Taking the Linux Plunge!

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Alrighty, I've got Ubuntu 5.04 on a CD here, and two RAW partitions. One for the OS, one for Linux-related files. All I'm asking here is:

Is installing this going to be easy? (Just choose the partition to install to and I'm good?)
Where can I find some (preferably free) material frmo which to learn how to use Linux?
Will the boot selection thing properly work so I can choose which OS to go to?

It should be pretty self explanatory once you get into the installer - its text based but no harder than setting up an app in DOS used to be.

the bootloader should be fine, I had Ubuntu as a dual boot with Windows for a while without trouble.

There are *loads* of linux resources on the web - here's a good one to start - http://www.brunolinux.com/ - and google is your friend. most of the stuff you'll want to know you'll find answers for on Ubuntu's forums.

Just go for it! Linux is fun.

I got bored with Linux, but I didn't have enough memory on my computer for it to work right. Ubuntu is easy to install, just don't get impatient and restart when you think it's frozen.

I installed mandrake and played with it for a while.
Instalation was a breeze. I didn't like the GIMP much at all.
I had a little trouble with drivers, especially my printer, (cannon only released it in japan for some reason) But I'm on a dialup modem with ICN and there seems to be no support for that on linux. So Eventually I just scrapped it and went back to using windows.
I'm gonna get a mac soon I think.

I am thinking of putting a version of linux on my old Pentium II 333mhz computer. I am not sure how much ram would be in that computer when I set it up with Linux as all my ram is either in mine or my brothers better computers (not my main rig because my main rig uses ddr) Or in bags around the place. But I would probably drop between 128mb of ram to 256mb of ram into it.

And I will most likely try to run Mandrake 9.2 on the system. I want to see how the linux system works with my network and try and learn some bash commands or some thing. Just want to figure more out about how to use linux as the knowledge may come in handly for what I plan to make my carrier in the future. I plan to be a network techie.

If its not a good idea for me to try it on the P2 I will wait alittle while til I have enough room to put another computer and then I will get a cheap ex-lease 1ghz machine and try it on that.

I am not planning to use Linux as my main desktop because I like to be able to play games with out the hassel of learning alsorts of new stuff just to try and set each game up. Which is what I think you have to do with alot of games to make them run in linux. And alot of games just don't run in Linux.

Is installing this going to be easy? (Just choose the partition to install to and I'm good?)
Most modern Linux distros have a simple install process - similar to windows in complexity.

Where can I find some (preferably free) material frmo which to learn how to use Linux?
The Linux Documentation Project is a comprehensive source of information and LinuxQuestions is good, too.

Will the boot selection thing properly work so I can choose which OS to go to?
What other OS are you running?

You may want to consider trying a Linux boot CD. These boot from the CD-ROM allowing testing without installing anything, and some will optionally install to the hard drive. Two good examples of the latter are MEPIS, which I run on this PC, and KANOTIX.

My 2 cents:

Most Linux distros these days install a dumbed-down GUI by default. It's like running Windows, but without being able to play all the cool new games, and having to work around things like online banking sites that only work with Internet Explorer, etc. So if you just want to install Linux so you can say you did it, don't waste your time.

If you REALLY want to learn Linux, don't install all the GUI crap until you learn the basics first. Using it as a crutch along with all the various setup wizards, prepackaged programs, etc. will virtually guarantee that you never really learn anything.

Force yourself to learn how to the shell, the vim text editor, command line-based commands, basic bash scripting, edit config files, compile source code (in either SRPM or tarball format), administer users, keep your packages up-to-date, and recompile the kernel. Once you do all that, then you've earned the right to get lazy and start using X-Windows. But if you've stuck through all that, you probably won't want to by then.