At the outset I would like to tell you that this article is aimed at those

who have had previous installation experience on any distribution of

Linux. Even if you don't fall into that category, it still doesn't hurt to know a

little bit more about the OS of your choice. Now roll up your sleeves and

let's get started.

It was most likely that you installed your first Linux box from a bootable

CDROM. Maybe your motherboard didn't support booting from the

CDROM and you had to make a bootable floppy instead. Now that wasn't all

The Linux kernel is the heart of the operating system. This is the software that takes care of the programs that are currently running on your system as well as handling the interactions of those processes with your hardware. The kernel will decide how much CPU time and usage is allowed to the various programs.