Installation: The Warm-Up Stretches
Now, take your freshly burned/delivered Linux CD (if there are multiple CD’s as there are in many cases, use the first disk) and while your computer is on, place it in the CD-ROM drive. Restart your computer, and if it tells you to “press any key to boot from CD,” press a key. Usually you don’t even need to do this, as the splash screen will automatically appear. If you see this screen, great! If not, then it is probably a problem with your boot order in BIOS. Change it so it checks for CD-ROM first and then try. If it still does not work, it may be the way that you burned to CD. Make sure that you burned the ISO, and not the ISO file onto the CD.
Now that you are on the Linux install splash screen, press enter. Watch all the weird messages, and wait for it to load into what is known as the first stage install (although some modern Linux distros do not use this anymore). You will know that it is first stage install by the way it looks – if it looks like an old DOS screen to you, it is first stage. If it looks nice and pretty, it is probably a second stage.
| The boot splash screen | Choosing your settings |
In the first stage install, you will be prompted to choose installation options, such as language, keyboard layout, and other “regional” settings. You may also be asked if you’d like to check the CD’s. Usually this is not necessary, but you can do it if you’d like.
Installation: Sprints
Now, you will be entering “Stage 2” setup, which is graphical and easy to understand. However, many options will be presented to you. I will convey now an important idea in computing: DON’T USE THE DEFAULTS UNLESS YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING. In other words, take time to read each dialogue, because it could mean the difference between your system running smoothly and your system constantly under tight security, performance logs, and server strains. Answer all of the questions until you reach Package Selection, which is a very important part of installation.
As previously mentioned, distros are different in the ways of which they go about the installation process. I will try my best to cover the most common dialogues in a generic way. The first dialogue you will usually recieve is concerning mouse and keyboard layout. Usually it requires just some common sense. The next is the much-feared partition dialogue. Completing this dialogue requires you to have a clear understanding of your current situation. If you are installing to a blank disk or a disk that you don’t care if it is formatted, you can go ahead and tell setup to “Auto Partition” that drive. If you are installing to a HD that has free partition space but you do not want to lose your Windows partition, you will need to create two partitions: a Linux Swap partition that is about 1/3 of your current RAM size, and a Linux ext3 filesystem partition that is four or more gigabytes. Alternatively, many modern distros will even auto-configure for you on a filesystem that already has partitions. Remember to be careful when messing with partitions, though, because the altering of these can have a damaging permanent effect on your system.
Next, you are usually prompted about security options. Set it to High and be done. Also, you will be asked for a “root” password. Think of a hard-to-guess 14-digit alphanumeric password, write it down somewhere, and enter it slowly. Whatever else you encounter, you are on your own. Feel free, however, to ask me about any other dialogues that I left out.
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