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Is There An Easy Way?What is the simplest way to turn a P4 300Mhz dsl xp computer into a Linux server? Before starting, I was reading the installation lesson, at www.linux.org, but noticed that the author disagreed (http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/l2/lesson2c.html)with Debian instructions (re: initializing partitions). Already, I was aprehensive, but even more so, now. Ideally, I would like to just boot and have a dvd do all the work. Yet, I'm at a point where I feel that I would have to: 1. Back up my C:\ 2. Create a boot disc, with just the alpha file, on it (http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst). 3. Adjust my bios so it checks my dvd drive, first, during boot. 4. Re-format my hard drive. 5. Re-boot with the dvd in my dvd drive. ...And theoretically, that will do the trick....Right? Or is there an easier/more correct way? Frankly, it would be nice, if I could just boot, as-is (i.e., without re-formating or removing xp, etc.), and let the 'alpha' disc do all that! Would that be possible? - jazzy Bookmark/Search this post with: 
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Re: Is There An Easy Way?
Huh? What do you mean by "alpha disk"? The Alpha is a CPU family from DEC (which had gone the way of the dodo); the Alpha is not at all compatible with the x86 so you can't boot Linux built for the Alpha. For Intel x86 family machines, you can use any number of "Live CD" distributions including Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Mepis, Knoppix, and so on. If you know what you're doing you can even master your own live CD with just the tools you want. At any rate, any BIOS which supports booting from CD would allow you to simply set a few BIOS options, and boot to a Linux system from a CD with no need to touch any of your previously installed stuff.
Re: Is There An Easy Way?
Thanks, for the comment.
The "alpha" to which I was refering was an apparent set of debian images at: http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst.
There were numerous other images, but the suggestion was 'pick one set' - which I did, "alpha" - burn it to a dvd and boot.
Apparently, the disc would do the rest.
At least, that was the implication.
- jazzy
Re: Is There An Easy Way?
Those names are CPU families; for your machine you need the "i386" files; any of the others will not work on your machine.
After you have the system installed, post the output from:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
That should tell us what type CPU you have and you can change the kernel to a more appropriate one. The plain "i386" will actually run on an 80486 processor (ca. 1986) and doesn't have any support for multimedia extensions; it is a generic kernel which will run on almost any of the x86 family of CPUs.