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Moving on further in the lessons, we see that to prepare to install Linux on your computer, you need to find your old computer manuals and have them ready, just in case anything goes wrong. The new operating systems in the linux world are made to walk you through the installation so easily that most people don’t have a problem. But nothing comes guaranteed. Things can go wrong, and you need to know what you’ve got for hardware and so forth.

Personally, I’ve found that it is best to visit the BIOS or CMOS of your computer and make notes of what you have. For instance, in case the installation software can’t find the right make of your graphics card, it’s a good idea to know it’s exact technical name. Then you can insert that or find a model close to yours during the installation without having to turn off the computer and starting over again from the beginning once you have that information.

Look up what you have for USB ports too, and what exactly your extra removable disk drives are called. What’s your screen resolution? Little details like this might save you some frustration and headache. Write them down.

The next big issue is deciding which Linux system you are going to try first. There are more and more of them all the time, and they vary from bare bones, (or swimsuit editions as this lesson online called them), all the way up to the most advanced systems with everything included (as if you were packing gear to climb mount Everest).

For instance, when I installed Mandrake 9.1 - my very first effort - I discovered that I had everything I needed to run my computer as a web server, and an email server. Like, if I knew what I was doing and would keep my computer running 24/7 I wouldn’t need to pay for web hosting or an ISP any more! (I knew I wasn’t ready for that). There were all kinds of programs so that I could become a full-fledged “computer programmer” or graphics expert! I saw stuff that would allow me to connect to someone else’s computer and repair it by remote control.

Yes, really, there are many different kinds of operating systems, and some of them are super deluxe, and others very basic. So before you install a system, you might want to do some research online, or else go with whatever your local guru recommends for your first effort.

The glory of Linux is that you can install more than one system, and you can take one off and replace it with a different one. You can also buy or download and burn a CD with a system in what is known as “LIVE” state. That is, you can stick the CD into your drive, and explore the system as if it were on your hard drive - but it is not. It remains on the CD only. Once you’ve had a test-drive like that, and you could do that with several. Then you can put that same CD into your computer and click “install” and it will install itself on your computer.

Mind you, some of these “LIVE” CDs do not have everything that the full system has, so to get the whole thing you’ll need to get a set of CDs or a DVD to install all of it. In that sense some LIVE CDs are a bit mis-leading. You don’t get the full impact of what it represents until you do the installation.

Here’s another question before we rush into the installation process. Do you want to keep the current operating system on this computer and have the Linux on beside it? That’s known as a Dual-boot computer. This works, but we have to keep certain things in mind as we go.

When I first wanted to try this Mandrake out, I had a lot of things going on my Windows 98 computer that I was afraid I might lose, or it might take me a long time to get things learned and up and running on Mandrake. I had two drives; I decided that I’d really like best if I could keep the Windows 98 on one hard drive, and put Mandrake on the other, then I’d be able to spend time exploring and learning the new system, and switch back to windows when duties pressed.

That worked for a while. In no time I was spending most of my days in Mandrake and just going back to Windows to answer emails. Then one day the windows portion got a virus and seized up. I was forced to work in Mandrake only. Happily by that time I was at home in it, and the transition wasn’t so bad at all.

So, yes, if you want to do a dual-boot, you can do that. You’ll just have to choose your system from a menu whenever you boot up.

We’ll go further next time. Go check out what system you’d like to try.