)
Page 15
Figure 2.2.
Selecting the keyboard.
States PC keyboard is the default choice. You can select a different choice by using the arrow up and arrow down keys. To the right of the screen you should notice a scroll bar with a # mark. This mark indicates that there are more types of keyboards than can be shown on the screen at present.
After selecting the keyboard for your machine, tab over to the Ok button and press Enter.
Next, the program searches for a PCMCIA chipset in your computer. If a known PCMCIA chipset is found then you are asked to insert the supplemental floppy. When you have done this, you can select Ok and the program loads additional drivers from the floppy. If no known PCMCIA chipset is found, the program quietly goes on to the next step of the install.
The next screen, shown in Figure 2.3, asks you which kind of install that you want to attempt. There are four methods that can be used. This section only be details installation from
Figure 2.3.
Selecting where the
installation files are
located.
)
CD-ROM and a hard drive.
Page 16
The four options are explained in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3. Explanation of the different installation methods.
| Method | Explanation |
| Local CD-ROM | The default method of installing Linux to your hard drive. This method does not use the supplemental floppy. |
| Hard Drive | If you are unable to install from the CD-ROM, then you need to copy the \RedHat\ directory tree over to a FAT16 (DOS) partition on your hard drive. This method then loads the supplemental floppy and continues with the install. |
| NFS | This method enables you to install from an NFS server (a type of network file system). |
| FTP | This method enables you to install from an FTP server. |
This book will focus on the CD-ROM install.
If you selected to install from a CD, the program asks you to insert the CD into the player. It then tries to auto-probe for an IDE CD on the system. If it doesn't find an IDE CD, it presents a screen asking what kind of CD-ROM you have. The choices on the screen are as follows:
| SCSI | If your CD is on a SCSI adapter, it tries to find the SCSI adapter, and if it is unable to, it asks you for what kind of SCSI device it should try to load. You will be asked if you want to autoprobe for the device or if you want to give options to the device. In most cases, you shouldn't need to specify any options. |
| Other CD-ROM | If your CD isn't an IDE or a SCSI CD, it probably falls under this category. You are presented with a long list of drivers. Choose which driver matches your CD-ROM and if you need to, any special options. |
| JUST A MINUTE |
If you have an IDE CD and it wasn't detected, you'll need to restart the install and at the very first screen give the kernel a special option to point out where the drive is: |
Page 17
Channel Jumper hdx =================================== ide0 master hda ide0 slave hdb ide1 master hdc ide1 slave hdd ide0 = primary channel ide1 = secondary channel |
Once the CD has been detected, the program attempts to mount the Red Hat CD and go on to the next stage of the install.
You are now ready to begin the second stage of the installation process. In this stage you create the necessary partitions and select which parts of the Linux distribution you want to install.
The next menu window, shown in Figure 2.4, asks whether you are
installing or upgrading an existing system. This tutorial assumes that you are installing Linux for the first time.
Figure 2.4.
Choosing to install
fresh or upgrade an
existing system.
)
| CUATION |
If you already have Linux on your system, an install using those partitions will overwrite all the data currently on there. |
After choosing an installation option, the program tries to auto-probe for any SCSI adapters. If it is unable to locate any, it asks you if you have any SCSI adapters in your machine. If you do, select Yes and a dialog box asks which adapter you have. Choose the adapter you have in your machine, and another screen asking whether you wish to autoprobe or give options is displayed. Most SCSI drivers do not need options. If you don't have a SCSI adapter, choose No and press Enter.
Page 18
Before you begin partitioning the drive, it is important to understand how Linux references different partitions. In the DOS/Windows world, different partitions are given different drive letters. For example, if you had a drive with two partitions they would probably show up as drives C: and D:. Linux does away with drive letters, and partitions show up as what can best be described as different directories. So, to follow the example above, if you have two partitions under Linux, they might show up as / and /data in the user interface.
The next screen that appears begins the Disk Setup portion of the install, shown in Figure
Figure 2.5.
Selecting the disk-
partitioning program
you want to use.
)
2.5. You are given the choice of choosing between two partitioning tools that are shipped with Red Hat Linux. The first choice is the Disk Druid program, and the second is the
Disk Druid is a GUI-based disk management program. It is able to create and delete partitions, while also defining the mount points for those partitions. fdisk is a more esoteric partitioning tool. While it is more flexible than Disk Druid in certain situations (dealing with disk drives having odd geometries, for example), it also is less user-friendly.
You need to dedicate at least 2 partitions to Red Hat Linux. One needs to be the root mount point / and the other needs to be the Linux swap space. The recommended Linux swap space is usually equal to twice the amount of RAM you have. If you have 32MB or more of RAM you can set the swap space equal to the amount of RAM and feel safe.
Figure 2.6.
The Disk Druid
screen.
)