Linux Magazine | June 1999 | NEWBIES | The Road To Installation: Part II

Last issue in this space, I provided an overview on installing Linux. I wrote about system requirements, disk partitions, and most importantly, backing up your hard drive. In this column, I will take you through a detailed, step-by-step installation process.

Once you have backed up your hard drive, the first step to installing Linux is making a boot disk. Some distributions of Linux come with a boot disk already, so if the distribution you have comes with one, you can skip the next section.

You probably know that the process of starting up a computer is called "booting". Most computers are configured to look for boot data on the floppy drive (drive "A") first and then the hard drive (drive "C"). This is so that you can override your hard drive when starting up your computer. If your computer is not configured this way, you will have to enter your BIOS setup to change the "Boot Sequence."

The point of this is that you want to start your computer with a Linux "boot" disk, and not from the hard drive. This will allow the PC to start up and run the special programs on the Linux installation CD that came with your distribution. You'll need a working PC running some version of Microsoft Windows (or DOS) to do this. I'll assume you're running Windows.

To create the boot disk, insert a blank floppy into the floppy drive, and insert the installation CD into the CD ROM drive. Using Windows Explorer, you should see the following:

Now click your mouse on the Windows "Start" button and select "Run...". In the window that comes up, type the below command (from Figure 2)

f:\dosutils\rawrite -f>
f:/images/boot.img -d a:

If your CD ROM is not drive F or your floppy is not drive A then substitute accordingly:

Press the return key and wait. After some moments, this command will complete and you should have a bootable floppy disk.

At this point, the installation is almost automatic. You'll be presented with a number of dialog boxes, some of which will ask you for information. Note that your mouse will not be working, so you'll have to navigate around the choices presented to you with the arrow keys and the tab key. When you've made your selection you can press the "enter" key to select the choice currently highlighted. In most of these dialog boxes, the "default" answer is already highlighted and is usually correct, so you'll simply press "enter" to go to the next screen.

One important thing to remember is: don't be afraid. There isn't a lot that you can do wrong. You've already backed up the important data on your computer, so that's safe, and if you make a mistake in the installation you can always start it over.

I can't give you the exact sequence of screens that you'll see during the installation, since the order depends in part on what's in your system, but this list should be close.

Let's begin: Insert the boot floppy into the floppy drive, the Linux CD (#1 if you have a set) into the CD ROM drive, and reset your computer. The first screen welcomes you to the installation. Press "enter" to begin. If you wait too long then the installation will begin anyway. The sequence of screens that come next should be something like this:

Welcome: this screen suggests that you read the manual if you have one. Press "enter".

Choose a Language: (default is English). Select your language and press "enter".

Keyboard Type: (default is "US") if your language is "English" then chances are your keyboard is "US". Press "enter".

Installation Method:(default is "Local CD ROM") if you're installing from a CD ROM. Press "enter". A note will ask you to insert your CD. If you haven't already, do so and press "enter".

SCSI Configuration: if you have SCSI adapters then select "yes", otherwise select "no". If you're not sure, refer to the inventory we walked through last time. Press enter.

Disk Setup: here you can select "Disk Druid" or "fdisk". These utilities will allow you to partition your disks and set their "mount points" (as we discussed last month). Disk Druid may not work for you, but it is easier to use. If you can't set up your disks the way you want to then the next screen will let you come "back" to this one so you can use fdisk.