install advice

I've got an old computer that I want to install Red Hat Linux 7.3 on. Right now it's running Windows 98. I don't want to do a multiple OS setup, just Linux. Can someone tell me how to appropriately format and partition my hard drive to do this?

just boot from the cd-rom (if you cannot, you can create bootdisks from the cd on windows)

during installation you are asked which drive/partition to install to. there you can delete all windows partitions and just do the standard installation.

there is nothing special to look out for...

oh ja, install lilo to the master boot record (MBR) or it won´t work.

OK, I just formatted everything and will boot from the CD.

What about creating linux swap partitons?

What is lilo?

lilo is a boot manager, and what about swap? You just put it in fast(est) part of hdd that is not really doing anything else and make sure its somewhere around 2 times your RAM - true pretty much for every *nix.

During the install process, you'll be asked what partitions you want to create. This is when you'll be able to say you want to create a swap partition.

Since it sounds this is the first time you're installing linux, I would advise that you make one or more of the following arrangements:

1. Have your local linux guru physically present during the install.

2. Have a second computer with internet access on hand so you can lookup documentation.

3. Lastly, if you cannot have the above two, make sure to have a physical copy of the install instructions for your distribution.

In addition to the above, you'll save yourself some headaches if you note EXACTLY what kind of hardware you are running: drives, network card, video card and amount of video RAM, sound card, mouse, keyboard, monitor (horizontal and vertical sync information), etc. You can get most of this information from Windows.

And then check to make sure that your hardware is supported.

Yes, I'm sure a lot of this hardware can be auto-detected, but better safe than sorry.

Best,
parker