eh if you dont know how to install linux id probally suggest you dont >.<

altho if your bent on installing it id suggest trying knoppix first as you donthave to install it it just runs off ram

or id suggest mandrake

but be aware if you fuxors some settings on install you sorta need to reinstall >.< or at least thats been my expirence

all you have to do is drop the redhat disk into the drive, make sure the drive is bootable, and your away. then just follow the graphical install, it really quite informative. when you come the partishoning the HDD use 'disk druid'. you will see hda (which is your c drive) and hdb (which is the d drive).
on hdb create three partisions called /boot, / and /swap. /boot needs to be about 200mb and /swap needs to be about 500 mb. / is for the system which can be up to about 6gb in space so make the part' nice and big.
after this the grub bootloader should find the xp system and add it to the boot menu.

after this there is some networking stuff and program selection, then sit back and let it install.

i hope it goes well,

spikes

personally if your a totaly newbie go with mandrake or knoppix

There is other way to install your linux without worry about the OS platform....Try to use Virtual PC install onto your system. Can work together with other OS, such as Win2k/XP

Seriously, you should just read the documentation that comes with any major Linux distribution.

If you download Red Hat or Mandrake, for example, each distribution's website will have excellent directions on how to setup your disk drives and install Linux onto it. Now, though, Red Hat's consumer release is called Fedora Core. Despite the name, it's still just as easy to install. Here is the link to that project.

Mandrake Linux, like I mentioned earlier, has good instructions as well. Both of these distributions have nice, point-n-click installers which essentially will hold your hand through installing Linux.

...And remember, there are always forums like these around to help you through it!

http://oob.freeshell.org/nzwireless/install.html


this site tells me to create a new partition and delete all existing partition in step 8.I can't create a new drive and I want to install/setup linux like a sofware in hdb or my d drive which has got 14gb of space free.what should i do.

Try www.mepis.org
You can boot up the live cd, you only need the first cd,check to see if the hardware works. If everything does, then click on install, then "partition" and make your partitions. Then click on install, and then reboot. Pretty much a painless experience.

oh i actually got 6giga free on d drive ? should I go on ? i bought the full 3 cd version of redhat 9.0 from the market...how much space should mepis take ?there's no forum for this distro in linuxquestions though..



partition 1: / boot
partition 2 : / swap
partition 3: ?

so I think 700 mb in total should to enough for just get redhat up and running ?

do I need to buy a cd to run knoppix ?

nope Knoppix is free you just need to download it and burn it