If you've got a computer with several hundred megabytes free that can boot from the CD-ROM drive, you're ready to install GNU/Linux (insofar as hardware is concerned). If you can't boot from the CD-ROM, you'll first have to open the CD under Windows and look for instructions on creating a boot floppy. This is not difficult, just a matter of copying a kernel image and a few other utilities to a floppy disk, then booting from the floppy. If you plan to leave Windows on your machine, you'll need to repartition the drive with the program FIPS.EXE, which is in the dosutils directory. As always when modifying a hard drive partition table, back up all your data before proceeding. Nothing untoward should happen, but a typo or few corrupted bytes in the wrong place will render all your data (i.e., your entire Windows installation) inaccessible. It's a good idea to create a DOS boot floppy as well, just in case.