Clean installation. No Windows

[Owen]

I have Mnadriva 2007 Spring and Kubuntu 6.10 on separate Disks.
I want to install either one on a computer without any other software or operating system except EZ-Install which was needed by the Western Digital Hard Drive.
It seems that E-Z install and about anything else I try to use for FDISK or formating seems to imply and requires I also have a version of Windows installed or will be installing.
This is not the case. I just want to install Mandriva Spring or Kubuntu.
Can I as a novice do this? Or what else are the options?
Owen

[smolloy]

You don't need Windows to install linux (thank god!)

You should boot from one of the linux disks, and proceed through the installation as normal. There should be a partitioning section of the installation procedure, and this will allow you partition your disk as you like.

With either of these distros, it should be quite simple. Good luck!

[Owen]

As a last ditch effort I installed a new hard drive. The installation disks were immediately recognized. Tomorrow when I have more time I will do the installation and see how it goes.
Still undecided between Mandriva 2007 Spring and Kubuntu. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Owen

[smolloy]

It's hard to recommend a distro for someone else, cos everyone has different needs, likes, and dislikes. My suggestion would be to install both as a dual boot setup, and see which one you prefer.

Glad to hear you got things working.

[devils casper]

And check here too.

[zenshinx]

I'm pretty much in the same situation as Owen. I decided to go with Debian and I'm going to use my old computer ( About 4 years old) in order to dive right in. I want to format the hard drive to erase all traces of windows and everything else in there. I found this tutorial on how to format your drive and it seems to be the right way. I also read that before going with the format you have to set up your bios to boot from the disk and then you should just follow the instructions. I just want to double check if that's the right way because I have also read that part of the installation will ask you about formating the drive.

[MikeTbob]

I'm pretty much in the same situation as Owen. I decided to go with Debian and I'm going to use my old computer ( About 4 years old) in order to dive right in. I want to format the hard drive to erase all traces of windows and everything else in there. I found this tutorial on how to format your drive and it seems to be the right way. I also read that before going with the format you have to set up your bios to boot from the disk and then you should just follow the instructions. I just want to double check if that's the right way because I have also read that part of the installation will ask you about formating the drive.

Hiya zenshinx,
Welcome to the forums.
I believe the Debian install CD will allow you to set the partitions any way you like, you don't really need Windows or DOS, just insert the CD, Reboot and away you go!

[zenshinx]

Thanks for the welcome and glad to be here. Well, is there an option to not partition at all? I just want a "new" drive with Debian as the OS. Like I said, I'm pretty much in the mood to jump into the ocean to learn how to swim.

[MikeTbob]

Well, you must partition the drive, even Windows requires this, it really isn't all that hard, just be sure to allocate plenty of disk space. Mine is partitioned like this

/boot 100 MB
/ 10GB
/home 10 GB
/swap 500 MB

[zenshinx]

Great, thanks for the help.