Using the Fedora Core 3 installation CDs, I partitioned the hard drive, leaving my Win XP in
place. Then it was a normal installation using the Fedora installer. Hardware is automatically detected,
with the installer asking for verification on the screen resolution, keyboard, and language. It also
asks about time zone and daylight savings, the same as MS Windows does.

Then you are asked about categories of software that you want to install.

I found it helpful to also install Apt afterwards, along with Synaptic. This gives me more control over
exactly what is on my system. Apt is found in the Fedora Core 3 Extras. I had to use YUM to install
Synaptic. YUM has to be modified to use files from the Extras. The Extras were not originally part of
Fedora Core 3. They were added later.

FC3 comes with Selinux. The installer asks if you want Selinux installed as you commence to install
Fedora Core files. Selinux is version of Linux developed with high security in mind. It is installed by
default unless you select "NO" when you are asked about it. If you have an older, slower computer,
or one with less memory, then you should select "NO" to Selinux.
Otherwise, simply let it be installed. 256 MB of memory is plenty of memory for it. But I wouldn't
install Selinux with any less memory or on a slow computer. My laptop has a 1,700 MHz processor
which runs Selinux without notice.

Fedora Core 3 has worked flawlessly on my Toshiba Satellite. The only downside that I've noticed does
not relate to the computer itself. I have 3 complaints:
1. I have an All-in-One printer/scanner from HP. (HP PSC-1210) The scanner portion seems to be a problem.
2. I use Ndiswrapper for my D-Link 802.11g WiFi card. This has to be un-installed and re-installed with each
new kernel. FC3 comes out with a new kernel about once each week or two.
3. I have a small voice recorder that FC3 does not recognize when it is plugged in.

Things that I do or plug into my laptop which work are:
1. The printer portion of that All-in-One printer/scanner from HP.
2. My Nikon 990 Camera.
3. My Buslink external hard drive.
4. Drawing tablet with pen and mouse.
5. Internal CD writer.
6. External USB2 52x CD-writer (At least it worked until I dropped it....)
7. Wired network connections are automatic.
8. As mentioned earlier, Roving WiFi connections to the Internet.
9. USB2 PCMCIA cards (I think that Firewire is also supported, but I don't have any Firewire cards or
equipment. My laptop has USB1 connections. I use the USB2 PCMCIA card for my external USB2 connections.)
10. DVD movies play fine on my laptop with some extra software installed.
11. DVD data CDs need no extra software.
12. DVD authoring is supported with no extra software.
13. Playing Music
14. Composing music
15. Using the program "Wine", I am able to run some of my MS Windows programs on Linux. Wine is a seperate
program which can be downloaded. They provide a special FC3 version.
16. Naturally, there is a ton of Office software and web page authoring software.
17. There are several programs to edit movies and photos, including the famous "Gimp."
18. I'll mention this in passing. KDE provides a bunch of educational programs for teaching and learning.
19. I've used the following desktops with FC3: Gnome 2, KDE, and Xfce.

Sounds like an advertisement, doesn't it?
Oh, well.....

I've been playing with various Open Source operating systems for almost a year and a half. I got into Red
Hat 9 last summer. Then switched to Fedora last fall. I used an older 233 MHz laptop with a 6 GB hard drive
as a test bed. When I reasonably satisfied with a system, I installed that system on a partition in my
Toshiba, which I use daily.

So far, I have not been able to switch entirely away from MS Windows, but 99% of my internet time is done
using FC3. It's far safer.

In fact, it has come down to three or four programs which is all that I use MS Windows for. One of those
happens to be for scanning using the HP All-in-One PSC-1210....