OK, by now you should know the drill. I'm going to install a popular, easy-to-use Linux distribution, complete with text instructions and images. This distribution is Mandriva, with GNOME desktop. Like before, I will use install it as a virtual machine using VMware Server.
What is Mandriva?
A very, very short introduction is in order. Mandriva was once known as Mandrake, but due to copyright bickering over the name, it was changed to Mandriva. Like most popular distributions, Mandriva gears toward either KDE or Gnome desktops, although it supports a range of others. It is unique in using its own wrapper for package management, called urpmi and programs known as Drakes.
You can read more about Mandriva on Wikipedia.
Now, some things you should be aware of before you venture any further:
First, this article builds on the concepts and ideas presented in my other Linux-related articles. I warmly recommend that you spend some extra time reading them BEFORE you start with this article, as I might omit some details that I have already extensively written about before. If you have read the other articles (and hopefully did the installations yourself), you should not have any problems with this article - or might not even need it. However, if this article is your first encounter with Linux, you might have some questions that are answered elsewhere.
Namely, for full step-by-step tutorials into the installation of some other Linux distributions, you should read:
