The SharePoint 2010 Beta has finally been released, and this article will just give a few tips to make the installation smoother if you decide to install.  The first step is to choose which version to install.  It’s being released as two versions–An Internet facing version, for organizations that will use it to create public web sites and extranet sites, and an Intranet version, for internal corporate intranets.  Both versions will support and incorporate all of the features available in SharePoint 2010.

The Internet facing version can be downloaded here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=77195785-0282-4ACC-B6F4-7569E1011581&displaylang=en

The Intranet version can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=77C30C6C-47FC-416D-88E7-8122534B3F37&displaylang=en

These are the hardware requirments, according to Microsoft:

The requirements below apply to single server with built-in database installations and server farm installations that include a single server or multiple servers in the farm.
For other configurations, click here for details regarding your configuration scenario.
Processor: 64-bit, dual processor, 3 GHz
RAM:

    4 GB for stand-alone or evaluation installation.
    8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use.

Hard Disk: 80 GB.

In terms of software, the machine must be running a 64 bit version of Windows 2008.

Additionally, you’ll need to install the following before installing SharePoint: