Help! Real newbie having problems installing Linux

[t-kiss]

Hello, world!

That's about all I know about programming, heh heh.
I am trying to install Debian on Shuttle XPC (Shuttle I, I think). I have faced several problems, and every time I try to reinstall it, problems seem to go even worse. I am slowly getting frustrated after trying like 20 installs in two weeks or so. So, if you can tell me about next things, or help me where to look at. I have read some of Debian 3.1 GNU/Linux Bible, but it's like hebrew to me, and doesn't tell too much about following problems I am having:

Oh, what I want is a computer to use (VoIP/surfing/email/MP3/dvd-burner/
movies) kind of multimedia desktop with least extra confusing elements.

1. Which kernel to choose? 386 or 686, and which version of those?

After that...

2. Debian or Ubuntu for newbie like me?

I had 1st 3 CD's of Debian sarge, and got GNOME up and running, but after I connected to web and reinstalled there (tried to fix totally wrong screen resolutions by reinstalling), and then trying to install Kubuntu, I have only had problems and I've been unable to start any GUIs. Xserver or something is not working. Seems every time I try something else, I seem to break new things. Can you help me little here? Please!

Thanks in advance!

[till]

Originally Posted by t-kiss

1. Which kernel to choose? 386 or 686, and which version of those?

Which processor? If its a pentium 4 or AMD Athlon, you may chose 686, otherwise better 386.

2. Debian or Ubuntu for newbie like me?

Fo a desktop system i recommend Ubunto over Debian.

If you reinstall the linux system, ake sure you erase the harddisk and do not reuse the existing partitions without formatting. Make a backup of your data though

[t-kiss]

It's AMD Athlon. If I understood correctly I can use 686?

When I was installing Debian with 'expert26', kernels (386 and 686) had two options each, other having some three letters in end 2.6.....686-tms compared to 2.6.....686 (I'm not sure if it was tms, but anyways).

My Shuttle has NVidia GeForce4 for display adapter. Seems that NVidia is not too well supported in Debian. Should I choose nv from driver list or try to find out and install something more accurate?

Oh, now we are nearing my problem here. I have XP installed in partition 1 there, and every time I reinstall, I clear all other partitions, but set 1 to 'don't use'. I have no chance to backup my harddrive, and so far I haven't found out how to really clear that roughly 50% sized partition of my 120G hard drive without touching XP at all and then to try and reinstall Linux from scrap. I run out of logic trying to think why it's so hard thing to do, unless it's security issue.

Got any ideas for my next steps?

And thanks again.

[falko]

Originally Posted by t-kiss

It's AMD Athlon. If I understood correctly I can use 686?

Yes.

Originally Posted by t-kiss

When I was installing Debian with 'expert26', kernels (386 and 686) had two options each, other having some three letters in end 2.6.....686-tms compared to 2.6.....686 (I'm not sure if it was tms, but anyways).

I think it's easier if you use linux26 instead of expert26.

Originally Posted by t-kiss

My Shuttle has NVidia GeForce4 for display adapter. Seems that NVidia is not too well supported in Debian. Should I choose nv from driver list or try to find out and install something more accurate?

I think you must use Linux drivers from nVidia's web site. They are closed-source (but free), that's why they aren't included in Debian.

Originally Posted by t-kiss

Oh, now we are nearing my problem here. I have XP installed in partition 1 there, and every time I reinstall, I clear all other partitions, but set 1 to 'don't use'. I have no chance to backup my harddrive, and so far I haven't found out how to really clear that roughly 50% sized partition of my 120G hard drive without touching XP at all and then to try and reinstall Linux from scrap. I run out of logic trying to think why it's so hard thing to do, unless it's security issue.

You must install XP first and then Linux because otherwise XP will destroy your Linux installation (XP always thinks it's the only OS on the hard disk... ).
Have a look at this tutorial: http://www.howtoforge.com/windows_linux_dual_boot

[sbovisjb1]

Well I highly recommend for you to use the i686 version. If you have a AMD chipstet... make sure that you get the correct version. I suggest that you don't get Ubuntu OR Debian :P. I recommend Gentoo. Now before you freak out... get a running linux system and then spen you're time installing gentoo from stage 1. Why do i recommend this? Its because it will get you more in touch with linux and after you successfully install it you're knowledge of linux would have
increased dramatically.... well thats all.

[22hosting]

What's all this messing around with debian and ubuntu? 30 minutes with a fedora or centos disk and you'll have a fully functional linux desktop environment! Silly people! :-P

Side note : Gentoo is VERY good, however it takes a little getting used to. Especially if you're installing from command line. Their new visual install is a lot easier, but messes things up if you don't know what you're setting.