Hi, I have an older computer (AMD Duron with XP) and I would like to reformat the C drive and install Linux. I have a UBANTU cd given to me by a reputable repair shop, but after a bit of research, I realize that I need a boot disk? Or do I? I also have a second HD that I don't want to reformat... will it still run with Linux if I'm using XP now? If not, should I partition my C drive and reinstall XP, along with Linux? My primary question is : How do I reformat the C drive and install UBANTU? Lots of questions, hopefully a few answers will come.... Thanks.

You do not need a boot disk to install Ubuntu on your computer. It will reformat the hard drive for you. You can also dual boot XP/Ubuntu. Ubuntu does have a program that will read a NTFS drive.

If it's a Ubuntu installation CD then you need to go into your computer's BIOS setup and change the primary or 1st boot device to the CD drive. Then, put the Ubuntu disk into the CD drive and restart the computer. It should boot Ubuntu from the CD. You will probably be presented with a Ubuntu installation program and prompted with options for installing Ubuntu on your computer. If not, then consult a Ubuntu forum about how to use the disk you have to install to your hard drive. DO UNDERSTAND THIS, all current data on your hard drive will be forever destroyed. There will not be a way to recover anything that was on the disk after this Ubuntu installation program re-formats the disk and installs Ubuntu. It is possible to actually keep the current XP installation and install Ubuntu as a "dual boot". For example, if you have a 30GB hard drive and there is 20GB of "free space" available, then you can defragment XP and then "resize" the XP partition to a 15GB partition and have 15GB available to install Ubuntu. Ubuntu will install a "Grub" boot loader on the hard drive's MBR which will allow you to boot either Ubuntu or XP on start up. I suggest you study the details of this operation before trying do it. There are numerous methods and software for doing it.

IMO, Ubuntu isn't the best choice. Mint Linux, which is based on Ubuntu, would probably be better. I'm running Mint 5.0 on one of my systems but 6.0 was just released. You can download the ISO file for free, then burn it to disc with a program such as ImgBurn. http://linuxmint.com/ http://www.filehippo.com/download_i... Regardless, you can usually run Linux directly off the CD without even installing it. That way you can get a feel for it 1st. Then if you like it, you can repartition/reformat the HDD & do the install...it's all done from the CD.

Considering the specs of the PC, PuppyLinux would be a good distro to start with, also CN has a LINUX Forum: http://www.computing.net/forum/linu...