New to Linux Need Help!

[coolrider88]

I am new to linux and I really want this to work, but once again I am having problems trying to install either of the two. I feel like they say it is free and open source but with a catch. You can pay for a good copy but all or most downloads are not complete valid.
Here is what I tried:
First with Official Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 i386 binary CDs. I download this version debian-30r2-i386-binary-1. Maybe I should have download r4? I used MagISO to unpack the ISO files and burn 7 cd's. Then I reated two floppies using rawrite. Boot.ini then root.ini, ect..
Then I run into the problem basedebs.tar. So I finally find the basedebs.tar file download it and unpak it and place it on another cd. Still system can not find the file. So no good install!
Next everyone said use Sarge i386 netinst 1 CD ISO file. So then use that system and try to install it too. I create 4 floppies using rawrite7.0 for windows. boot.img,cd-drivers.img,root.img all included. This gets me as far as installing desktop and then it can not find the packages. Same thing no luck again.
So not giviing up, I try jigdo lite. download it and run it then try to download the 1 cd .jigdo and .template well that comes down eventually. Then I get both files but have no way of extracting them to create a CD. Still stuc here.
I really want to make the switch to linux, since red hat ver 5.0 came out and I tried then I feel like this is the same old same. Nothing online works unless you pay for a copy some where and even then I don't know if that is gaurantee. I strongly beleive in free software and much more but what do I need to do to get this up and running so I can start learning more.
Everything I mention above I just learned in three days and I was siked, but now I have no where to turn. I could really use some good help. Thanks for reading and I appreciate anything positive that might work.

[Flatline]

If you want an easier way to install Debian, you could do a hard drive install of a Knoppix or SimplyMepis live CD. If you're not married to Debian, there are a whole slew of user-friendly distros out there.

[coolrider88]

I would have to try to figure out what those are and how to use them to. Ok I'll take a look at it but would really like to see the other two work. Thanks.

[Flatline]

Knoppix and SimplyMepis are live CD distros. That means that you download the .iso image, burn the CD from the image, boot from the CD, and voila! In about 5 minutes you're face-to-face with a full desktop environment (knoppix is KDE-based, while SimplyMepis is Gnome-based). The OS is actually running from the CD and not your hard disk, which is why they are great introductions to linux - you don't have to install anything.

They also both have the ability to get installed to your hard disk if you would like...basically, you can try them out before installing them.

[coolrider88]

Ok only one problem I can not boot from cd drive. No matter how I set my BIOS settings it just does not allow me to boot to cd, so I have to boot to floppy drive first. Then with the cd-drivers installed from the floppies I can now see the cd-drive. How do I created floppies for this linux system?

[alresave]

is your cd primary or secondary, master or slave, is your computer a brand computer?

[coolrider88]

Intel PII. Not a brand name. DVD Panasonic cd-drive ide primary on mother board and in bios. Scsi hard drive 256k mem 18gig hd and it is an abit mother board. 800mzh. Hope this helps.

Why don't the other installs all me to install the packages? Are those two packages ment to be hard to install? I would like to use Debian because they have the most wide range of app's and more support.

[Flatline]

If you've gotten a working Debian install but no desktop, you could use apt-get to install your desktop. If this is the case, could you post the contents of your /etc/apt/sources.list file?

[coolrider88]

I get the keyboard,language,hostname,harddrives,,swap drive, and the once it comes to PACKAGES it cannot find them on the cd's. I find the basedeb.tar online and download it and extract it and burn it to a cd. Then place it in cd-drive and point the install program to point to it and it still says no packages found. This is with Debian i386 ver 3.0 and Sarge netinst i386. Do these linux system work?

[Flatline]

Those systems do work, but they're a bit of a bear for some noobs to set up. You might have better luck with something like Ubuntu. You could grab http://ubuntu.mirrors.tds.net/releas...stall-i386.isoEverything for the install is on the single disk, and the installation is pretty simple (and quite fast).

Here are instructions on how to start the install from a floppy:

http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/d...tManagerHowto/