This is the concept... start the series off where just about every new Linux user begins their experience, by installing a Linux desktop. From here, each segment will build upon one another, which is basically how we all learn anyway.

After installing the operating system, we can move on to individual desktop applications and tips on managing your Linux system. In this way, we can learn and build your Linux desktop environment together.

I've been using Linux for the past two and a half years. My Linux adventures began with the installation of Mandrake 8.2. Since then, I've tried many distributions (Red Hat, Slackware, Yoper, Libranet, Knoppix, and Mepis to name a few). For quite a while, I found ALT Linux to serve our purposes very well.

Recently, however, I've found Kanotix (a distribution based on Knoppix) to be a very nice distribution and performs very well on our systems. More importantly, it is built from Debian, a flavour of Linux that I've become very comfortable working with. I see a lot of potential in this distribution and I think we'll be sticking with it for quite some time.

So, if you'd like to follow along with this series, this is the distribution I suggest you download and install. Everything that I cover in future episodes will be based on my Kanotix desktop, so if you are a beginner, you may find it helpful to build on the same foundations.

Anyway, in order to install Kanotix, you'll need some minimum system requirements. I have two PCs with Kanotix installed on them. One is our household's main computer (the one that my lovely wife depends upon) and the other is my test system. The main PC is a 1.2 Ghz PC with 256MB of RAM, on-board network adapter, GeeForce 2 3-D graphics card, a Zip brand CD burner and sound blaster compatible sound card.

The test PC.... this is the PC that I test all of the system upgrades, application installation and compatibility, etc., is a 300MHz PC with 198MB of RAM, a network exansion card, CD-ROM and sound blaster compatible graphics card.

Based on information found on the Kanotix homepage ( found at www.kanotix.com ), the minimum requirements recommended is a i586 processor, 128MB RAM, 3GB hard drive, CDROM.

Chances are, you will be able to install Kanotix on a lesser system, but you should at least try and meet the minimum requirements as close as possible.

Kanotix is a live distribution, which basically means that you can run Kanotix from the CD itself. You do not require a hard drive to be installed in your PC. However, in the next episode we'll be installing Kanotix on to a hard drive. So, I recommend a hard drive of at least 3 to 5 Gigabytes in size.

Also, if you're going to be installing over an operating system that is already installed on your PC (like Microsoft Windows), I strongly suggest that you back up any (if not all) data that means something to you before proceeding.

Although you will not be installing Windows based applications on your new Linux system, you can still use any documents and files you've created with those applications. Many Linux applications can import data (like MS-Word documents, e-mail's, etc.) created under a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next, you'll need to get the Kanotix operating system. You have a few options available to you to accomplish this. You can download the Kanotix operating system from the Kanotix homepage and burn a CD yourself, or you can purchase a copy of Kanotix, already on CD. Strangely enough, if you visit my Virtual Sky website, you'll see that we sell a package called "Instant Linux In A Box" which contains a Kanotix installation CD and instruction manual. The instruction manual that comes with this boxed set will be the basis for Part II of this series.

To download the latest Kanotix ISO file, go to: http://kanotix.com/info/download_en.php

Of course, there are other websites on the Net that sells Linux CDs as well. Visit Distrowatch to find out where you can get them. Distrowatch can be found at www.distrowatch.com

Once you get your Kanotix CD and your PC all ready for the installation, move on to the next segment where I'll go through a Kanotix installation from beginning to end. I'll be working on this segment over the Christmas holidays and plan to have another part posted very shortly.

Until then, happy surfing!

About the author: David is a Saskatoon-based linux advocate. His own site at virtualsky.net.