Installing linux

So you want to install your first Linux. We assume you already have an operating system. You want to keep it (we tell you that). You have the following possibilities to run more than one operating system on your computer:

• Boot Linux from a Life-CD

You restart your computer and run (boot) one operating system. Life-CDs can be obtained e.g. from http://www.knoppix.org. The advantage is it does not use any space on your harddisk. The disadvantage is you should not save anything on your harddisk.

• Dual-Boot Linux from your harddisk

You install a Linux distribution, e.g. SUSE Linux from www.opensuse.org on your harddisk preserving your original operating system in a special partition. When you boot your computer, you can decide which operating system to boot.

• Install a virtual machine running on Linux

You install VMWare Server from http://www.vmware.com on your computer and install your Linux into a VMWare virtual machine. An advantage is that you do not need to reboot in order to bring up your Linux. You can run two operating systems in parallel. This is the option we will chose in this tutorial.