Try Linux for free: Make your own install CD

Personally, I think that just using Simply Mepis is a great way to install the OS if you like what you see. After all, it is all on one CD.

Not so long ago, the only way to see whether Linux would run on a particular PC was to install the operating system on its hard drive. Times change. Nowadays, many so-called live CD versions of Linux boot and run solely from a CD-ROM. Ubuntu Linux, our 2005 World Class winner for Best Linux Distribution, has a live CD version available for download. You may be asking yourself, “How do I download a CD-ROM?”

Answer: Linux live CDs and installation CDs are often available for download as files with a .iso extension. Such files provide a snapshot “image” of a CD-ROM’s file system. If you’d like to try Linux on a CD, grab an International Standards Organization (ISO) format file, feed it to your CD-burning software, and a few minutes later, you’ll have a shiny — and functional — disc. (The command for burning an ISO format image to disc depends on the burning tool you use. If you have a recent version of Roxio Easy CD Creator, click File, Record CD from CD Image. With a recent version of Nero, select File, Burn Image.) [Read the rest]