finished just reboot into your shiny new Linux system.

The first question I have is why you would want to buy a Linux distro when they can be downloaded for free? There are plenty of excellent distros out there, it just depends in large part on exactly how you plan to use it. A couple of newbie friendly distros are SimplyMepis and Ubuntu. They're both Debian based which makes package management pretty easy and they both have pretty easy GUI installers.

Thanks for the info on Ubuntu. I'm in the process of downloading it right now . . . 35% down, 65 to go . . .

I'll give it a shot. If I do like it and get a totally new machine, so that I can have two - one running Windows and the other running Ubuntu, how would I completely remove Windows?

I'll give it a shot. If I do like it and get a totally new machine, so that I can have two - one running Windows and the other running Ubuntu, how would I completely remove Windows?

When you repartition the drive that'll take care of Windows as it will be reformatted.

Ubuntu is free and can be ordered for free if you put in a request for them at the Ubuntu site as they will send you the DVD'S (They'll send 5 DVD's the other 4 are for anyone else you might want to give them too)and why delete xp when dual booting can be done with ease,works for me (well sort of i still have to get ubuntu to boot as i have fedora installed as well but have'nt got round to putting ubuntu into the fedora grub)

Yes it's true dual booting is an easy option, I have my laptop set up to boot Slackware and Xp. I need Xp for some work related truck routing software that can't be used in Linux, but do everything else in Slack.

But, I got the impression that his stated goal is to have two machines, each running a different OS.

Or maybe he didn't know that dual booting is an option, who knows?

As far as ordering from Ubuntu, that's fine if you don't mind waiting several weeks for them to arrive. Far faster to just download and burn them yourself.

But, I got the impression that his stated goal is to have two machines, each running a different OS. Or maybe he didn't know that dual booting is an option, who knows? As far as ordering from Ubuntu, that's fine if you don't mind waiting several weeks for them to arrive. Far faster to just download and burn them yourself.

Yup, Mason. That's exactly it. I have a really nice laptop that runs XP, and I don't want to mess with it. So the plan was to buy a littler, inexpensive machine just to play around with - and that play being Linux. So the dual-boot wasn't my plan.

And I'm still in the process of downloading it - I didn't want to have to wait for the discs to show up, when I can hurry and download it while I'm at work.

76% down, 24 to go . . .

I assumed that was what you were wanting to do.

Ok, if you're experienced in burning iso images, don't be insulted by this if you are but I wanted to throw it out there as I have seen this mistake too many times to count. When you go to burn it make sure to use the "burn image" option, the exact name will depend on your burning app, but the word "image" or "iso" will appear in that choice (usually image).

I've seen countless people just copy the iso over to a data disk and then can't figure out why it won't boot or run.

Ok, if you're experienced in burning iso images, don't be insulted by this if you are but I wanted to throw it out there as I have seen this mistake too many times to count. When you go to burn it make sure to use the "burn image" option, the exact name will depend on your burning app, but the word "image" or "iso" will appear in that choice (usually image).

I'm not. So thanks. I appreciate it. Heh heh heh. 89% done, 11 to go.

Thats what I did. I have a home laptop with windows xp and homework laptop with Ubuntu. I bought second one really cheap at goverment store and it didn't come with OS, so I used Ubuntu.

Just installed FC6 last night. i'm using it as I type this. FC has come a long way....