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-(see also LinuxInstallationNotes)
-----
-
-The Linux Installation HOWTO
-!!!The Linux Installation HOWTO
-!Eric Steven Raymond Thyrsus Enterprises
-
- esr@thyrsus.com
-
-
-
-
-Copyright (c) 2000 by Eric S. Raymond
-
-
-__Revision History__Revision 5.62002-01-04Revised by: esrMinor corrections.Revision 5.62001-09-06Revised by: esrAdded a Translation section.Revision 5.52001-07-11Revised by: esrPnP cards are no longer a problem.Revision 5.42001-06-14Revised by: esrAdded link to Post-installation HOWTO.Revision 5.32001-03-9Revised by: esrFixes for various links.Revision 5.22001-02-22Revised by: esrLDP Styleguide markup fixes.Revision 5.12001-01-29Revised by: esrMinor corrections for the post-2.1 world.Revision 5.02000-07-21Revised by: esrFirst !DocBook version.
-
-
-
-
-
-This document describes how to obtain and install Linux software.
-It is the first document which a new Linux user should read to get
-started.
-
-
-
-
-
-----; __Table of Contents__; 1. Introduction: ; 1.1. Purpose of this document; 1.2. Translations; 1.3. Other sources of information; 1.4. New versions of this document; 1.5. Feedback and Corrections; 2. Recent Changes; 3. The Easiest Option: Buy, Don't Build; 4. Before You Begin: ; 4.1. Hardware requirements; 4.2. Space requirements and coexistence; 4.3. Time requirements; 4.4. Choosing a Linux distribution; 5. Installation Overview: ; 5.1. First Installation Steps: The Easy Way; 5.2. First Installation Steps: The Hard Way; 5.3. Continuing the Installation; 5.4. Basic Parts of an Installation Kit; 6. Installation In Detail: ; 6.1. Getting prepared for installation; 6.2. Creating the boot and root floppies; 6.3. Repartitioning your DOS/Windows drives; 6.4. Creating partitions for Linux; 6.5. Booting the installation disk; 6.6. Installing software packages; 6.7. After package installations; 7. Booting Your New System; 8. After Your First Boot: ; 8.1. Beginning System Administratration; 8.2. Custom LILO Configuration; 9. Administrivia: ; 9.1. Terms of Use; 9.2. Acknowledgements----
-!!!1. Introduction
-!!1.1. Purpose of this document
-
-Linux is a freely-distributable implementation of Unix for
-inexpensive personal machines (it was developed on 386s, and now supports
-486, 586, Pentium, PowerPC, Sun Sparc, ARM and DEC Alpha hardware, and even
-the IBM System 390 mainframe!). It supports a wide range of software,
-including X Windows, Emacs, TCP/IP networking (including SLIP), and many
-applications.
-
-
-
-This document assumes that you have heard of and know about Linux,
-and now want to get it running. It focuses on the Intel
-base version, which is the most popular, but much of the advice
-applies on Power PCs, Sparcs and Alphas as well.
-
-----
-!!1.2. Translations
-
-This document has been translated to Catalan anfd Czech.
-
-----
-!!1.3. Other sources of information
-
-If you are new to Linux, there are several sources of basic
-information about the system. The best place to find these is at the
-at
-Linux Documentation Project home
-page. You can find the latest version of this
-document there.
-
-
-
-You should probably start by browsing the resources under General
-Linux Information; the Linux
-INFO-SHEET and the Linux META-FAQ. The `Linux Frequently Asked
-Questions' document contains many common questions (and answers!) about
-Linux -- it is a ``must read'' for new users.
-
-
-
-The Linux Documentation Project is writing a set of manuals and
-books about Linux, all of which are freely distributable on the
-net and available from the LDP home page.
-
-
-
-The book ''``Linux Installation and Getting
-Started'''' is a complete guide to getting and installing Linux,
-as well as how to use the system once you've installed it. It contains a
-complete tutorial to using and running the system, and much more
-information than is contained
here. You can browse it, or download a copy,
-from the LDP home page.
-
-
-
-Finally, there is a rather technical Guide
-to x86 Bootstrapping. This document is NetBSD- rather than
-Linux-oriented, but contains useful material on disk configuration and boot
-managers for multi-OS setups.
-
-
-
-Please do ''not'' email me asking for installation
-help. Even if I had the time to handle such requests, troubleshooting by
-mail is much less efficient than asking help from your local Linux user's
-group. You can find worldwide contact information for Linux user groups on
-the LDP site.
-
-----
-!!1.4. New versions of this document
-
-New versions of the Linux Installation HOWTO will be periodically
-posted to comp.os.linux.help and comp.os.linux.announce and news.answers.
-They will also be uploaded to various Linux WWW and FTP sites, including
-the LDP home page.
-
-
-
-You can also view the latest version of this on the World Wide Web
-via the URL http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO.html.
-
-----
-!!1.5. Feedback and Corrections
-
-If you have questions or comments about this document, please feel
-free to mail Eric S. Raymond, at `esr@thyrsus.comb. I welcome
-any suggestions or criticisms. If you find a mistake with this document,
-please let me know so I can correct it in the next version. Thanks.
-
-
-
-Please do ''not'' mail me questions about how to
-solve hardware problems encountered during installation. Consult
-''Linux Installation and Getting Started'', bug your
-vendor, or consult the Linux newsgroup comp.os.linux.setup. This HOWTO is
-intended to be rapid, painless guide to ''normal''
-installation -- a separate HOWTO on hardware problems and diagnosis is in
-preparation.
-
-----
-!!!2. Recent Changes
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-Added the `Buy, Don't Build' section.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Added the material on booting from CD-ROM.
-
-
-*----
-!!!3. The Easiest Option: Buy, Don't Build
-
-Linux has now matured enough that there are now system integrators
-who will assemble a workstation for you, install and configure a
-Linux, and do an intensive burn-in to test it before it's shipped
-to you. If you have more money than time, or you have stringent
-reliability or performance requirements, these integrators provide
-a valuable service by making sure you won't get hardware that's
-flaky or dies two days out of the box.
-
-
-
-For those of us without a champagne budget, the rest of this
-HOWTO is about how to install Linux yourself.
-
-----
-!!!4. Before You Begin
-
-Before you can install Linux, you'll need to be sure your machine is
-Linux-capable, and choose a Linux to install. The Linux Pre-installation
-checklist may help you organize configuration data before you
-begin.
-
-----
-!!4.1. Hardware requirements
-
-What kind of system is needed to run Linux? This is a good question;
-the actual hardware requirements for the system change periodically. The
-Linux Hardware-HOWTO, gives
-a (more or less) complete listing of hardware supported by Linux. The
-Linux INFO-SHEET, provides
-another list.
-
-
-
-For the Intel versions, a hardware configuration that looks like the
-following is required:
-
-
-
-Any 80386,
-80486,
-Pentium or Pentium
-II processor will do.
-Non-Intel clones of the 80386 and up will generally work. You do not need a
-math coprocessor, although it is nice to have one.
-
-
-
-The ISA,
-EISA, VESA Local
-Bus and
-PCI bus architectures are
-supported. The MCA bus
-architecture (found on IBM PS/2 machines) has been minimally supported
-since the 2.1.x kernels, but may not be ready for prime time yet.
-
-
-
-You need at least 4 megabytes of memory in your machine. Technically,
-Linux will run with only 2 megs, but most installations and software
-require 4. The more memory you have, the happier you'll be. I suggest an
-absolute minimum of 16 megabytes if you're planning to use X-Windows; 64 is
-better.
-
-
-
-Of course, you'll need a hard drive and an AT-standard drive
-controller. All MFM,
-RLL, and
-IDE drives and controllers
-should work. Many SCSI drives and adaptors are supported as well; the
-Linux SCSI-HOWTO contains more information on SCSI. If you are assembling
-a system from scratch to run Linux, the small additional cost of SCSI is
-well worth it for the extra performance and reliability it brings.
-
-
-
-You'll want a CD-ROM
-drive; effectively all Linux distributions are now CD-ROM based. If your
-machine was built in 1998 or later, you should be able to actually boot
-your Linux's installer right off the CD-ROM without using a boot
-floppy.
-
-
-
-If your CD-ROM is ATAPI,
-SCSI, or true
-IDE you should have no problem
-making it work (but watch for cheap drives advertising "IDE" interfaces
-that aren't true IDE). If your CD-ROM uses a proprietary interface card,
-it's possible the installation kernel you're going to boot from floppy
-won't be able to see it -- and an inaccessible CD-ROM is a installation
-show-stopper. Also, CD-ROMs that attach to your parallel port won't work
-at all. If you're in doubt, consult the Linux CD-ROM HOWTO for a list and
-details of supported hardware.
-
-
-
-If your CD-ROM isn't in your machine's boot sequence, you will need a
-3.5" floppy drive. While 5.25" floppies are supported under
-Linux, they are little-enough used that you should not count on disk images
-necessarily fitting on them. (A stripped-down Linux can actually run on a
-single floppy, but that's only useful for installation and certain
-troubleshooting tasks.)
-
-
-
-You also need an MDA,
-Hercules, CGA,
-EGA,
-VGA, or Super
-VGA video card and
-monitor. In general, if your video card and monitor work under MS-DOS or
-Windows then they should work under Linux. However, if you wish to run the
-X window system, there are other restrictions on the supported video
-hardware. The Linux
-XFree86-HOWTO, contains more information about running X and its
-requirements.
-
-
-
-If you're running on a box that uses one of the Motorola 68K
-processors (including Amiga,
-Atari, or
-VMEbus machines), see the
-Linux/m68k FAQ
-for information on minimum requirements and the state of the port. The FAQ
-now says m68k Linux is as stable and usable as the Intel versions.
-
-----
-!!4.2. Space requirements and coexistence
-
-You'll need free space for Linux on your hard drive. The amount of
-space needed depends on how much software you plan to install. Today most
-installations require somewhere in the ballpark of a gigabyte of space.
-This includes space for the software, swap space (used as virtual
-RAM on your machine), and free space for users, and so on.
-
-
-
-It's conceivable that you could run a minimal Linux system in 80 megs
-or less (this used to be common when Linux distributions were smaller), and
-it's conceivable that you could use two gigabytes or more for all of your
-Linux software. The amount varies greatly depending on the amount of
-software you install and how much space you require. More about this
-later.
-
-
-
-Linux will co-exist with other operating systems, such as MS-DOS,
-Microsoft Windows, or OS/2, on your hard drive. (In fact you can even
-access MS-DOS files and run some MS-DOS programs from Linux.) In other
-words, when partitioning your drive for Linux, MS-DOS or OS/2 live on their
-own partitions, and Linux exists on its own. We'll go into more detail
-about such ``dual-boot''
-systems later.
-
-
-
-You do ''not'' need to be running MS-DOS, OS/2, or
-any other operating system to use Linux. Linux is a completely
-stand-alone operating system and does not rely on other OSs for
-installation and use.
-
-
-
-In all, the minimal setup for Linux is not much more than is
-required for most MS-DOS or Windows 3.1 systems sold today (and
-it's a good deal less than the minimum for Windows 95!). If you
-have a 386 or 486 with at least 4 megs of RAM, then you'll be happy
-running Linux. Linux does not require huge amounts of disk space,
-memory, or processor speed. Matt Welsh, the originator of this
-HOWTO, used to run Linux on a 386/16 MHz (the slowest machine you
-can get) with 4 megs of RAM, and was quite happy. The more you want
-to do, the more memory (and faster processor) you'll need. In our
-experience a 486 with 16 megabytes of RAM running Linux outdoes
-several models of expensive workstations.
-
-----
-!!4.3. Time requirements
-
-Start to finish, a modern Linux installation from CD-ROM can be expected
-to take from ninety minutes to three hours.
-
-----
-!!4.4. Choosing a Linux distribution
-
-Before you can install Linux, you need to decide on one of the
-``distributions'' of Linux which are available. There is no single,
-standard release of the Linux software---there are many such
-releases. Each release has its own documentation and installation
-instructions. All distributions pretty much share the same underlying
-codebase, however.
-
-
-
-Linux distributions are available both via anonymous FTP and via mail
-order on diskette, tape, and CD-ROM. There are many checklists and
-comparative
-reviews of Linux distributions out there. The Linux Weekly News site, in addition to
-being an excellent general source of news and information, carries a
-weekly report on distributions with pointers to many of them.
-
-
-
-In the dim and ancient past when this HOWTO was first written
-(1992-93), most people got Linux by tortuous means involving long
-downloads off the Internet or a BBS onto their DOS machines,
-followed by an elaborate procedure which transferred the downloads
-onto multiple floppy disks. One of these disks would then be
-booted and used to install the other dozen. With luck (and no
-media failures) you'd finish your installation many hours later
-with a working Linux. Or maybe not.
-
-
-
-While this path is still possible (and you can download any one of
-several distributions from Metalab),
-there are now much less strenuous ways. The easiest is to buy one of the
-high-quality commercial Linux distributions distributed on CD-ROM, such as
-Red Hat, Debian, Linux Pro, or WGS. These are typically available for less
-than $50 at your local bookstore or computer shop, and will save you
-many hours of aggravation.
-
-
-
-You can also buy anthology CD-ROMs such as the !InfoMagic Linux
-Developer's Resource set. These typically include several Linux
-distributions and a recent dump of major Linux archive sites, such
-as metalab or tsx-11.
-
-
-
-In the remainder of this HOWTO we will focus on the steps needed to
-install from an anthology CD-ROM, or one of the lower-end
-commercial Linuxes that doesn't include a printed installation
-manual. If your Linux includes a paper manual some of this HOWTO may
-provide useful background, but you should consult the manual for
-detailed installation instructions.
-
-----
-!!!5. Installation Overview
-
-It's wise to collect configuration information on your hardware
-before installing. Know the vendor and model number of each card
-in your machine; collect the IRQs and DMA channel numbers. You
-probably won't need this information -- but if it turns out you do,
-you'll need it very badly.
-
-
-
-If you want to run a "dual-boot" system (Linux and DOS or Windows or
-both), rearrange (repartition) your disk to make room for Linux. If you're
-wise, you'll ''back up everything first!''.
-
-----
-!!5.1. First Installation Steps: The Easy Way
-
-If you have an EIDE/ATAPI CDROM (normal these days), check your machine's
-BIOS settings to see if it has the capability to boot from CD-ROM. Most
-machines made after mid-1997 can do this.
-
-
-
-If yours is among them, change the settings so that the CD-ROM is checked
-first. This is often in a 'BIOS FEATURES' submenu of the BIOS
-configuration menus.
-
-
-
-Then insert the installation CD-ROM. Reboot. You're started.
-
-
-
-If you have a SCSI CDROM you can often still boot from it, but it gets
-a little more motherboard/BIOS dependent. Those who know enough to
-spend the extra dollars on a SCSI CDROM drive probably know enough to
-figure it out.
-
-----
-!!5.2. First Installation Steps: The Hard Way
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-Make installation floppies.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Boot an installation mini-Linux from the floppies in order
-to get access to the CD-ROM.
-
-
-*----
-!!5.3. Continuing the Installation
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-Prepare the Linux filesystems. (If you didn't edit the
-disk partition table earlier, you will at this stage.)
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Install a basic production Linux from the
-CD-ROM.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Boot Linux from the hard drive.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-(Optional) Install more packages from CD-ROM.
-
-
-*----
-!!5.4. Basic Parts of an Installation Kit
-
-Here are the basic parts of an installable distribution:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-The README and FAQ files. These will usually be
-located in the top-level directory of your CD-ROM and be readable
-once the CD-ROM has been mounted under Linux. (Depending on how
-the CD-ROM was generated, they may even be visible under
-DOS/Windows.) It is a good idea to read these files as soon as you
-have access to them, to become aware of important updates or
-changes.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-A number of
-bootdisk images (often in
-a subdirectory). If your CD-ROM is not bootable, one of these is the file
-that you will write to a floppy to create the boot disk. You'll select
-''one'' of the above bootdisk images, depending on the
-type of hardware that you have in your system.
-
-
-*
-
-The issue here is that some hardware drivers conflict with each
-other in strange ways, and instead of attempting to debug hardware
-problems on your system it's easier to use a boot floppy image with
-only the drivers you need enabled. (This will have the nice side
-effect of making your kernel smaller.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-A rescue disk image. This is a disk containing a basic
-kernel and tools for disaster recovery in case something trashes
-the kernel or boot block of your hard disk.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-RAWRITE.EXE. This is an MS-DOS program that will write
-the contents of a file (such as a bootdisk image) directly
-to a floppy, without regard to format.
-
-
-*
-
-You only need RAWRITE.EXE if you plan to create your boot and
-root floppies from an MS-DOS system. If you have access to a UNIX
-workstation with a floppy drive instead, you can create the
-floppies from there, using the `dd' command, or possibly a
-vendor-provided build script. See the man page for dd(1) and ask
-your local UNIX gurus for assistance. There's a dd example later
-in this document.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-The CD-ROM itself. The purpose of the boot disk is to get
-your machine ready to load the root or installation disks, which in
-turn are just devices for preparing your hard disk and copying
-portions of the CD-ROM to it. If your CD-ROM is bootable, you can boot
-it and skip right to preparing your disk.
-
-
-*----
-!!!6. Installation In Detail
-!!6.1. Getting prepared for installation
-
-Linux makes more effective use of PC hardware than MS-DOS, Windows
-or NT, and is accordingly less tolerant of misconfigured hardware.
-There are a few things you can do before you start that will lessen
-your chances of being stopped by this kind of problem.
-
-
-
-First, collect any manuals you have on your hardware -- motherboard,
-video card, monitor, modem, etc. -- and put them within easy reach.
-
-
-
-Second, gather detailed information on your hardware configuration.
-One easy way to do this, if you're running MS-DOS 5., or up, is to
-print a report from the Microsoft diagnostic utility msd.exe (you
-can leave out the TSR, driver, memory-map, environment-strings and
-OS-version parts). Among other things, this will guarantee you
-full and correct information on your video card and mouse type,
-which will be helpful in configuring X later on.
-
-
-
-Third, check your machine for configuration problems with
-supported hardware that could cause an un-recoverable lockup
-during Linux installation.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-It is possible for a DOS/Windows system using IDE hard
-drive(s) and CD ROM to be functional even with the master/slave
-jumpers on the drives incorrectly set. Linux won't fly this way.
-If in doubt, check your master-slave jumpers!
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Is any of your peripheral hardware designed with neither
-configuration jumpers nor non-volatile configuration memory? If
-so, it may require boot-time initialization via an MS-DOS utility
-to start up, and may not be easily accessible from Linux. CD-ROMs,
-sound cards, Ethernet cards and low-end tape drives can have this
-problem. If so, you may be able to work around this with an
-argument to the boot prompt; see theLinux Boot Prompt HOWTO for
-details).
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Some other operating systems will allow a bus mouse to share an
-IRQ with other devices. Linux doesn't support this; in fact, trying it may
-lock up your machine. If you are using a bus mouse, see the Linux Bus Mouse HOWTO, for
-details.
-
-
-*
-
-If possible, get the telephone number of an experienced Linux user
-you can call in case of emergency. Nine times out of ten you won't
-need it, but it's comforting to have.
-
-
-
-Budget time for installation. That will be about one hour on
-a bare system or one being converted to all-Linux operation. Or
-up to three hours for a dual-boot system (they have a much higher
-incidence of false starts and hangups).
-
-----
-!!6.2. Creating the boot and root floppies
-
-(This step is only needed if you can't boot from a CD-ROM.)
-
-
-
-Your Linux CD-ROM may come with installation aids that will take
-you through the process of building boot, root, and rescue disks
-with interactive prompts. These may be an MS-DOS installation
-program (such as the Red Hat __redhat.exe__ program) or a Unix
-script, or both.
-
-
-
-If you have such a program and can use it, you should read the rest
-of this subsection for information only. Run the program to do
-actual installation -- its authors certainly knew more about the
-specific distribution than I, and you'll avoid many error-prone
-hand-entry steps.
-
-
-
-More detailed information on making bootdisks, see the
-Linux Bootdisk HOWTO.
-
-
-
-Your first step will be to select a boot-disk image to fit your
-hardware. If you must do this by hand, you'll generally find that either
-(a) the bootdisk images on your CD-ROM are named in a way that will help
-you pick a correct one, or (b) there's an index file nearby describing each
-image.
-
-
-
-Next, you must create floppies from the bootdisk image you selected,
-and optionally from the rescue disk images. This is where the MS-DOS
-program RAWRITE.EXE comes into play.
-
-
-
-Next, you must have two or three ''high-density''
-MS-DOS formatted floppies. (They must be of the same type; that is, if
-your boot floppy drive is a 3.5" drive, both floppies must be
-high-density 3.5" disks.) You will use RAWRITE.EXE to write the
-bootdisk images to the floppies.
-
-
-
-Invoke it with no arguments, like this:
-
-
-C:\b RAWRITE
-
-Answer the prompts for the name of the file to write and the floppy
-to write it to (such as A:). RAWRITE will copy the file, block-by-block,
-directly to the floppy. Also use RAWRITE for the root disk image (such as
-COLOR144). When you're done, you'll have two floppies: one containing the
-boot disk, the other containing the root disk. Note that these two floppies
-will no longer be readable by MS-DOS (they are ``Linux format'' floppies,
-in some sense).
-
-
-
-You can use the dd(1) commands on a UNIX system to do the same job.
-(For this, you will need a UNIX workstation with a floppy drive, of
-course.) For example, on a Sun workstation with the floppy drive on device
-/dev/rfd0, you can use the command:
-
-
-$ dd if=bare of=/dev/rfd0 obs=18k
-
-You must provide the appropriate output block size argument (the `obs'
-argument) on some workstations (e.g., Suns) or this will fail. If
-you have problems the man page for dd(1) may be be instructive.
-
-
-
-Be sure that you're using brand-new, error-free floppies. The
-floppies must have no bad blocks on them.
-
-
-
-Note that you do not need to be running Linux or MS-DOS in order to
-install Linux. However, running Linux or MS-DOS makes it easier to
-create the boot and root floppies from your CD-ROM. If you don't
-have an operating system on your machine, you can use someone
-else's Linux or MS-DOS just to create the floppies, and install
-from there.
-
-----
-!!6.3. Repartitioning your DOS/Windows drives
-
-On most used systems, the hard drive is already dedicated to
-partitions for MS-DOS, OS/2, and so on. You'll need to resize
-these partitions in order to make space for Linux. If you're going
-to run a dual-boot system, it's strongly recommended that you read
-one or more of the following mini-HOWTOS, which describe different
-dual-boot configurations.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-The
-DOS-Win95-OS2-Linux mini-HOWTO.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-The Linux+Win95
-mini-HOWTO.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-The
-Linux+NT-Loader mini-HOWTO
-
-
-*
-
-Even if they are not directly applicable to your system, they will
-help you understand the issues involved.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Some Linuxes will install to a directory on your MS-DOS
-partition. (This is different than installing ''from'' an
-MS-DOS partition.) Instead, you use the ``UMSDOS filesystem'', which allows
-you to treat a directory of your MS-DOS partition as a Linux filesystem. In
-this way, you don't have to repartition your drive.
-
-
-
-I only suggest using this method if your drive already has four
-partitions (the maximum supported by DOS) and repartitioning would
-be more trouble than it's worth (it slows down your Linux due to
-filename translation overhead). Or, if you want to try out Linux
-before repartitioning, this is a good way to do so. But in most
-cases you should re-partition, as described here. If you do plan to
-use UMSDOS, you are on your own -- it is not documented in detail
-here. From now on, we assume that you are NOT using UMSDOS, and
-that you will be repartitioning.
-
-
-
-A ''partition'' is just a section of the hard drive
-set aside for a particular operating system to use. If you only have MS-DOS
-installed, your hard drive probably has just one partition, entirely for
-MS-DOS. To use Linux, however, you'll need to repartition the drive, so
-that you have one partition for MS-DOS, and one (or more) for Linux.
-
-
-
-Partitions come in three flavors: ''primary'',
-''extended'', and ''logical''. Briefly,
-primary partitions are one of the four main partitions on your
-drive. However, if you wish to have more than four partitions per drive,
-you need to replace the last primary partition with an extended partition,
-which can contain many logical partitions. You don't store data directly
-on an extended partition---it is used only as a container for logical
-partitions. Data is stored only on either primary or logical
-partitions.
-
-
-
-To put this another way, most people use only primary partitions.
-However, if you need more than four partitions on a drive, you
-create an extended partition. Logical partitions are then created
-on top of the extended partition, and there you have it---more than
-four partitions per drive.
-
-
-
-Note that you can easily install Linux on the second drive on your
-system (known as D: to MS-DOS). You simply specify the
-appropriate device name when creating Linux partitions. This is
-described in detail below.
-
-
-
-Back to repartitioning your drive. It used to be that there was no way to
-resize partitions without destroying the data on them. Nowadays there are
-partitioning utilities that can resize non-destructively; they know about
-the structure of file systems, can find the free space on a file system,
-and can move file data around on the partition to move free space where it
-needs to be in order for a resize to work properly. It's still suggested
-that you make a full backup before using one of these, in case of program
-or human error.
-
-
-
-Under Linux GNU
-parted allows you to create, destroy, resize and copy partitions. It
-supports ext2, FAT16, and FAT32 filesystems, Linux swap devices; it also
-knows about MS-DOS disk labels. Parted is useful for creating space for new
-operating systems, reorganising disk usage, copying data between hard
-disks, and disk imaging. It is relatively new code, but is reported to
-work well and not trash data.
-
-
-
-There is a non-destructive disk repartitioner available for MS-DOS,
-called FIPS. With
-FIPS, a disk optimizer (such as Norton Speed Disk), and a little bit of
-luck, you should be able to resize MS-DOS partitions without destroying the
-data on them.
-
-
-
-The older method of resizing a partition, if you don't have one of these
-resizing partition editors available, is to delete the partition(s), and
-re-create them with smaller sizes. If you use this method, you absolutely
-must make a backup in order to save any of your data.
-
-
-
-The classic way to modify partitions is with the program
-__FDISK__. For example, let's say that you have an 80 meg
-hard drive, dedicated to MS-DOS. You'd like to split it in half---40 megs
-for MS-DOS and 40 megs for Linux. In order to do this, you run
-__FDISK__ under MS-DOS, delete the 80 meg MS-DOS partition,
-and re-create a 40 meg MS-DOS partition in its place. You can then format
-the new partition and reinstall your MS-DOS software from backups. 40
-megabytes of the drive is left empty. Later, you create Linux partitions on
-the unused portion of the drive.
-
-
-
-In short, you should do the following to resize MS-DOS partitions
-with __FDISK__:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-Make a full backup of your system.
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Create an MS-DOS bootable floppy, using a command such as
-
-FORMAT /S A:
-Copy the files __FDISK.EXE__ and
-__FORMAT.COM__ to this floppy, as well as any other
-utilities that you need. (For example, utilities to recover your system
-from backup.)
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Boot the MS-DOS system floppy.
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Run __FDISK__, possibly specifying the drive to modify (such as
-C: or D:).
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Use the FDISK menu options to delete the partitions which
-you wish to resize. ''This will destroy all data on the affected
-partitions.''
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Use the FDISK menu options to re-create those partitions,
-with smaller sizes.
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Exit FDISK and re-format the new partitions with the
-__FORMAT__ command.
-
-
-#
-#
-
-Restore the original files from backup.
-
-
-#
-
-Note that MS-DOS FDISK will give you an option to create
-a ``logical DOS drive''. A logical DOS drive is just a logical
-partition on your hard drive. You can install Linux on a logical
-partition, but you don't want to create that logical partition
-with MS-DOS fdisk. So, if you're currently using a logical
-DOS drive, and want to install Linux in its place, you should
-delete the logical drive with MS-DOS FDISK, and (later)
-create a logical partition for Linux in its place.
-
-
-
-The mechanism used to repartition for OS/2 and other operating
-systems is similar. See the documentation for those operating
-systems for details.
-
-----
-!!6.4. Creating partitions for Linux
-
-After repartitioning your drive, you need to create partitions for
-Linux. Before describing how to do that, we'll talk about
-partitions and filesystems under Linux.
-
-----
-!6.4.1. Partition basics
-
-Linux requires at least one partition, for the ''root
-filesystem'', which will hold the Linux kernel itself.
-
-
-
-You can think of a ''filesystem'' as a partition
-formatted for Linux. Filesystems are used to hold files. Every system must
-have a root filesystem, at least. However, many users prefer to use
-multiple filesystems---one for each major part of the directory tree. For
-example, you may wish to create a separate filesystem to hold all files
-under the /usr directory. (Note that on UNIX systems,
-forward slashes are used to delimit directories, not backslashes as with
-MS-DOS.) In this case you have both a root filesystem, and a
-/usr filesystem.
-
-
-
-Each filesystem requires its own partition. Therefore, if you're
-using both root and /usr filesystems, you'll need to
-create two Linux partitions.
-
-
-
-In addition, most users create a ''swap partition'',
-which is used for virtual RAM. If you have, say, 4 megabytes of memory on
-your machine, and a 10-megabyte swap partition, as far as Linux is
-concerned you have 14 megabytes of virtual memory.
-
-
-
-When using swap space, Linux moves unused pages of memory out to
-disk, allowing you to run more applications at once on your system.
-However, because swapping is often slow, it's no replacement for
-real physical RAM. But applications that require a great deal of
-memory (such as the X window system) often rely on swap space if
-you don't have enough physical RAM.
-
-
-
-Nearly all Linux users employ a swap partition. If you have 4
-megabytes of RAM or less, a swap partition is required to install
-the software. It is strongly recommended that you have a swap
-partition anyway, unless you have a great amount of physical RAM.
-
-
-
-The size of your swap partition depends on how much virtual memory
-you need. It's often suggested that you have at least 16 megabytes
-of virtual memory total. Therefore, if you have 8 megs of physical
-RAM, you might want to create an 8-megabyte swap partition. Note that
-there are platform-dependent limits on the size of swap partitions;
-see the Partition-HOWTO if you want to create a swap partition larger
-than 1GB.
-
-
-
-You can find more on the theory of swap space layout and disk
-partitioning in the Linux Partition mini-HOWTO (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Partition.html).
-
-
-
-Note: it is possible, though a bit tricky, to share swap partitions
-between Linux and Windows 95 in a dual-boot system. For details, see the
-Linux
-Swap Space Mini-HOWTO.
-
-
-
-Gotcha #1: If you have an EIDE drive with a partition that goes
-above 504MB, your BIOS may not allow you to boot to a Linux installed
-there. So keep your root partition below 504MB. This shouldn't be a
-problem for SCSI drive controllers, which normally have their own drive
-BIOS firmware. For technical details, see the Large Disk Mini-HOWTO.
-
-
-
-Gotcha #2: Are you mixing IDE and SCSI drives? Then watch out.
-Your BIOS may not allow you to boot directly to a SCSI drive.
-
-----
-!6.4.2. Sizing partitions
-
-Besides your root and swap partitions, you'll want to set up
-one or more partitions to hold your software and home directories.
-
-
-
-While, in theory, you could run everything off a single huge root
-partition, almost nobody does this. Having multiple partitions
-has several advantages:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-It often cuts down the time required for boot-time file-system
-checks.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Files can't grow across partition boundaries. Therefore
-you can use partition boundaries as firebreaks against programs
-(like Usenet news) that want to eat huge amounts of disk, to
-prevent them from crowding out file space needed by your kernel
-and the rest of your applications.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-If you ever develop a bad spot on your disk, formatting
-and restoring a single partition is less painful than having to
-redo everything from scratch.
-
-
-*
-
-On today's large disks, a good basic setup is to have a small root
-partition (less than 80 meg), a medium-sized /usr partition (up to
-300 meg or so) to hold system software, and a /home partition
-occupying the rest of your available space for home directories.
-
-
-
-You can get more elaborate. If you know you're going to run
-Usenet news, for example, you may want to give it a partition
-of its own to control its maximum possible disk usage. Or create
-a /var partition for mail, news, and temporary files all together.
-But in today's regime of very cheap, very large hard disks these
-complications seem less and less necessary for your first Linux
-installation. For your first time, especially, keep it simple.
-
-----
-!!6.5. Booting the installation disk
-
-The first step is to boot the bootdisk you generated. Normally
-you'll be able to boot hands-off; the boot kernel prompt will fill
-itself in after 10 seconds. This is how you'll normally boot from
-an IDE disk.
-
-
-
-What's actually happening here is this: the boot disk provides a
-miniature operating system which (because the hard drive isn't
-prepared) uses a portion of your RAM as a virtual disk (called,
-logically enough, a `ramdisk').
-
-
-
-The boot disk loads onto the ramdisk a small set of files and
-installation tools which you'll use to prepare your hard drive and
-install a production Linux on it from your CD-ROM.
-
-
-
-(In times past this was a two-stage-process, involving a second disk
-called a `root disk'; this changed when kernel modules were introduced.)
-
-
-
-By giving arguments after the kernel name, you can specify various
-hardware parameters, such as your SCSI controller IRQ and address,
-or drive geometry, before booting the Linux kernel. This may be
-necessary if Linux does not detect your SCSI controller or hard
-drive geometry, for example.
-
-
-
-In particular, many BIOS-less SCSI controllers require you to
-specify the port address and IRQ at boot time. Likewise, IBM PS/1,
-!ThinkPad, and !ValuePoint machines do not store drive geometry in
-the CMOS, and you must specify it at boot time. (Later on,
-you'll be able to configure your production system to supply
-such parameters itself.)
-
-
-
-Watch the messages as the system boots. They will list and describe
-the hardware your installation Linux detects. In particular, if you
-have a SCSI controller, you should see a listing of the SCSI hosts
-detected. If you see the message
-
-
-SCSI: 0 hosts
-
-Then your SCSI controller was not detected, and you will have to
-figure out how to tell the kernel where it is.
-
-
-
-Also, the system will display information on the drive partitions
-and devices detected. If any of this information is incorrect or
-missing, you will have to force hardware detection.
-
-
-
-On the other hand, if all goes well and your hardware seems to be
-detected, you can skip to the following section, ``Loading the
-root disk.''
-
-
-
-To force hardware detection, you must enter the appropriate
-parameters at the boot prompt, using the following syntax:
-
-
-linux `parameters...b
-
-There are a number of such parameters available; we list some of
-the most common below. Modern Linux boot disks will often give
-you the option to look at help screen describing kernel parameters
-before you boot.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-''hd=cylinders,heads,sectors'' Specify the drive geometry.
-Required for systems such as the IBM PS/1, !ValuePoint, and !ThinkPad.
-For example, if your drive has 683 cylinders, 16 heads, and 32 sectors
-per track, enter
-
-linux hd=683,16,32
-
-
-
-''tmc8xx=memaddr,irq'' Specify address and
-IRQ for BIOS-less Future Domain TMC-8xx SCSI controller. For
-example,
-
-
-linux tmc8xx=0xca000,5
-
-Note that the ''0x'' prefix must be used for all
-values given in hex. This is true for all of the following
-options.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-''st0x=memaddr,irq'' Specify address and
-IRQ for BIOS-less Seagate ST02 controller.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-''t128=memaddr,irq'' Specify address and
-IRQ for BIOS-less Trantor T128B controller.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-''ncr5380=port,irq,dma'' Specify port,
-IRQ, and DMA channel for generic NCR5380 controller.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-''aha152x=port,irq,scsi_id,1'' Specify
-port, IRQ, and SCSI ID for BIOS-less AIC-6260 controllers. This includes
-Adaptec 1510, 152x, and Soundblaster-SCSI controllers.
-
-
-*
-
-If you have questions about these boot-time options, please read the
-Linux ''SCSI HOWTO'', which should be available on any
-Linux FTP archive site (or from wherever you obtained this document). The
-''SCSI HOWTO'' explains Linux SCSI compatibility in much
-more detail.
-
-----
-!6.5.1. Choosing Console or X installation
-
-After boot, all current Linuxes run a screen-oriented installation
-program which tries to interactively walk you through these steps, giving
-lots of help.
-
-
-
-You will probably get the option to try to configure X right away
-so the installation program can go graphical. If you choose this
-route, the installation program will quiz you about your mouse and
-monitor type before getting to the installation proper. Once you
-get your production Linux installed, these settings will be saved
-for you. You will be able to tune your monitor's performance
-later, so at this stage it makes sense to settle for a basic
-640x480 SVGA mode.
-
-
-
-X isn't necessary for installation, but (assuming you can get
-past the mouse and monitor configuration) many people find the
-graphical interface easier to use. And you're going to want to
-bring up X anyway, so trying it early makes some sense.
-
-
-
-Just follow the prompts in the program. It will take you through
-the steps necessary to prepare your disk, create initial user
-accounts, and install software packages off the CD-ROM.
-
-
-
-In the following subsections we'll describe some of the tricky
-areas in the installation sequence as if you were doing them
-by hand. This should help you understand what the installation
-program is doing, and why.
-
-----
-!6.5.2. Using __fdisk__ and __cfdisk__
-
-Your first installation step once the root-disk Linux is booted
-will be to create or edit the partition tables on your disks.
-Even if you used FDISK to set up partitions earlier, you'll
-need to go back to the partition table now and insert some
-Linux-specific information now.
-
-
-
-To create or edit Linux partitions, we'll use the Linux version of
-the __fdisk__ program, or its screen-oriented sibling
-__cfdisk__. Note that the argument to the
-__fdisk__ needs to be the device corresponding to an entire
-disk (e.g. /dev/sda) rather than any of its partitions
-(such as /dev/sda1).
-
-
-
-Generally the installation program will look for a preexisting
-partition table and offer to run __fdisk__ or
-__cfdisk__ on it for you. Of the two,
-__cfdisk__ is definitely easier to use, but current versions
-of it are also less tolerant of a nonexistent or garbled partition
-table.
-
-
-
-Therefore you may find (especially if you're installing on virgin
-hardware) that you need to start with __fdisk__ to get to a
-state that __cfdisk__ can deal with. Try running
-__cfdisk__; if it complains, run __fdisk__.
-(A good way to proceed if you're building an all-Linux system and
-__cfdisk__ complains is to use __fdisk__ to
-delete all the existing partions and then fire up __cfdisk__
-to edit the empty table.)
-
-
-
-A few notes apply to both __fdisk__ and
-__cfdisk__. Both take an argument which is the name of the
-drive that you wish to create Linux partitions on. Hard drive device names
-are:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-/dev/hda First IDE drive
-
-
-*
-*
-
-/dev/hdb Second IDE drive
-
-
-*
-*
-
-/dev/sda First SCSI drive
-
-
-*
-*
-
-/dev/sdb Second SCSI drive
-
-
-*
-
-For example, to create Linux partitions on the first SCSI drive in
-your system, you will use (or your installation program might
-generate from a menu choice) the command:
-
-
-cfdisk /dev/sda
-
-If you use __fdisk__ or __cfdisk__
-without an argument, it will assume /dev/hda.
-
-
-
-To create Linux partitions on the second drive on your system,
-simply specify either /dev/hdb (for IDE drives)
-or /dev/sdb (for SCSI drives)
-when running __fdisk__.
-
-
-
-Your Linux partitions don't all have to be on the same drive. You
-might want to create your root filesystem partition on
-/dev/hda and your swap partition on
-/dev/hdb, for example. In order to do so just run
-__fdisk__ or __cfdisk__ once for each
-drive.
-
-
-
-In Linux, partitions are given a name based on the drive which they
-belong to. For example, the first partition on the drive
-/dev/hda is /dev/hda1, the second
-is /dev/hda2, and so on. If you have any logical
-partitions, they are numbered starting with /dev/hda5,
-/dev/hda6 and so on up.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You should not create or delete partitions for operating
-systems other than Linux with Linux __fdisk__ or
-__cfdisk__. That is, don't create or delete MS-DOS
-partitions with this version of __fdisk__; use MS-DOS's
-version of __FDISK__ instead. If you try to create MS-DOS
-partitions with Linux __fdisk__, chances are MS-DOS will not
-recognize the partition and not boot correctly.
-
-
-
-Here's an example of using __fdisk__. Here, we have a
-single MS-DOS partition using 61693 blocks on the drive, and the rest of
-the drive is free for Linux. (Under Linux, one block is 1024
-bytes. Therefore, 61693 blocks is about 61 megabytes.) We will create just
-two partitions in this tutorial example, swap and root. You should
-probably extend this to four Linux partitions in line with the
-recommendations above: one for swap, one for the root filesystem, one for
-system software, and a home directory area.
-
-
-
-First, we use the ``__p__'' command to display the
-current partition table. As you can see, /dev/hda1
-(the first partition on /dev/hda) is a DOS partition
-of 61693 blocks.
-
-
-Command (m for help): p
-Disk /dev/hda: 16 heads, 38 sectors, 683 cylinders
-Units = cylinders of 608 * 512 bytes
-Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
-/dev/hda1 * 1 1 203 61693 6 DOS 16-bit b=32M
-Command (m for help):
-
-Next, we use the ``__n__'' command to create a new
-partition. The Linux root partition will be 80 megs in size.
-
-
-Command (m for help): n
-Command action
-e extended
-p primary partition (1-4)
-p
-
-Here we're being asked if we want to create an extended or
-primary partition. In most cases you want to use primary
-partitions, unless you need more than four partitions on a
-drive. See the section ``Repartitioning'', above, for more
-information.
-
-
-Partition number (1-4): 2
-First cylinder (204-683): 204
-Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (204-683): +80M
-
-The first cylinder should be the cylinder AFTER where the last
-partition left off. In this case, /dev/hda1 ended on
-cylinder 203, so we start the new partition at cylinder 204.
-
-
-
-As you can see, if we use the notation ``+80M'', it specifies a
-partition of 80 megs in size. Likewise, the notation ``+80K''
-would specify an 80 kilobyte partition, and ``+80'' would
-specify just an 80 byte partition.
-
-
-Warning: Linux cannot currently use 33090 sectors of this partition
-
-If you see this warning, you can ignore it. It is left over from an
-old restriction that Linux filesystems could only be 64 megs in
-size. However, with newer filesystem types, that is no longer the
-case... partitions can now be up to 4 terabytes in size.
-
-
-
-Next, we create our 10 megabyte swap partition,
-/dev/hda3.
-
-
-Command (m for help): n
-Command action
-e extended
-p primary partition (1-4)
-p
-Partition number (1-4): 3
-First cylinder (474-683): 474
-Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (474-683): +10M
-
-Again, we display the contents of the partition table. Be
-sure to write down the information here, especially the size of
-each partition in blocks. You need this information later.
-
-
-Command (m for help): p
-Disk /dev/hda: 16 heads, 38 sectors, 683 cylinders
-Units = cylinders of 608 * 512 bytes
-Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
-/dev/hda1 * 1 1 203 61693 6 DOS 16-bit b=32M
-/dev/hda2 204 204 473 82080 83 Linux native
-/dev/hda3 474 474 507 10336 83 Linux native
-
-Note that the Linux swap partition (here,
-/dev/hda3) has type ``Linux native''. We need to
-change the type of the swap partition to ``Linux swap'' so that the
-installation program will recognize it as such. In order to do this, use
-the __fdisk__ ``t'' command:
-
-
-Command (m for help): t
-Partition number (1-4): 3
-Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
-
-If you use ``__L__'' to list the type codes, you'll
-find that 82 is the type corresponding to Linux swap.
-
-
-
-To quit __fdisk__ and save the changes to the
-partition table, use the ``w'' command. To quit
-__fdisk__ WITHOUT saving changes, use the
-``q'' command.
-
-
-
-After quitting __fdisk__, the system may tell you to
-reboot to make sure that the changes took effect. In general there is no
-reason to reboot after using __fdisk__---modern versions of
-__fdisk__ and __cfdisk__ are smart enough to
-update the partitions without rebooting.
-
-----
-!6.5.3. Post-partition steps
-
-After you've edited the partition tables, your installation program
-should look at them and offer to enable your swap partition for
-you. Tell it yes.
-
-
-
-(This is made a question, rather than done automatically, on the off
-chance that you're running a dual-boot system and one of your
-non-Linux partitions might happen to look like a swap volume.)
-
-
-
-Next the program will ask you to associate Linux filesystem names
-(such as /, /usr, /var, /tmp, /home, /home2, etc.) with each of the
-non-swap partitions you're going to use.
-
-
-
-There is only one hard and fast rule for this. There must be a
-root filesystem, named /, and it must be bootable. You can name
-your other Linux partitions anything you like. But there are some
-conventions about how to name them which will probably simplify
-your life later on.
-
-
-
-Earlier on I recommended a basic three-partition setup including a
-small root, a medium-sized system-software partition, and a large
-home-directory partition. Traditionally, these would be called /,
-/usr, and /home. The counterintuitive `/usr' name is a historical
-carryover from the days when (much smaller) Unix systems carried
-system software and user home directories on a single non-root
-partition. Some software depends on it.
-
-
-
-If you have more than one home-directory area, it's conventional
-to name them /home, /home2, /home3, etc. This may come up if you
-have two physical disks. On my personal system, for example, the
-layout currently looks like this:
-
-
-Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
-/dev/sda1 30719 22337 6796 77% /
-/dev/sda3 595663 327608 237284 58% /usr
-/dev/sda4 1371370 1174 1299336 % /home
-/dev/sdb1 1000949 643108 306130 68% /home2
-
-The second disk (sdb1) isn't really all /home2; the swap
-partitions on sda and sdb aren't shown in this display.
-But you can see that /home is the large free area on sda
-and /home2 is the user area of sdb.
-
-
-
-If you want to create an partition for scratch, spool, temporary,
-mail, and news files, call it /var. Otherwise you'll probably
-want to create a /usr/var and create a symbolic link named
-/var that points back to it (the installation program may
-offer to do this for you).
-
-----
-!!6.6. Installing software packages
-
-Once you've gotten past preparing your partitions, the remainder of
-the installation should be almost automatic. Your installation
-program (whether EGA or X-based) will guide you through a series of
-menus which allow you to specify the CD-ROM to install from, the
-partitions to use, and so forth.
-
-
-
-Here we're not going to document many of the specifics of this
-stage of installation. It's one of the parts that varies most
-between Linux distributions (vendors traditionally compete to add
-value here), but also the simplest part. And the installation
-programs are pretty much self-explanatory, with good on-screen
-help.
-
-----
-!!6.7. After package installations
-
-After installation is complete, and if all goes well, the
-installation program will walk you through a few options
-for configuring your system before its first boot from hard drive.
-
-----
-!6.7.1. LILO, the LInux LOader
-
-LILO (which stands for LInux LOader) is a program that will allow
-you to boot Linux (as well as other operating systems, such as
-MS-DOS) from your hard drive.
-
-
-
-You may be given the option of installing LILO on your hard drive.
-Unless you're running OS/2, answer `yes'. OS/2 has special
-requirements; see Custom LILO
-Configuration below.
-
-
-
-Installing LILO as your primary loader makes a separate boot
-diskette unnecessary; instead, you can tell LILO at each boot time
-which OS to boot.
-
-----
-!6.7.2. Making a production boot disk (optional)
-
-You may also be given the chance to create a ``standard boot
-disk'', which you can use to boot your newly-installed Linux
-system. (This is an older and slightly less convenient method
-which assumes that you will normally boot DOS, but use the boot
-disk to start Linux.)
-
-
-
-For this you will need a blank, high-density MS-DOS formatted
-diskette of the type that you boot with on your system. Simply
-insert the disk when prompted and a boot diskette will be created.
-(This is not the same as an installation bootdisk, and you can't
-substitute one for the other!)
-
-----
-!6.7.3. Miscellaneous system configuration
-
-The post-installation procedure may also take you through several
-menu items allowing you to configure your system. This includes
-specifying your modem and mouse device, as well as your time
-zone. Follow the menu options.
-
-
-
-It may also prompt you to create user accounts or put a password
-on the root (administration) account. This is not complicated
-and you can usually just walk through the screen instructions.
-
-----
-!!!7. Booting Your New System
-
-If everything went as planned, you should now be able to boot Linux
-from the hard drive using LILO. Alternatively, you should be able to boot
-your Linux boot floppy (not the original bootdisk floppy, but the floppy
-created after installing the software). After booting, login as
-''root''. Congratulations! You have your very own Linux
-system.
-
-
-
-If you are booting using LILO, try holding down
-''shift'' or ''control'' during
-boot. This will present you with a boot prompt; press
-''tab'' to see a list of options. In this way you can boot
-Linux, MS-DOS, or whatever directly from LILO.
-
-----
-!!!8. After Your First Boot
-
-You should now be looking at the login prompt of a new Linux,
-just booted from your hard drive. Congratulations!
-
-
-
-The GNU/Linux
-post-install procedures has some good suggestions about things you
-can do just after installation to minimize problems later on.
-
-----
-!!8.1. Beginning System Administratration
-
-Depending on how the installation phase went, you may need to
-create accounts, change your hostname, or (re)configure X at this
-stage. There are many more things you could set up and configure,
-including backup devices, SLIP/PPP links to an Internet Service
-Provider, etc.
-
-
-
-A good book on UNIX systems administration should help. (I suggest
-''Essential Systems Administration'' from O'Reilly and
-Associates.) You will pick these things up as time goes by. You should
-read various other Linux HOWTOs, such as the
-''NET-3-HOWTO'' and
-''Printing-HOWTO'', for information on other
-configuration tasks.
-
-----
-!!8.2. Custom LILO Configuration
-
-LILO is a boot loader, which can be used to select either Linux,
-MS-DOS, or some other operating system at boot time. Chances are
-your distribution automatically configured LILO for you during the
-installation phase (unless you're using OS/2, this is what you
-should have done). If so, you can skip the rest of this section.
-
-
-
-If you installed LILO as the ''primary'' boot
-loader, it will handle the first-stage booting process for all operating
-systems on your drive. This works well if MS-DOS is the only other
-operating system that you have installed. However, you might be running
-OS/2, which has its own Boot Manager. In this case, you want OS/2's Boot
-Manager to be the primary boot loader, and use LILO just to boot Linux (as
-the ''secondary'' boot loader).
-
-
-
-An important gotcha for people using EIDE systems: due to a BIOS
-limitation, your boot sectors for any OS have to live on one of the
-first two physical disks. Otherwise LILO will hang after writing
-"LI", no matter where you run it from.
-
-
-
-If you have to configure LILO manually, this will involve editing the
-file /etc/lilo.conf. Below we present an example of a
-LILO configuration file, where the Linux root partition is on
-/dev/hda2, and MS-DOS is installed on
-/dev/hdb1 (on the second hard drive).
-
-
-# Tell LILO to install itself as the primary boot loader on /dev/hda.
-boot = /dev/hda
-# The boot image to install; you probably shouldn't change this
-install = /boot/boot.b
-# The stanza for booting Linux.
-image = /vmlinuz # The kernel is in /vmlinuz
-label = linux # Give it the name "linux"
-root = /dev/hda2 # Use /dev/hda2 as the root filesystem
-vga = ask # Prompt for VGA mode
-append = "aha152x=0x340,11,7,1" # Add this to the boot options,
-# for detecting the SCSI controller
-# The stanza for booting MS-DOS
-other = /dev/hdb1 # This is the MS-DOS partition
-label = msdos # Give it the name "msdos"
-table = /dev/hdb # The partition table for the second drive
-
-Once you have edited the /etc/lilo.conf file,
-run __/sbin/lilo__ as ''root''. This will
-install LILO on your drive. Note that you must rerun
-__/sbin/lilo__ anytime that you recompile your kernel in
-order to point the boot loader at it properly (something that you don't
-need to worry about just now, but keep it in mind).
-
-
-
-Note how we use the ''append'' option in
-/etc/lilo.conf to specify boot parameters as we did when
-booting the bootdisk.
-
-
-
-You can now reboot your system from the hard drive. By default LILO
-will boot the operating system listed first in the configuration file,
-which in this case is Linux. In order to bring up a boot menu, in order to
-select another operating system, hold down ''shift'' or
-''ctrl'' while the system boots; you should see a prompt
-such as
-
-
-Boot:
-
-Here, enter either the name of the operating system to boot (given by
-the ''label'' line in the configuration file; in this
-case, either ''linux'' or ''msdos''), or
-press ''tab'' to get a list.
-
-
-
-Now let's say that you want to use LILO as the secondary boot
-loader; if you want to boot Linux from OS/2's Boot Manager, for
-example. In order to boot a Linux partition from OS/2 Boot
-Manager, unfortunately, you must create the partition using OS/2's
-__FDISK__ (not Linux's), and format the partition as FAT or
-HPFS, so that OS/2 knows about it. (That's IBM for you.)
-
-
-
-In order to have LILO boot Linux from OS/2 Boot Manager, you only
-want to install LILO on your Linux root filesystem (in the above
-example, /dev/hda2). In this case, your LILO config file
-should look something like:
-
-
-boot = /dev/hda2
-install = /boot/boot.b
-compact
-image = /vmlinuz
-label = linux
-root = /dev/hda2
-vga = ask
-
-Note the change in the ''boot'' line. After running
-__/sbin/lilo__ you should be able to add the Linux partition
-to Boot Manager. This mechanism should work for boot loaders used
-by other operating systems as well.
-
-----
-!!!9. Administrivia
-!!9.1. Terms of Use
-
-This document is copyright 1998 by Eric S. Raymond. You may use,
-disseminate, and reproduce it freely, provided you:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-Do not omit or alter this copyright notice (you may translate it)
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Do not omit or alter or omit the version number and date.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Do not omit or alter the document's pointer to the current WWW version.
-
-
-*
-*
-
-Clearly mark any condensed, or altered versions as such.
-
-
-*
-
-These restrictions are intended to protect potential readers from
-stale or mangled versions. If you think you have a good case for
-an exception, ask me.
-
-----
-!!9.2. Acknowledgements
-
-My grateful acknowledgement to Matt D. Welsh, who originated
-this HOWTO. I removed much of the Slackware-specific content
-and refocused the remainder of the document on CD-ROM
-installation, but a substantial part of the content is still his.
-
-
-
-The 4.1 version was substantially improved by some suggestions from
-David Shao `dshao@best.comb
.
+Describe [HowToInstallationHOWTO]
here.
