Linux Install 2

[cbrider]

This may be a mouthful but here i go.

I am new to the Linux Community and need some help. I would like to download and install Linux to dual boot with my WinXP workstation. I have a 20gig hard drive. Can someone please recommend to me the best site to download from and get instruction for installation and administration. I have read some articles on this subject but am at a loss without my favorite discussion site's memeber. I don't really understand the download and cd burning process and some guidance would be greatly apprecitated.

Thank you in advance, and i am looking forward to posting many more questions.

 

[RhythmAce]

There are many good linux distros out there but Red Hat (

http://www.redhat.com/)

and Mandrake (

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/)

are about the most popular. The following steps will be common to which ever you choose.

Downloading

Most of the time, you will be asked to choose a mirror site. This lets you pick one that is less busy than the main site and will help speed up the downloading. Most distros come on more than one disc image (iso file). You may see some that have SRPMS as part of the file name. You will not need these unless you plan on compiling everything yourself. Usually just the first 3 or four discs are all that are needed. You will see that these are very large files. Unless you have a broadband connection, I wouldn't even dream of downloading them. It would be better to buy the boxed set. Save these file to a directory called iso or whatever you want.

Burning the CD

Most CD burning software knows that if you want to create a data CD, it will more than likely be from an iso file. When you create the data cd it will no longer look like an iso file but you should see the directory structure. If this isn't the case, some wrong happened. If you do not have a CD burner, that is no problem because you can install right from the iso files on your hard drive. After burning the CD's, you will see that the first one is bootable. If not, you will need to make a boot disk with the installer on it. Come back here if that is the case.

Make room for linux

If all 20GB are on the same partition, you will need to shrink your Win Partition. This can be done without losing data with a program called fips.exe. You will find it in the /utils or /dos-utils directory of the first CD. If you don't have the CD, go to where you downloaded the ISO files and look in their utils directory. Fips.exe must be run in dos mode and it is recomended that you disable Virtual Memory while you are doing this.

The Big Moment - install time

Put in the first cd or installation boot disk and answer the questions. Most of them are about your mouse, keyboard and language. Let Disk Druid automatically parttion your drive for you. It will ask you if you want to use the whole drive or just available space. Choose available space and it will leave the Windows partition alone. Take the defaults when it shows you what you have. In most cases it will be just three partitions. The /swap partition, the /boot partition and "/" (root partition). When asked if this is an upgrade or install, choose install. Then when asked what type of install, Work Station, Server or Custom, answer custom. This will give you the option of selecting ALL packages. Since you have a dual boot system, choose one of the two boot loaders when prompted which will be lilo or grub. This will display a menu at boot up and ask you which OS to load. You will also pick a default incase it reboots for some reason when nobody is around. The last step is seting up you network. If you have one, you already know how to answer the questions. If you don't have a network, then this step is bypassed.

The fun part

Now play with it. Get rough. When you break it, come here and we will help you fix it. That is how we learn. Good luck.

 

[santoshdj123]

Hi

Here are the link on which u will get the redhat 8,9 CDs for download. these are the iso files. while cd burning u have to create bootable cd first (see the instruction in your CD burn software.)

http://linux.engineering.uiowa.edu/redhat/iso/redhat-9.0-en/

have a nice download.

santosh

 

[cbrider]

Thank you,

That was the most informative info i've gotten yet. I'm really excited about getting on with tearing this thing apart. Thank you again and again!

cbrider