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You can create the boot and root floppies either from DOS or from UNIX (or Linux). If you don’t run DOS yet and don’t have a DOS boot disk, you must use another machine to create the two floppies. Because the DOS-based floppy creation is the most common, we deal with it first.
To create the boot and root floppies, you must use a utility program to write the image to disk. If your image files are compressed (they will have a .gz extension), they must first be uncompressed with the gzip utility (which usually resides in the /bin or /usr/bin directories, part of your path by default with most Linux installations). If you are working from CD-ROM, you must copy the files to a DOS hard disk because you can’t write the uncompressed image to the CD-ROM. Even if you start with uncompressed files, it may be easier to copy the images to a temporary DOS directory because it will save you the hassle of worrying about directory pathnames.
To uncompress a .gx file, issue the following command, where filename is the name of the compressed file (including the .gz extension):
gzip -d <filename>
The -d option tells gzip to decompress the file. After it is completed, the .gz file is erased and only the uncompressed file remains (with the same filename, less the .gz extension). You should uncompress the boot and root images. For example, you could issue these commands to uncompress the scsi.144 and color144 images.:
gzip -d scsi.gz gzip -d color144.gz
These images can now be written to the high-density floppies. The two floppies don’t have to be blank because the RAWRITE utility doesn’t respect DOS formatting conventions. RAWRITE is usually included in CD-ROM Linux distributions in one of the top directories. The two floppies must be high density, though. You can mix types (in other words, you can use a 1.2MB boot and 1.44MB root floppy) with some distributions of Linux, although it’s not recommended for most systems. It is a lot easier to keep everything the same disk size. The disks must be formatted using DOS’ format program. The boot disk must be the correct size for your system’s boot floppy drive (A: in DOS terms).
To write the images to the two floppies, you need the RAWRITE utility and two DOS-formatted floppies. RAWRITE is a DOS program that writes the images, block-by-block, to the floppy. To use the RAWRITE program, simply enter its name. RAWRITE prompts you for the name of the file to copy and the destination drive letter. RAWRITE then copies the images. Once completed, the disk cannot be read by DOS. Label the disks as the boot and root floppies, for convenience.
If you have access to a UNIX or Linux system, you can create the boot disks from within that operating system. You need to put the two image files on the UNIX or Linux system and use the dd utility to copy them to floppy. First, make sure the images are uncompressed (no .gz extension). If they are not, uncompress them with the UNIX gunzip utility (a GNU utility that you may have to obtain from another source, if it’s not included with your distribution).
To uncompress files in UNIX or Linux, issue this command, where filename is the name of the image file, with its .gz extension:
gunzip <filename>
The gunzip utility erases the compressed file and leaves an uncompressed version in its place.
To copy the images to a floppy, you need to know the device name of the floppy within the operating system. For most systems, the first floppy drive is /dev/fd0 and the second floppy drive is /dev/fd1. (Some systems treat the floppy drives as raw devices, which have the names /dev/rfd0 and /dev/rfd1.) Copy the image files to the floppy with this command, where filename is the name of the uncompressed image:
dd if=<filename> of=/dev/fd0 obs=18k
The dd command converts file formats. The if and of parts of the command indicate the input and output filenames or devices. The obs portion of the command indicates the output block size (in this case, 18KB).
For example, to copy the scsi and color144 images to the first floppy (3.5-inch 1.44MB), issue these two commands:
dd if=scsi of=/dev/fd0 obs=18k dd if=color144 of=/dev/fd0 obs=18k
The two floppies are now ready to boot a minimum Linux system for you.
This section gives you a quick overview of the installation routine used by many versions of Linux (the model used for this section is Red Hat, but the same applies to most others). This section can be used by those with experience with Linux or very simple hardware setups. If you run into any problems during the installation process, check the more detailed sections later in this chapter.
Once you have successfully loaded your boot and root images either from disk or CD-ROM, you are launched into the installation routine. The Red Hat Linux distribution has a very useful menu-driven installation routine that is much more forgiving of errors than many other Linux versions. For the most part, you need only read the screens and make logical choices to have the installation process continue properly. Many of the steps are automated and occur without your intervention.
If something happens with the automated installation routine that causes an error, a warning on the screen is displayed, and you are dropped into a manual installation routine. This can be used just as easily as the automated routine; it simply takes a little longer. Again, menu-driven options make the process painless.
You can probably install Linux on your system based entirely on the automated installation routine. If this is the case, you can move on to other chapters in this book. The rest of this chapter covers some of the most important steps in setting up and installing a Linux system in more detail. If you encounter problems during the installation or want to make changes to your configuration, you can check the respective sections later in this chapter. For the moment, we take a quick look at each of the steps in the automated installation process.
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