A failed Linux installation will stop you cold. I've heard too many stories of people giving up on Linux because they couldn't get it to install. In many cases, just knowing a few tricks can get you through.
Installation is one of the most distribution-specific features described in this book. The topics in this chapter cover how to fix or avoid problems when installing Fedora Core. However, because the same installer is used with Red Hat Linux 9 (as well as earlier versions) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, most of the information contained here will cover those issues as well.
For other versions of Linux, such as SUSE and Debian, the installation process is much different. However, many of the installation troubleshooting concepts (passing options to the kernel, dealing with unsupported hardware, and so on) will help you know what to do if you have trouble installing those other Linux distributions. (See Appendixes B and C for descriptions of SUSE and Debian, respectively.)